CheekyEMT

I had the best night I've had since my surger. My hubby went and bought me a waterproof cast cover. I was able to go in the pool for the first time this summer......yahoo! It was the best feeling ever. For the first time in 3 wks I was totally mobile and free to move around completely unaided. No crutches, no walker and no wheel chair. I floated around the pool and acutally swam. I can't even begin to tell you how good that felt. I felt like a free bird. AND not only did I get in the pool I had my first REAL bath since my surgery. We have big corner jetted tub and boy was it every nice to be able to get in the tub and enjoy a full blown bath. How silly right.....finding such enjoyment from nothing more then a modified plastic bag...lol... It's actually a DryPro waterproof cast protector....worth every cent of that $55

I came home from surgery with a script for oxy then a wk later he gave me dilauded..2 every 4 hrs then a wk later he gave me tramacet and ibuprofin...ibuprofin was prescribed at 200mg...3 tablets 3x's day. The tramacet is 2 every 6 hrs at 37.5mg/325mg. I have been taking the ibuprofin as prescribed but only taking the tramacet for break through pain . If the pain is bad enough I take the dilaudid. I was taking ASA post op for DVT prevention but stopped that once I was prescribed the ibuprofin and tramacet. I became a little nervous last week when I noticed blood in my urine and quit taking the ibuprofin for a couple days and it went away. But I have been taking it as prescribed again because of the amount of swelling and not wanting to taking the tramacet or dilaudid. When my hubby filled the prescriptions even the pharmacist questioned the dose on the ibuprofin....I was originally prescribed 800mg 3 x's day but I told the doctor I wouldn't take that .So, as of today I am currently taking the 1800 mg of ibuprofin a day as prescribed and the tramacet...2 tablets every 6 hrs. I've tried to just get by with tylenol but I can't yet.

Thank you for the replies. Dwayne, Are you sure you're not a shrink/???...lol I do have a family. Youngest is 18 months, a 3yr old and a 5yr old....biggest kid of all would be my hubby. He is a homicide detective with the city police. We were very fortunate that he was able to take a full 3wks off work to stay home and look after everyone and play nurse maid to me. He stepped up to the plate and has been amazing through this process. He just returned to work this week so we've had to make some changes and everyone has had some adjusting to do. We're adjusting though and it's been a relatively smooth transition. I wouldn't say I'm depressed......I have had my moments. I've had days where all I wanna do is lay in bed and cry, days where I'm nothing but a crabby B**** and some days have been really good. As I mentioned in my orginal post....this has been a very humbling experience. It's been difficult losing my mobility and with that my independance. I have thought back to the day of surgery (3wks ago) and how much pain I was in then, that I wasn't able to even lift my leg myself or get up and go to bathroom myself or even get my own bottle of water. I had to rely on others for absolutely everything. Now , I am able to do alot of things myself, my pain has decreased so much that I've gone from taking 8 Dilaudid/day to 9 ibuprofin and 4 tramacet..so, that's a positive. In the last 4 days I have gone from being totally laid up in bed and my leg full of stitches to being able to get up and around and stitches out...another positive. So I do see progress and I do see positive things happening each day....I realize I have come a long way in just 3wks considering the extent of the surgery. I am finding it very frustrating being allowed to start walking but not physically being able to yet. I'm sure I will master it in the coming weeks. I'm terrible on crutches and have managed to fall a few times in the last few days....I'm sure there will be a few more before I am walking on them with any sense co ordination. My leg has gone to jello...very little muscle at this point. I certainly won't be in any kind of shape to be lifting pt's any time in the 6 months and when I am able to get back to work I will have the fear of my ankle getting hurt or worse yet..it giving out on me and I drop a pt. Am I physically going to be able to build the muscle and strength back up that I need to do my job? I try not to think that far ahead and just take this one step at a time and one day at a time but easier said then done. Sometimes all I do is dwell on the things I can't do and may never be able to do again rather then look at the few things that I am able to do and what I can do now but couldn't 3wks ago. I have been forcing myself to hop out to the deck and sit outside for a little bit each day but rather then sit out there and enjoy soaking in the Vit D I sit there feeling sorry for myself because I can't join everyone else in the pool or play with the kids in the sandbox or push them on the swings or even take them for a simple walk. I know I really need to stop looking at all the negatives but that's very hard for me to do right now because everything about this damn situation seems to be one giant negative. I try to see the bright side, I really do but my mind is totally consumed with negative thoughts. If I could get out and do things and fill my days with activities that keep me busy I'd be left with no time to have my pitty party...but my reality right now is loooong days spent doing absolutely nothing but laying around with my leg elevated, watching tv, browsing the net, chatting on my blackberry and popping pain pills......not the best way to occupy my time day after day and certainly doesn't help keep my mind from racing and thinking everything negative that I possibly can. I would love to be able to just get out long enough to pop into work and remind myself that what I am right now is NOT me.

