Brad's (now retired!) Firefighter/Paramedic...and Other Misc Info..

When I went to Indiana University, a new singer had started his career...Johnnie Cougar...Johnnie Cougar Mellencamp...I bring this up because after the trauma symposium my wife and I are going to tomorrow, we're going to the Johnnie Mellencamp concert at the Tweeder Center in Chicago. Hopefully we sleep all night at the station and the opressive heat will be over also!! I'll update in a few....

...So my niece pounds on our door at midnight saying a friend they were following crashed his motorcycle about 200 feet down the road. My wife and I went to him where he was sitting in the road complaining about a sore ankle. He had a small cut to his heel and that was it! He was really lucky...while driving about 70 MPH down a country road on a large Harley Davidson, this guy hits (and kills) a deer that ran out in front of him, loses control (duh) and crashes in the ditch about 200 feet away from the collision..and has a small cut to his foot...It never stops amazing me on how people do and don't get hurt in various accidents. And now, in the sweltering heat, I'm getting paid to do the same thing!!! LOL

Well the papers ( Post Tribune and The Times ) confirm it...first murder since 1998 in this normally quiet town. Other then that, a few more calls including a lady that just needed to be lifted off the floor at about midnight. ...and a police radio dispatch of "someone attempting to screw one of the bulldogs on the square". Here's the actual dogs .

Working another 24 with heat index over 100..and have already had a DOA that is a "possible crime scene"...we'll see what happens.. Otherwise we try to stay cool and hope we only have fires in air conditioned places...LOL

Ended up with 12 calls..including a 91 year old lady that fell 2 days earlier in her extremely small bathroom. It was very difficult to get this 190 lb lady up and out but we did it somehow. And she wasn't hurt from the fall...but had some pretty bad wounds from laying on her leg for 2 day as you could imagine. And, business-wise, I go to help 1 of the people in our team get a new person started tonight...just showing them the site, seeing if they have any questions, etc. This is always a lot of fun for all of us as we get to know the people better and let them know they can call on us or the rest of our support team anytime they need anything...

Eight...maybe ten calls so far!!??!! Power outage that led to an elevator rescue, loaning a generator to a bed-ridden person, carbon monoxide check, several medical calls, twisted ankle...can't wait for round 2 (the second half of the shift.. about 16 hours left)...)

I think I'll stop blogging at work..we seem to always have calls at night when I do (we emergency medical folk are a superstitious lot..eg "Don't say it's 'quiet'..we're sure to be busy then!!)! Anyway we've had 4 calls after midnight with our rig handling 2. The last was someone passed out on a corner after a night of drinking, as the patient said, "lots" of alcohol. But we did get to use a word out of the movie Hitch to this patient...."Ok, Pumpkin , get up and get on the cot". He moaned something, tried to get up, and then was lifted to the cot. And today we have a cookout for Father's day..and I could use a few Coronas to unwind....and I will (drink Coronas and unwind). I'm not a big drinker but when I know I don't have to drive anywhere, I do occasionally take advantage of that....LOL.

They were short and the secretary, Deb (who will do anything for you), asked if I could work the last 14 hours yesterday...so I did. I don't mind doing that every once in a while but since the business, I don't have to or want to...work any extras anywhere. When the business got more successful, I stopped working my five extra jobs at various ambulance services. So I work extra when the department needs me to and that's about it. The shift itself was pretty quiet...1 call in the early evening and that was it...a lady with cancer...I guess there is a reason for everything.... even suffering like this.................... Tommorrow is my regular shift and the 11th Annual Pancake breakfast...if you're close...come on down (go to Crown Point Fire Rescue site for more information) or email or call me...don't worry, I won't try to sell you anything....except a pancake or two................he,he,he...

Here I am, posting from the kitchen of the fire station, wirelessly. I just got my laptop back from my step-daughter's trip to Sweden and this is my first day back at work with it. I know I'm kinda strange but I've always said for gifts, as long as it's battery operated, digital, or wireless, you can't go wrong! We had 12 calls this shift but nothing overtaxing. A few accidents, a chest pain and a few trouble breathings...a pretty typical day and no one very serious. And as far as the business, 1 of our team members, who works her butt off, just signed up 2 more people with a potential of 4 more. She loves the business and really wants to succeed. She, like myself, have no other alternative for retirement. I have a pension but it will pay me 60% of what I have a hard time living on now. And if I don't want to hand out carts at my local supercenter when I'm 60, my business is my only alternative, as it is for a lot of people. Do you have enough money whe...

Well I got our support team to Iowa and we learned a few new strategies for the business that will make this grow even quicker...That is another part of the business I love..no matter how well things are going, our team is always looking for ways to improve.... A nice thunder storm just went through... I love weather and storms, etc..who knows why. And the best weather site around is Wunderground . I watch with 20 minute increments where and when the storm was going to hit! It's free unless you want to pay $5 a year to remove ads. And no work updates since I'm on vacation..back to O'hare tomorrow to pick up my step-daughter who is getting back from studying abroad in Sweden... More later..

