I do it for the suicide (886 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.43 on 19 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Misanthropic (View user info) at 2006-01-04 12:45:40 EST
I know I should have been in bed by now, but I wasn't. I wasn't far away - evening piss and a quick brush of teeth. Heading to my bedroom and the pager lets loose with it's annoying tune. Acknowledging it, I look at the screen, "Cat 1/2".
I live in a small town out in the middle of nowhere near enough to the centre of Australia. Population is around 5000 people, and, like most small towns, relies heavily on volunteers to run the local emergency services. This includes the ambulance service.
After ringing the main communications centre to let them know that I have received the message, I get further details of the job.
"Category two, male has self harmed, past history of doing so" and an address. Didn't ring a bell, but not all of them do. Just to be sure, I ask for police assistance (the only emergency service not voluntary). Who knows if this guy is still going off.
I arrive at the ambulance station, and being the first one to arrive, start it up and move it out onto the front apron. Waiting for the second crew member, I confirm the address and get a job number. During this time, my partner arrives and informs me that we are supposed to have a new guy riding with us, but not to worry about it as the address is that of another volunteer ambulance officer.
The red and blue lights made for some fantastic patterns on the houses and trees as we belted past them, it's somewhat relaxing as the heart rate increases, knowing that you have no idea about what you will be faced with when you arrive.
My partner directed me to the house, and I pulled up out the front, leaving lights on and engine running for a quick get away if needed. Collecting all the kit we could need, we cautiously entered the house. Naturally, no police as yet. They are ever so handy up here.
A largish woman I'd never met before hurried out to meet us and direct us into the kitchen, where we encountered Tom, a fellow ambo, and doona with a pair of feet out one end and a head out the other. At first I thought that the barking noise that he made was a good sign. It meant he was still kicking.
Tom was saturated, and said that he had dragged his son out of the shower where he found him unconscious. Unwrapping the boy from the doona showed the extent of the damage. Both arms had been sliced open from wrist to the middle of the upper arm. Old wounds where the boy had sliced before were healing up, and the colour, it's not something that can be described. Ashen, I think is the word most people use, but this was worse. Not quite beige, not quite grey, not yet translucent.
My partner tried to get a response from the boy as I set up oxygen via a non-rebreathing mask, then a recoil bag, just incase he decided he didn't want to breath anymore. At this point, our brand new, only supposed to observe member arrived. Easy job for him - get the stretcher prepared, then get ready to drive, we'll get your car later.
My partner started going through a set of observations, such as pulse and blood pressure. It took me a while to realise what 100/60 meant, and the pulse was only 50. Healthy? Not really. There's blood missing, but how much? I step into the hallway, and the mum pointed me to the bathroom. Looking in the shower, I found a scene I hope to not have to see very often. The ceiling and walls had multiple streaks of blood on them, and the remains of whatever was being washed down the drain in the shower. For all I knew, it could have been only a litre he lost, or it could be five. What made matters worse was the pile of thick, gooey shit across the base of the shower. This is not a good sign, and means that we couldn't fuck about too long.
Telling my partner what I had found, it was then a fluid set of actions up a long board and onto the stretcher. Once strapped in, an airway was placed into the boy, defibrillator attached, and we were off.
Loaded into the ambulance, my partner changes from oxygen mask to resuscitation bag. The new guy starts driving, and radios ahead, stating that we are travelling Category 1. I look at my partner sideways "Why?". "He stopped breathing two minutes ago, but Tom isn't any use to us. He's thinking like a dad, not an ambo. Didn't want to upset them anymore."
Arriving at the hospital, I was quite happy to see that a doctor was already there. In our small town, the doctors head on home around 5 pm, and there are only two nurses on of a night, so it pays to phone ahead to get doc out of bed.
Into the hospital and into the resuscitation room, we slide him off our stretcher and onto a hospital bed. A nurse attempts to get venous access in his feet, one bag of saline, one of Hartmanns solution, both pressure infused. The doc checked the boys pupils, "Nothing." "How bad nothing?" asked the IV nurse. "Possibly braindead."