I am sorry to hear about your daughter. Wishing you and your family all the best!

Hi all, I'm sure some of you have gone through life situations that take you off the truck for extended periods of time and maybe leave you wondering if you'll ever get back to work. Unfortunately I am finding myself in one of those "life situations'' and feeling like its going to be forever, if at all that I get back to work. I am missing it terribly and finding this very difficult. After 13 yrs on the truck I'm wondering if my time is up because of my circumstances and if so thats a really hard pill to swallow...:-( Little bit of my story. June 17th I went in for surgery. So I'm 3 wks post op now. I had a total ankle reconstruction, gastroc recession and achilles lengthening. My surgeon has just let me come off a solid 3wks of bed rest and am allowed to be PWB with crutches. I went on Tues July 9 for my first post op appt and had my stitches taken out...all 50 of them and was put into a fiberglass cast for the next 4wks at which time he will re evaluate and either put me back in a cast or into a CAM walker. He has said that it will take me a good 6-12 months for a full recovery...:-( The pain has been horrendous...the bed rest has been hell....the inability to do anything for myself and become the pt has certainly been a humbling experience. In the last 2 days I have finally started being able to move around a bit with crutches and only allowing my toes to touch the floor. I am very unsteady and certainly not very graceful on the crutches....it's almost as though I have forgotten how to walk and need to learn to do it all over again. Mind you having a few rolls of fiberglass on your leg doesnt help either. I am not only struggling with my loss of independance and the mental/emotional challenges that have been thrown at me but I am feeling very discouraged and feeling like I am never going to be able to go back to work as a medica again. Even my surgeon said "maybe it's time to think about a career change". I'm struggling with this...I really am....:-(

Have any of you gone through an Osteotomy or know somone who has? Was it successful and how was the recovery? Did it have a long term impact on your life/career? Do you have full range of motion in your knee or any kind of limitations?

One co worker I had referred to my first "bad call" as being officially baptized into the world of EMS. The call that so wonderfully welcomed me into EMS was an 18 yr old that committed suicide in front of an Amtrak train. I cried alot over that call, it traumatized me for quite some time. After a wk off work the scene of this boy kept going through my head every time I closed my eyes. Over and over and over. We had CISD come in for that call and I also had a couple sessions with the county shrink. The sessions with the doc talking about the call helped me tremendously. A professional can give you different techniques and coping methods to deal with the call and the trauma of it. It's been several yrs now since that call and I am still bothered by it at times. It is one I will never forget, but it is also one that I could never have dealt with on my own. Seeking professional help in dealing with traumatic situations/calls in this field is nothing to be ashamed of. Talking about it will help you a great deal. NEVER NEVER NEVER second guess yourself. We are not miracles workers , we do the best we can with what we have. Pedi pt's are very hard to cope with and they tug on our heart strings. But it's our empathy and caring nature that makes us good medic's/EMT's.

I'm interested and as of right now count me in. A bit of a drive but doable. Anyone in the central/eastern part of Ontario wanna car pool?

I have a bunch of stuff I would like to send and so do some of my friends. If you could send me the addy that'd be great, I can get it all together this weekend and drop it off with good ole Canada Post on Mon.

As far as my pt's go. I haven't really encountered an issue where the pt is drawn more towards my male partner....nursing staff, yes....occasionally, but not always. The question that seems to be posed to me at the beginning of EVERY shift is "how is your lifting". I have never worked with a female partner, always been a male. I expect that is the companies standard as it likely is for most. A male and a female can lift more then 2 females. IMO!!! Only time I have run into a "problem" is when I get a pt that is more then 225. I do have difficulty lifting any more then that and with a pt that size I usually get my partner to take the foot end of the stretcher. I often work with men that are quite a bit taller then I am so we do sometimes have "issues" getting the stretcher at the level we want.....position 6-7 is just above my waist........so it's obviously going to be easier for my 6'2 partner to lift the stretcher to position 7-8 then it is for me. I also find that some of the male employee's tend to bark orders at the females....not all, but a select few. That's usually where I tend to butt heads with the guys at work. I have had male pt's that have been aggressive, whether they would have been any less so with my male partner, I don't know. IMO, it is common knowledge, that we as females are working in a "male dominated" environment and we as females seem to always need to "prove ourselves" , both to our pt's and our male counter parts. There are 24 crew members where I work and only 6 of us are female. We are out numbered and always will be. We need to work harder and prove ourselves to get what respect we get. EMS has never been a "female " workplace, any more then police or fire have.....its' just human nature for the man to gain the respect before a woman ever will. That's just my opinion, I'm sure everyone else will have a different opinion.

