Sights and smells (5-06)

(Note: If you find nastyness and bodily fluids something you don't care to read about, you might want to move on.)

I worked last night...

I realize I'm green... Just about every call is something new and exciting to me still. I haven't seen much. I'm new. I'm new. I'm new. I'm sure there's a whole lot worse than the couple of handful of runs I've gone on. I have so much to learn.

How do you get past smells that would make the average person at the very least, gag?

The answer, breath through your mouth.

Yesterday I had a patient with high blood pressure and a bloody nose. This patient was very drunk, had to be convinced to leave his bottle complete with paper bag behind (“No sir, I’m sorry we can’t bring your beer…No alcohol in the back of the squad”) and due to their high blood pressure and ETOH on board, their nose was bleeding like a faucet. They also relieved themselves on my cot on the way to the hospital. There was a gross amount of half clotted blood on their shirt, all over their hands and face.

I love the aroma of old blood, stale beer, urine, and maybe a little vomit in the morning!!! Let’s go get some breakfast!

I’m not sure what this gentleman had been through to get to his current position in life… It struck me as sad. This gentleman was someone’s son. I took care of him the best I could, reassured him that he was going to be taken care of, cleaned him up…

In appreciation for my empathetic demeanor (and how great I look in a pair of EMT pants), he proposed to me in the ER. Unfortunately for me, I'm already married and Polygamy is frowned upon in the great state of Ohio. An ER nurse was kind enough to offer to get the guy’s number for me.

I thanked him but declined.