It's sometime in the AM and I just finished my report on our lethargic lady....drugs???...OD???...Stroke???....I don't know but other then being lethargic, everything was good with her...if you call lethargic ok.... And... I took my wife, Crystal, to the airport so she could go to her ER conference in California. And while on the plane, someone was having chest pain so she went to help but could not open "the box" with first line drugs in it because she wasn't an MD. Eventually an MD showed, the box was opened, IV's were started, nitro was given, and the gentleman got better. And for her efforts, American Airlines upgraded her on her flight back to 1st class!! So it's true that your good efforts come back to you 100 fold...........

Quiet night and quiet shift with only 3 calls all together...so far. Hopefully I can make it throughout the rest of the 1 hour left on my 24. Going to take my youngest out for breakfast, Ben , and then go home. Tonight 1 of my parnters on the shift is having his gala 4th Annual Kick-off to Summer cookouts so we'll be there and may go out with friend on their sailboat on Lake Michigan tommorrow. So I'm off to have 1 of my no sugar, no carbs XS energy drinks (shameless plug for a product in my business).

Fire Dog Originally uploaded by Brad's Stuff . Chicago had it's cows around the city to promote tourism, etc....we have the Bulldogs (the mascot of the local high school) in the city where I work. Here Is our Fire Dog in front of our station.

A little busy today...and everyone seems really sick. The last was an 86 year old lady, alert but with no blood pressure for no reason that we could figure. Later we found that she had a drug-induced hepatitis caused by Zocor somewhere in her life and now it was "her time". We got a pressure of 90/72 after IV fluids were given but the hospital couldn't keep the pressure and the patient was a DNR anyway (Do Not Resucitate..where the patient and/or the family states they want no extraordinary means to prolong the patient's life). Her only complaint was dizziness. But as things progressed, they sedated her to make her comfortable (and as the oxygen content lowered in her, she became more disoriented, pulling at her oxygen, etc. and sedation helped there too) and apparently she passed away peacefully in the ER. As a disclaimer, I'm only repeating what the staff and patient said about Zocor, which I believe is for high cholesterol. There are side effects to a lot of me...

I've been playing around with Netbux and Pay-Pup...partly because my boys are doing Pay-Pup also. These are Google searches you do (or you can try other search engines) and they pay .02 for every search up to .80/day for Netbux and 1.00/day for Pay-Pup. Ther's a lot of forums, etc that say how great these are and at the same time that they are scams. You can also buy referrals (they will pay you 100% of your referrals pay up to 1 deep). I bought 4 and they seem to be working occasionally. Anyway... If you want to try it out (this is the experiment )(evil laughter continues), Sign up with the link in my sidebar..it's free and just takes a little time each day...or just use it as frequently as you normally would while searching the net.. In a month or 2 I'll report what happens....... (end evil laughter due to stomach pain)

At about 3:10 AM we get a call for a diabetic with low blood sugar. Now these kind of calls are interesting and you feel like you really make a difference. Sugar is low and patient is usually lethargic or unconscious. You give dextrose through the IV and Poof!... the patient is conscious and signing a refusal of transport. But not this one.... Patient is still lethargic afterwards and you find that the patient has 2 months to live due to a brain tumor. This complicates a simple diabetic call and refusal, to say the least. Patient thinks wife is trying to kill him (please don't tell me that too) but find that tumor is on the part of the brain that affects emotions...or at least you hope that's the truth and the wife doesn't want the patient dead for insurance reasons etc. Maybe I've seen to many bad movies about this but we always have to think of the possiblities. More family came and everything seemed confirmed (as long as the family didn't want patient dead too.....

Have had a few calls today...2 of which were ours (we have 2 ambulances and rotate calls..whether it's a medical or fire call). Both of ours were nursing home calls but none seemed to be too serious..at least IVs didn't have to be started. So now were not up for the next call so early bed sounded good.. I know it's only 9pm here but I need to take what I can get. Also I have 2 appointments for the business tommorrow.. a paramedic in an Illinois who is in already and going to help him get started. The other is someone interested in the business and am going to show her the business plan. So a beauty nap is what I need (I know you can't give an opinion without a picture posted but just imagine) so I can look somewhat professional!

If you want to read the articles and see some pictures: The Times The Post

Interesting day yesterday..a girl that works for a dental lab "blinks" (as she put it), drives off the road and into a small stream..that carried her and her car 200 feet and stopped in the middle of the stream. The call came in as "vehicle in the water, subject trapped, car filling with water" which tends to give you the old pucker factor enroute. Well, when we got there, there she was, sitting with her legs crossed, on top of the car, with 2 boxes next to her, not injured. After the accident, she saved the dentures she was delivering and put them on the roof before getting out herself! Now that's dedication!! Our dive team got her out of the stream (it was moving a little fast but was only waist deep).

It was about 6:45 AM and just finishing dishes, etc at work when we got a call (at least we slept all night)..(our shift ends at 7:20AM). Anyway... the call came in as a man fell off a steel beam (presumably on the ground) and fell cutting his leg. Well, it was close...a 3 1/2 ton steel beam fell off a forklift and fell on a guys ankle....It was obviously broke but a little nitrous and a little morphine made him relatively happy...at least made him forget about it for a bit. Well today I go to 1 of the people in my business and we call people on her list to see if they're interested. This is pretty much the heart of the business...talk to people, see if they're interested, make an appointment for about 20 minutes if they are, see if they want more info or want to register, do it all over again... It's a nice change from helping people that are sick and injured to helping people who are financially ailing...