Thanks Doc. I'll send you a PM. I have been up there for about 5 wks now and am feeling the pain of the drive. I'm working up there tomorrow and then have a full 40 to put in next wk. I have been staying in a cheap motel in Richmond Hill when I need too. Depends on my morning start time and whether or not I"m working the late shift. So, I"ve been averaging 2 nights a wk in the hotel. My shifts seem to be the same days but the start and end times are staggered anywhere from 5am to 1pm for start and 3pm to 11pm for end time. I usually work Mon, off Tues then work Wed right through to Fri. Frankly the hotel and the gas are getting too expensive, I'd love to find a way to do it for a little less.

I get that most of you would not have taken this transfer. I also get that you wouldn't let another crew member "push" you around. That is just the way this medic is when it comes to women. There are only 4 of us (women) working from this base, rest are all guys and we currently have 6 units on the rd all the time. There is not 1 other female that works there that has anything good to say about this particular medic because of the way he treats the females. He is arrogant and has a big head. He's one of those medic's that thinks he's god. I said my peace after the transfer was done and let him know my position with him and the call. If I complained about the way he worked with me that day I'd be looked at by everyone else at the base as a whining b**ch. And because of his seniority my complaint wouldn't matter. He made a comment the other day about how the "woman are invading our space". Simply put, he doesn't want us there, he doesn't wanna work with us, and if he has to he's gonna bust our asses and save his .

When you're dealing with a superior that has been with the company yr's longer then you have, you do what you're told, is expected of you. It's not a matter or whether or not the other crew member "liked" me, he looked at the 3 man crew as his opportunity to kick back and relax. I dealt with all PT's that day by myself, not just this transfer. Also take into consideration there is very limited space with 2 pt's in the back. Sending facility is located in the same city as our base and knew the monitor would be returned. His exact words to me were" document everything". Nevermind this call, the other ACP on this call is a jerk, I don't like him at all or the way he works. However, he was my superior for 10 hrs yesterday and I, like it or not had to do what I was told. If it had just been me and the driver I would not have taken this call, however I had no say in the matter. I am simply asking how "you" referring to anyone on this board would have dealt with this call....not whether or not they way I treated the pt's during transfer was acceptable or whether or not the company I work for should have taken the call and not referred it to Ornge. IMO , obviously I did something right, both Pt's arrived at the receiving facility in stable condition. The way one company , municipality operates is not necessarily the way another company or municipality will operate. Northern Ontario operations are much more limited then other services, and yes, I do believe as a result are given and take calls that we should not . I do not run calls in the GTA.....I work North of Toronto, over an hour north of Toronto. for those of you south of the border Ornge is our provincial air ambulance.

1. I work in Ontario, north of Toronto. 2. NO, we are not normally a 3 man crew. Yesterday was an acception, there were 2 , 3 man crews for a 10 hr duration. 3. Why, was I the only one providing PT care, well, that has yet to be determined. Other 2 crew members were more interested in shooting the shit and told me if I needed any assistance to just holler....Ya, I was impressed. 4. Company I work for will run 2 pt transfers occasionally. personally this is the first 2 pt transfer I have run and questioned it prior to taking it. 5. We have 1 ambulance that will accommodate 2 pt's at a time. We got the call, dispatch requested a change of unit, we returned to base, changed units to accommodate both pt's. 6. As far as why there was no RN on this transfer, well you'd have to ask the sending facility. I run the calls, I don't arrange them. One monitor came from sending facility, other monitor was on board. 7. as far as Ornge goes, well, again, I can't answer that. I just run the call.....I would assume Ornge was not available at the time. 2 crew members are ACP, driver was PCP, I assume sending facility thought a 3 member crew with 2 ACP"s was acceptable to transfer these PT's without an RN.

