Embarrasing calls that you were the patient.

[brentoli]

Wow. Thats a bump!

[fireflymedic]

was helping teach a new class of emt's and one of the things we do is teach them to immobilize a patient on a backboard so well that they can be turned upside down which they USED to do during the state practicals (I now know why they stopped doing it). Well, being the assistant in the class, the head instructor was the one doing the immobilization along with another student. We were using a set of well worn spider straps, but I wasn't worried, well I should have been. They got me all strapped in and went to flip me when the spider straps gave way and I fell out halfway landing hard on my knee. Being the tough person I am, I was like, I'm okay. But I noticed really fast my knee was swelling up huge underneath my jeans and I couldn't get up and walk on it, so they called a squad for me. Well, evidently they were bored because I got a full fire and ems response. My coworkers were laughing hysterically when they found out how it happened. I wasn't laughing though, I had torn my MCL and required surgery to fix it, so I really didn't appreciate the six week forced vacation I got. I never volunteered for that again.

Several years ago, I also had the poor fortune of falling off my horse and getting knocked out. My friend who was riding with me called EMS upon seeing me laying in the arena and they showed up. Well, I ended up waking up on a backboard (again) and the guys had cut all my clothes off (I could have killed them) and worse yet, I was in my assigned truck (we keep the same trucks and they are set up how we like them) because that crew's truck was down so they had taken mine for the day. I was supposed to be on duty that evening, so my chief was called and of course he came down there. I felt like a complete idiot. A ride to the local trauma center, a CT scan, dislocated shoulder, and six hours later, I was released but didn't have a way home, so they called my crew to come get me and bring me back home. I still haven't lived that down.

[Lone Star]

After being diagnosed with a giant cerebral aneurysm, I was transported from the recieving hospital in Flint, MI to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit by an ALS unit (sub company of the company I worked for). Here I am, stoned on morphine, and being transported by friends.....

I don't remember too much about the trip, butI do remember the warning I was given: "If you make any mention of needing a urinal, I'll find every bump between here and Henry Ford, and hit them twice!"

I also remember being asked by the attending medic if I wanted to fill out the billing information, because I kept giving 'pointers'....*shrugs shoulders*

A couple months after the surgery, I was visiting the fire station, to thank the guys for their concern, when the dilantin levels dropped suddenly. (I was on dilantin as a precaution against seizures). Another trip to the ER, by a crew from another service....unfortunately, I knew them as well.....

When I initially showed up at the ER for the aneurysm, I was worked on by an ER tech that I knew, and was in full uniform (having just gotten off shift a couple hours before heading home.)

[dahlio]

So I was working at a camp last year, when I had jumped off a stack of mats, and landed wrong. The year previous, pretty much to the day, I had dislocated my Right Patella, and went by car to the ER. My sister who also worked at that camp was in the room along with a couple other people. I yell, "Damn! My Knee." My sister thought I was joking, and I yelled, "No I'm serious, does this look right to you?" So I call my mom, who is furious, and she came on her way. I then realized it was the Left Knee I had popped out this time. I realize that I have bad knees.

So the big boss finally comes in to the room, saying, "No! He has to go by ambulance for Worker's Comp. Reasons." There are three squads in my town, and I get one of the neighboring ones. They showed up and were like, "Don't think you'll be riding for a while." I knew the lady in the back, and wasn't in as much pain as I was the last time. I ask her, "Can I see the BP Cuff?" She says sure, and I start to take my own blood pressure, took my pulse. It gave me something to do since I didn't want to be in there.

So I get to the ER, and I hear all the nurses saying, "Ouch". With me saying back, "You know that doesn't help at all." Finally get to the ER cot, and an intern comes up and says, "I think your knee might be dislocated." No, you think? Send me to X-Ray, and the Doc comes in. Well, we can do this two ways, pop it in, or put you under. Luckily the year prior, it went in by itself. I chose the 'Pop it in, get me outta here'. He says ok, and said sometimes straighting the leg does the trick. No luck. He then proceeds to put a stack of towels under my foot, and says, "Crap, we're gonna have to hyper extend." All under his breath, and I said, "Dude, I know what that means, give me a second." We finally hyper extend my leg, and still no luck. At this point I'm not looking because it hurt so much. I swear he must have been shoving on it, and it finally went in. After that quick relief, I told the Doc I loved him. It's nice to have things where they belong.

Some interesting stories I've read.