It's comments like that which start making you question ethics. Do we save him, letting his parents struggle with his care, or do we let him die, which he could do eventually, and, after all, isn't that what he wanted?
Questions like that don't really matter when you hear the beeping of the defibrillator as the monitor shows ventricular fibrillation. He was going down hill, and quickly.
To be continued...
User Reviews
Submitted by MandaPanda (user info) at 2006-01-29 17:46:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This was good. I wanted to be an EMT once upon a time.
Submitted by shitfuck (user info) at 2006-01-29 05:49:49 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
I cunt read
Submitted by BranDo (user info) at 2006-01-21 07:12:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Okidoks and G'day!!
Submitted by Banga3386 (user info) at 2006-01-21 06:58:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
OOOh ooooh OOOOOOHHHH! Very well written (sans typos and slang that not everyone would catch on to) and you stopped at the perfect point to start a new post. Cheers mate
The Bang
Submitted by leilani (user info) at 2006-01-05 10:51:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Misanthropic (user info) at 2006-01-05 05:06:44 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Faidel (user info) at 2006-01-04 20:31:00 (#)
Ranking: 2
I read Uber for things like this. REal life experiences and observations. wd.
One question: "What made matters worse was the pile of thick, gooey shit across the base of the shower" - What was the "gooey shit"?? Coagulated blood?
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Nope. Shit. Nearly diareah-like. Basically, he was at the point where the muscles start to relax, or nearly dead.
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or, you were rescuing TUBGIRL.
Submitted by sinna (user info) at 2006-01-05 07:15:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Damn this was good. Looking forward to the next part.
Submitted by Misanthropic (user info) at 2006-01-05 05:06:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Faidel (user info) at 2006-01-04 20:31:00 (#)
Ranking: 2
I read Uber for things like this. REal life experiences and observations. wd.
One question: "What made matters worse was the pile of thick, gooey shit across the base of the shower" - What was the "gooey shit"?? Coagulated blood?
--------------------------------------------------------
Nope. Shit. Nearly diareah-like. Basically, he was at the point where the muscles start to relax, or nearly dead.
Submitted by Deconstruction (user info) at 2006-01-04 20:54:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Heavy Australian dialect- I didn't understand a lot of things you said.
Good post otherwise.
Submitted by Faidel (user info) at 2006-01-04 20:31:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I read Uber for things like this. REal life experiences and observations. wd.
One question: "What made matters worse was the pile of thick, gooey shit across the base of the shower" - What was the "gooey shit"?? Coagulated blood?
Submitted by the_thorne (user info) at 2006-01-04 19:24:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I didn't find it hard to read at all, knew what you were talking about from the get go....(don't worry about my southern friends, one day they'll catch up)
Submitted by HighVoltage900 (user info) at 2006-01-04 13:43:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by Maddog (user info) at 2006-01-04 13:41:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Always eat your vegetables
Submitted by leilani (user info) at 2006-01-04 13:25:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
darwinism at its finest
Submitted by Misanthropic (user info) at 2006-01-04 13:08:16 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by TheSunGod (user info) at 2006-01-04 13:01:09 (#)
Ranking: 2
bit heavy on the aussie dialect there, a little hard for us dumb yankees to comprehend. but i did like this very much
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Yer, I was a bit worried about that, but it's the only language I know!! I'll try and make it a bit more language-neutral next time around
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2006-01-04 13:02:13 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by TheSunGod (user info) at 2006-01-04 13:01:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
bit heavy on the aussie dialect there, a little hard for us dumb yankees to comprehend. but i did like this very much.
Submitted by paulblakeford (user info) at 2006-01-04 12:58:29 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Started off strong, but I could do with a little less info-dumping on the narrator's background.
Submitted by STIXS (user info) at 2006-01-04 12:57:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 for concept
Submitted by simple_catalyst (user info) at 2006-01-04 12:46:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
'E' for effort.