We are allowed to carry ( all the time) and use our personal c phones at work when we are not with a PT. We also carry company c phones to contact other units or dispatch as needed. Many of our medic's are constantly on the c phone, primarily texting while doing pt care . I disagree with that and that should be stopped, but how ya gonna do that when the company you work for allows the use of C phones will on duty. We are not provided with land lines at base and therefore , the only way to contact our family when the need arises during our shift is through our own personal c phones. Personally, I carry my c phone with me all the time when at work. I commute over 2 hrs to work and need to be able to have emergency access to my sitter and children while out in the field. Yes, my sitter can contact dispatch and dispatch will patch through to the ambulance, however, I need to have the ability to contact home at a moments notice if necessary. Our dispatchers are great, but it's not always an immediate connection. Just yesterday there was a 5 + min delay communicating with dispatch from radio, and that is a common occurrence.

I ran a call yesterday for a double pt transfer out of ICU and Cath Lab to an ICU in a hospital 2 hrs away. We were a 3 member crew and I was the only one providing pt care in the back. Pt 1 came out of Cath Lab . Diagnosis was pacemaker insertion. 91 yrs old, alert oriented, 92% spo2 on RA, monitors, IV"s , stable. Pt 2 came out of ICU,94 yrs old, pacemaker,spo2 94% RA, monitors, IV"s , agressive, dementia , CHF etc....vitals stable at initial time of transfer. Approx 30 min's into transfer PT 2 becomes ext agitated, aggressive , attempting to pull IV lines and pacemaker wires. Swearing , removing himself from stretcher harness etc, I got PT 2 calmed down and was relatively uneventful for rest of transfer, upon arrival at receiving facility pt 2 again becomes very aggressive and agitated, ICU staff and 2 member crew ( crew member 3 was transferring care of PT 1) have difficulty calming pt 2 down and getting PT transferred over to ICU staff. If this had been your call, how would you have dealt with this ?? There's a reason why I am asking but want to hear opinions. If you need more info let me know. Crew member 1 (driver, 1 yr out of medic school), crew member 2 ( seasoned vet, over 25yrs in service) and me 18yrs of experience providing pt care for duration of transfer. BTW , transfer was successful and both PT's arrived at the receiving facility very stable .

Just wondering if anyone is in the Newmarket Ontario area and wants to make a few extra bucks. I'm working ambulance for the next few months in Newmarket and will need a place to stay a night or 2 a wk. Yep, there are hotels and I'll take a hotel room if I have to. It's a 2.5hr commute for me and would rather stay up there , work my shifts then come home. so, if anyone is in the area and could spare their couch and make a few extra bucks while your at it let me know.

Financially, we don't need the extra income. My husband makes very good money and combined with my income we're very comfortable. Naturally the "lure" of more money is appealing, especially with a very new, large mortgage and young children. The extra income from this position would bump us up into a higher tax bracket though. So, by the time your taxed and all is said and done, am I going to be coming out ahead much more then I am now? However, I do love working in the field and am very passionate about it. I would more then likely really miss it. I have been in EMS for 18yrs and have alot of seniority built up . As dust said, that in itself is alot to give up. I used to teach yrs ago ( in my early 20's) for the Cdn Red Cross but have not taught any since then and that was very basic teaching. This teaching job would be much more intense with a much broader curriculum and higher expectations and standards. A teaching position that is only offered to paramedic's with x # of yr's in EMS. It would give me more at home time with the kids through the week, but much less time with my hubby, schedules would be completely opposite and our time together would be hit and miss. This is an opportunity that more less was just thrown into my lap, not something I went after. My commute as it stands now is 2.5hrs in rush hour traffic through Toronto , commute with this offer would be roughly the same. However, like a PP said, there would be no night shifts, just late nights and holidays off. I'd like to say for certain that this would be a "secure" position for yrs to come, as most jobs with the gov't are. However, this may not be one of those jobs that is a guarantee long term. Would be something that would need to be discussed in depth before making a decision. And, as mentioned by a PP, I worry about losing my skills. EMS IMO is one of those things where if you don't use the skills, you lose the skills. Going to a PT position as a medic would likely be enough to keep my skills current. But this teaching position may not allow the time for a PT position as a medic. Tough decision. :?

Would you leave your current EMT/paramedic position to become an instructor for the gov't ??? I was contacted this morning by the EMS agency that instructs gov't and corporate agencies in ERF, AFR, FA, EFA, CPR and AED at all levels. The pay that was offered to me is $12.50/hr more to start then what I am currently being paid and all instructor cert's are at no cost to me and I would maintain all current cert's I have now. It would mean leaving my ambulance job and going strictly to instructing......hmmm, more money and easier on the back??? Would you or wouldn't you and why?