[Timmy]

In MacDonald’s, in uniform, place is packed with people, 4 people I volunteer with and myself sitting down eating dinner, laughing so much I had a sever asthma attack (I haven’t had asthma for years). They all hit panic stations 2 sprinted out to the truck and grabbed the 02 pack, one of the guys screams out “someone call an ambulance”, crowd gathers, people making stupid comments about ambulance people needing an ambulance. After copious amounts of Ventolin and oxygen I start to calm down. Five minutes later the ALS truck and MICA car come flying into the car park bells and whistles. I knew 3 of the 4 paramedics. The police evacuate maccas so they could get the stretcher in, even though I said I could walk. When they were wheeling me out to the truck everyone started clapping. I felt like crawling into a hole and dying, it was sooooo embarrassing. To make things worse when we arrived at the ED everyone was going on about an ambulance person having an asthma attack in Maccas, I recon everyone nurse and doctor came in to check on me. I can’t swallow tablets to save my life so it turned into a massive comedy when I tried to swallow one then throw up. Their all so mean in there, they made me stick my figures down my throat to “push it down” they grabbed my head and pulled it back, talk about taking advantage while they could lol. Ended up crushing it up and putting it into a glass orange juice. Worst day of my life! I still haven’t lived it down.

[emt322632]

A long night of drinking...I really don't remember what happened but I do remember my friend, who had been in the Navy at one point in his life, kept buying me drinks.

I foolishly thought I could match him drink for drink, and after many many rounds of Bass Ale I decided to stumble home.

I get to my front steps and can't find my keys...even though they were in my pocket...I call my fiancee (girlfriend at the time) and she comes over to my apartment to find me passed out on the front steps (in the middle of february) with puke all over the place.

Her and my roommate drag me upstairs, and they start freaking out because I started dry heaving, no puking, and I was snoring. I was passed out was all, but they freaked anyway and called the ambulance.

I knew everyone there of course, and they brought the stair chair up to take me downstairs...The funny part was that I put myself in the stair chair and had to show them how to work it. I get taken outside and immediately wake up when I hit the cold air, making my girlfriend and roommate extremely pissed off.

Get to the ER, they hook me up to the auto bp cuff...and my bed gets pulled away slightly, causing the cuff to disconnect and an alarm to go off...I ask one of the nurses "Am I dead?"

Anyway...discharged from the ER a few hours later...that night I go to my ALS class, with a HUGE hangover...and everyone that I went to the bar with was there, laughing away...

Good times...

[Richard B the EMT]

1) December, 1980. At a fund raiser for my VAS, we had a "share the profits" afternoon at the local skating rink. While skating, in the work uniform, to pick up a couple of trinkets to hand out, I hit a flaw in a carpet, fell, and dislocated my left elbow.

One of the off-duty EMTs got the EMT Crew-Chief, telling him, and I quote, "Richard just fell and f***ed up his arm".

The rest of the crew (did I mention I was on duty ON this crew) joined in, put my arm into a so called "A-Frame" splinting, and transported me to the nearest hospital.

Did I mention the skating rink tried to charge me for damaging their carpet?

I was out of work for 4 months after this event.

2) January 1997. While taking a patient off the municipal ambulance, on the Ferno 30 stretcher (a lift in style), I somehow managed to hook my foot on the hard plastic edge of the outdoor carpeting, in the loading dock at the emergency room of the hospital, causing me to fall, taking the patient on the stretcher, and my partner, down with me. The stretcher landed on the wheels, at least, just not all 4 at the same time, so the patient was just shook up, my partner got a small scrape on his hand, but I landed on my left knee, and tore the Meniscus. Another crew and a long time security officer friend at the hospital witnessed this, and came to our assistance, helping my partner take the patient inside, then assisting me inside.

The doctor who examined me thought I was faking an injury, and actually refused to "sign off" on my paperwork to allow me to get the rest of the shift off, but the lieutenant took us off service, and kept us at the station for the remainder of the tour.

My corrective surgery was in July of that year, and didn't get medical clearance to resume regular duties until the following January.

3) May 2005. I am, unfortunately, overweight enough that I am a candidate for gastric bypass or banding surgery. In doing the battery of tests, the cardiologist didn't like what he saw, and had me go for an angiogram. This turned into an angioplasty, as I had a cardiac stent inserted into my heart, with the entry point for the procedure being the right femoral artery.

My instructions had been to treat any discomfort or pain with Tylenol, which I was doing. However, at 2:30 in the morning, 8 days later, the discomfort in my right upper thigh had elevated to pain, level 9 of 10, and I decided it was time to call 9-1-1 on myself.

I sleep sans clothing. The telephone on the second floor of my house is in my mother's room, and I am in the back room. I walked, or staggered would be a better description, down the hallway, woke up my mother, told her I needed to go back to the hospital, and just then, my right leg couldn't, or wouldn't support me, and I collapsed, backwards, against the door, and rode down it, to the floor. (That was lucky, as, had I been a few feet to the left, I would have fallen down the stairs, backwards, and head first!)

Not the sort of thing one wants to do, clothed or otherwise, in front of an 80+ year old woman.

Mom somehow managed to climb over me, to let in the responding crews, even as I called 9-1-1 for the help. Whoever the young lady at the EMD was, she recognized my voice from when I had worked there, and stayed on the line until the first emergency crew got to me. I told her to consider me, as I had the stent, as a cardiac patient, and to respond additional hands, precautionary due to my weight, to assist on the carry down.

With assistance from FDNY Engine 329, FDNY EMS BLS unit 47 Boy 1, FDNY EMS ALS unit 47 Willie 1, the station supervisor Conditions 47 1, and, as he was in the neighborhood, the on-duty Haz-Tech supervising lieutenant (!), I got a quick EKG, and a clearance via the On-line Medical Control to move me to the hospital where the stent had been inserted instead of the local hospital, they got me into a pair of underpants, wrapped me in a sheet, and a carry chair, and got me downstairs and into the street, where they assisted me in getting onto the stretcher, and lifted me into the 47 Willie ambulance. Then, they assisted my mother up the high step into that type 1 modular, not an easy task, as mom is kind of short. Then, with the Haz-Tech lieutenant driving his truck as escort, we headed out to the hospital.

I should mention I was either on a first name basis with everyone in the EMS response, having been partnered with, or dual level responded, or nodding acquaintance with the firefighters from being on calls with them.

After I got home a week later, all the neighbors were asking me how Mom was, thinking she had been the patient, and with 5 pieces of apparatus in the street outside my house, it probably got someone's attention! Well, I did say she is 80+ years old.

[WendyT]

Thankyou for the wonderful stories, it made my saturday a wonderful day of fun and laughing experience.

Eric was just plain excited, of course the spelling errors was really hard to grasp, until Dust asked him what language was that, I just lost it-dam that was funny. But there was a mixture of hilarity through out.

You would think people were considerate to the fact you got hurt, that they made fun of you. Ok in some sense it would be, I guess you just had to be there. :roll:

We need more embarssing moments other than you the pt.

Would make a great compilation if someone wrote a book telling about Joe blow and his Misadventures, now that would be hilarious, dont you think?

[jcas211]

Take one EMT with asthma, mix with known asthma trigger (cleaning back-boards), get one full-blown asthma attack. Add to that a roomful of your buddies and you get me saying (well, gasping one word at a time actually) "I DO NOT need any help, I'm FINE!". Funny what oxygen depravation does to you and how agumentative you become. Thank goodness no-one listens to me at that time. :oops:

[Lone Star]

Take one EMT with asthma, mix with known asthma trigger (cleaning back-boards), get one full-blown asthma attack. Add to that a roomful of your buddies and you get me saying (well, gasping one word at a time actually) "I DO NOT need any help, I'm FINE!". Funny what oxygen depravation does to you and how agumentative you become. Thank goodness no-one listens to me at that time. :oops:

Did you learn that while gasping one word at a time, saying "I'm (gasp) fine(gasp)!", no one really takes you seriously? Works the same way as when you're bleeding all over the place.

Three years after I dealt with that aneurysm, I was involved in a chain reaction accident caused by a drunk driver. (He blew 0.115 at the scene and .012 and 0.13 at the jail)

I'm sitting there pressed against the steering column, trying not to move (didn't want to compromise the spine), this well meaning lady runs up to the drivers side of my truck, and after realizing that I'm alive and she's not getting the door open, hollers at me, "I know CPR!" I told her in a calm voice, "Lady, I'm an EMT, and I can assure you I do NOT need CPR!"

She then asked, "Do you want me to call 9-1-1?" "Um, yeah, I think that would be a really WONDERFUL idea!"

She then proceeds to question me on whether or not I've been drinking...*rolls eyes*

Upon getting to the hospital, I found that I had not only shattered my nose, but had 5 rib fxs as well.