It's a SNOW DAY!!!!! (Unless you work in EMS)

The news had covered the coming storm... "Anywhere from 5-10 inches of snow!" They claimed. "The Storm of the Year" another said.

You can only call "Wolf" so many times before people stop listening. And that's where I found myself this morning. At least four times in the last two months I've watched and listened with baited breath while the local meteorologists talked about the huge snow storms that were going to hit Toledo.

Then one hits.

Here's what greeted me around five am:


Oh shit.

When I woke up just before five am, Toledo Public wasn't even on a delay. Within twenty minutes, they were cancelled. For those of you unfamiliar with the NW Ohio area, Toledo doesn't take cancelling school lightly. It's got to really come down to cancel school.

It came down last night and this morning. And just like in the story of "The Boy Who Called Wolf", well, I didn't make much of the several "false alarms" that had been put out there.... Then it bit me in the backside. Future Cardiologist not only did not have school today, but Toledo was under a Level Two snow emergency (which means don't you DARE get on the road unless you need to be).

Here's a shot from about seven am:

Sooo... what does an EMT in Toledo do when most of the city is shut down? Here ya go:

That's right, we kick our feet up and take a nap. We didn't get a run until well after 11am, which has not happened once since I started at the company I'm with now... Not even on Sundays, which are notoriously slow. Between 6am and 11am I managed to eat a bowl of ramen noodles, consume a cup of coffee, build a snowman, and take an hour and a half long nap.

After 11am my day got a little more interesting.

We picked up a frequent flier who in the past I have never had a problem lifting (Given his sidze, this is quite an accomplishment. Think Jaba the Hut sized). Today, initially, I could not physically force myself to lift him. (He's a regular Dialysis transfer I've lifted him several times in the past with no problem). I was starting to feel pretty bad about the situation. What was different about today? Turns out he put on 45 pounds (yes, that's damn near FIFTY POUNDS of weight) since his last Dialysis appt (a whopping 48 hours ago).

Yikes. The day, which had started out calmly, was not continuing the same way. Thank God I managed to beg the God of Flexoril to give me the strength to get this fellow on his way.

It took us several attempts but I managed to raise that cot three "clicks" over six attempts.

Next up came the "crunch heard around the world"

Yep.. friends and neighbors, an ECF nurse damn near broke my hand today.

Watch who you ask for an assist if you're not familiar with the person. It doesn't matter if their name tag has "DON, BS RN, RN, or STNA" on it. Always pay attention to where your hands are, how you are standing, and how you are lifting. The end result, should you blindly trust the person next to you, is not pleasant.

Honestly, initially I though my hand was broken. The "help" we had was "less than communicative".

The end result is I need to pay closer attention to where my hands are.