I appreciate everyone's posts. Granted I didn't expect the thread to head down the road that it did. It was an eye opener. I had my appt with my GP yesterday and discussed the diet and exercise with him. I go back to see him in 3wks to go over the results from blood tests and to be weighed again and he's expecting that I will have maintained my current weight 122.5lbs, if not added a pound or 2 and not lost any. YES, there are things that I need to change. He has sent a referral through to a registered dietician and will go from there. In the mean time I'm gonna have to beat down my urges to get on the treadmill and make some changes to my diet by increasing my daily calories to at least twice what I have been taking in and a larger variety of food.

I have spent the last couple of hours trying to find a way to reply to the posts. Part of me just wants to bury my head in the sand and disappear. I don't doubt that those who read what was posted by millwright63 may have been taken out of context and had more read into it then what was really there. I am not offended by anything anyone has posted, nor have I dismissed anything anyone has posted. I have an appt with my GP on Fri and will discuss my exercise routine and diet with him. I'm not gonna blow off everyone's posts just to be anal....perhaps there really is some truth to it all. I will ask him to refer me to a registered dietician , god only knows how long that will take with the Canadian medical system.....referrals seem to take forever. right now, I don't know what I feel.....I feel a crap load of different things. I guess if I could see everything through your eyes' it would be different. Call it being blind, call it what you will.....call it denial......I don't know. I do know that I feel like an ass...I feel like I wanna find a corner to crawl into and hide.....part of me feels ashamed and embarrassed.....kind of a whirlwind at the moment. I have stopped the workouts.....yes, I feel guilty as hell about that.....almost like I"ve done something drastically wrong because I"m not running on the treadmill twice a day. This being day 1 of not running on the treadmill.....hubby is home for the next 5 days and I feel like I can't run on the treadmill because if I do there will be hell to pay or something........it's stupid.......I shouldn't feel like this. At this point.....I feel like I wanna hide from the city.....I really don't know how to reply to half the posts.

WOW.....not how I expected this to go. Talk about feeling attacked. I don't even know what the hell to say.

My daily diet always consists of Breakfast: Yogurt with granola in it After morning workout I have a protein shake with frozen fruit blended in Maybe a banana or apple around 10am Lunch is always a salad Mid afternoon I usually have some sunflower seeds or an All bran bar or something like that. Dinner, is whatever everyone else wants. If they want red meat, I eat a boneless skinless chicken breast. After dinner I don't eat anything. Nothing again until the next morning. With the exception of a bottle of water. I'm not a fan of milk, that's why I take a calcium supplement. I drink about 6 bottles of water a day and go through an 18.9Litre cooler jug of water every 2 wks between the entire family. I think if my doc felt there was reason to be concerned about eating habits he would have said something. It's not something I've even considered(your mention of an eating disorder), I've never looked at it that way and the thought has actually never crossed my mind. To me it's always just been me being very particular about what I'm putting into my body. I have had friends tell me I am obsessed with the exercise and eating healthy and as mentioned before, hubby thinks I go over board with the healthy eating thing, but it's never been anymore to me then that. If I don't get at least one workout in during the day I feel like I can't go to bed until I have. So I'll go downstairs and jump on the treadmill for half an hour . The only thing I can honestly say I'm obsessed about is the amount of calories taken in per day. I know exactly what I"m taking in and exactly what I burn in a work out based on what the treadmill etc calculates. I will keep going on the treadmill, tired or not until I have burned a min of 300kcal, then I feel like I can stop. Any juice in the house is always 100% juice, I primarily only buy V8 fusion which gives you a full serving of fruit and a full serving of vegetables in a 250 ml glass The kids eat whole grains, no sugary crap ( very rare occasion), they are not allowed pop .....there's always cut up fruit and veggies in the fridge for them and milk 4 times a day Obviously the baby is still on formula and baby food, so there's nothing crappy in his diet. I'm not against talking to a dietician....It would probably be a good idea to have them tell me what I should be taking in every day to keep up with the workouts and daily calorie needs, and to be sure I'm getting everything I should. I've always had a hard time gaining weight. Even when I was pregnant with Adam, or any of the kids for the matter. With Adam I didn't gain a single pound until the last 8 wks and only gained 15lbs in total with that pregnancy. I weighed myself every morning at the same time consistently over the past 6 days and over that duration of time I lost a total of 2.5lbs.....so for whatever reason that wk my body decided to hold on to it. It may just be a matter of increasing the calories and reducing the work out.

Granted, maybe some misinterpretation there. I do that sometimes. Read more into it than what's really there. :oops:

And, of course, if you didn't get this all straight BEFORE getting married, then your marriage sucks. :wink: