A humbling call

[mobey]

Well here I am..... after nearly 10 years of continuous patient interaction at some level it finally happened.

I went to a call for a 60y/o choking (didn't know he was choking), and I couldn't feel a pulse.

No carotid

No radial

No nothing.

I looked at him when I entered the room, and was thought "yup.... he's dead" then confirmed it when I couldn't find a pulse.

I moved his arm off his chest as to start compressions, and noticed it was rigid. Then the unthinkable happened.... he put his arm back to his chest!

I redirected my focus and started bagging his stoma, and my partner snapped on an Sp02 monitor to find a waveform and a readout. couple breaths in he started getting some colour back and somewhere over the next while we pulled out an obstruction.

Full recovery

No CPR

Ain't that some shit.

Guess I'm human too?

[Jeremy M]

1st of all congratulations. @nd of all u should have not thought of yourself as anything but human. I have had 12 continuos Pt. care at all levels I have never had that happen but always get a history a complete one if possible,

[Kaisu]

The EMS Gods smile on those that consistently do their job at as high a level of proficiency, caring and effort as possible. The outcome was good - the sphincter constriction on what might have happened will help you keep your edge.

Great story - thanks for sharing.

[mobey]

1st of all congratulations. @nd of all u should have not thought of yourself as anything but human. I have had 12 continuos Pt. care at all levels I have never had that happen but always get a history a complete one if possible,

First off.... Welcome to the city!

Regarding your post - your grammar is so terrible I can't really make out what your trying to say.

You have had 12 continuous patients at all levels?? Then you went on to tell me to get a history?? Or maybe you are saying you don't miss pulses because you get a history before treating suspected cardiac arrests? I dunno....

The point I was making is that this patient obviously DID have a pulse, one which I was unable to detect after 10years of detecting pulses on all types of patients. I was simply acknowledging that the science has now aligned with my experience.

[Just Plain Ruff]

1st of all congratulations. @nd of all u should have not thought of yourself as anything but human. I have had 12 continuos Pt. care at all levels I have never had that happen but always get a history a complete one if possible,

Does not compute - What are you trying to say?

And welcome to the city by the way.

[island emt]

English grammer usually helps others understand what you are saying.

You are not texting your crew here at the CITY.

[J306]

Good story! Thanks for sharing.

[MikeEMT]

The best part of this job is you can never see it or know it all.

[BushyFromOz]

English grammer usually helps others understand what you are saying.

You are not texting your crew here at the CITY.

I dunno bro, the post reads more like someone whose primary language is not English to me

[Jaymazing]

1st of all congratulations. @nd of all u should have not thought of yourself as anything but human. I have had 12 continuos Pt. care at all levels I have never had that happen but always get a history a complete one if possible,

Welcome to the city.

I'm going to take a stab at deciphering this.

I think he was trying to be friendly, not condescending, but maybe I'm just reading it with a different shade of sunglasses (the writing is indeed poor). I think what he meant was first, "congratulations on the good call, and performing good patient care", then second, "We are all human. I've had 12 *years* of continuous patient care (at various levels) and never had that happen, which makes that even more impressive".

And then I think he was asking for a history, because he thought this was a scenario....but I'm being hopeful. Obviously a complete Hx gets put on the backburner when you haven't passed the 'C' of the ABC's.

I'm not ashamed to admit, I've struggled to find carotid pulses on people who I knew were alive. And I wouldn't be ashamed if I couldn't find one on someone who I thought was dead, either. I hope that nobody thinks that makes me a poorer practitioner, but if so I'd remind them that it's only when we acknowledge our shortcomings that we can truly improve upon them.

This sounds like a fun call, did you get to bust out Mobey's Magills?