Author Topic: just a post for a little self-therapy  (Read 304645 times)

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Offline fatboy

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just a post for a little self-therapy
« on: April 21, 2019, 12:05:32 PM »
At my place of employment I'm the resident EMT. What this means is just about any medical complaint, big or small, gets my attention in some way. My company is small, about 40 people at my location. Everyone knows everyone, turnover is small and we generally get along well, warts and all.

About 10 days ago I was sitting at my desk when a lady that works at the other end of the building came to me to tell me that a guy was having trouble breathing. I grabbed a few things and headed out walking briskly. When I made it to him I found him on the floor. I have seen sick and this guy by initial impression was very sick. I told one person to call 9l1 (probable coronary), and had two others stand at the door to guide EMS to the patient. I then began to do an assessment. 

I had not got too far in before becoming convinced that my co-worker was having a infarction. EMS was there in literally minutes, I gave the medics the info I had and assisted in packaging for transport. The patient was conscience, alert and oriented. I was happy to pass care over to EMS who told me the were taking the patient to a hospital about 2 miles away.

HR was having difficulty contacting the family so I thought it prudent to double check that EMS was taking the patient to the local ED. Glad I did because they told me he was going to a more definitive ED about 15 miles farther. This was actually good news because it told me that the patient was stable enough to travel that far. Short lived because the dispatcher called back a few minutes to tell me he was diverted to yet another ED a bit closer. At this news my heart sunk because this generally means the patient is going south.

To make a long story short my friend and co-worker passed away. I was the last person he knew that he spoke to on this earth. An hour earlier we were talking about fishing. While I had spoken to him about the love of God through Christ I had not in my opinion made the case as strongly as I should have. There was no time to speak of the Savior who died on the cross but there was certainly many times in the almost 20 years I knew this person where I failed to do so.

55 years old and the primary provider for a wife, daughter and granddaughter. In many ways I think we take the hard road when the easy road is right there in front of us and free of charge. As a volunteer EMT, although I don't do much EMS rather I have the credential to augment my volunteer firefighting skills, I do see things, horrific things sometimes, but it generally involves patients that I don't know personally. This incident was much different. I have little doubt that I did the best I could have for my friend but I could have done more in the years prior. When you stand in front of a casket of an individual that you spoke to 10 minutes before they died and you were the one tasked to assist it really drives home the fact that life is but a vapor, you see it then it's gone--James 4:14

ON EDIT: I don't think I have posted on this sub-forum before, I generally limit my activity to the DUmster.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2019, 12:09:34 PM by fatboy »
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