"A life lived with fear is a life half-lived."
Sunday, May 13, 2001
Oh boy. If there's anybody out there wanting to get into the emergency medicine field, allow me to give you this simple piece of advice. Do not wait until the last week to study for your written EMT final! By some miracle of god, I passed with an 88.5%. 9 people failed out of the 31 students left in the class and 3 of those 9 people sat adjacent to my desk. They all received their finals before I did and it made my stomach knot up when I saw their grades. I thought that I was going to fail, but when I saw that 88.5% written in red ink, I wanted to do cartwheels down the hall... well not really. I was happy though!Now with the written final out of the way, I have my skills testing this Wednesday. And once again, I will cram it all in my heard tomorrow and Tuesday night. I really think procrastination is a genetic disease. I'd really pay large amounts of money if somebody out there finds me a cure! A pill-form would be preferable.
I think out of my final months of this class, the actual ride-alongs on the ambulance were the best. Actually seeing and doing skills that I had been reading about for 14 weeks really put it together in my head. I also had a lot of time to think about what I was getting myself into. I remember sitting there in the back of that ambulance on my first call, a respiratory arrest. I kept saying to myself, "Ok Andy, just don't kill anyone, you'll be ok." My little mantra made me even more nervous and I tried to control my own breathing before I went into respiratory arrest. I had this cold realization now that I was no longer a by-stander who just called 9-1-1 when someone needed help, I was 9-1-1 now, coming to save the day. People were now going to depend on me to be there for them and save their lives or the lives of their loved ones. My "deep-thinking" stopped as we came to a stop at the scene. It was a nice neighborhood and I guess I was comforted that my first call was not going to be in the middle of downtown San Bernardino and it wasn't an assault or a drug-overdose.
The crew and I were greeted at the door by a woman in her 30's. Her red eyes and weak voice hinted that she had been upset and crying. I smiled at her, for some reason. Here I was, on the worst day of some stranger's life and I was smiling. But she gave me a faint smile back, so I guess it was ok. She probably figured it was an "everything is going to be all right" smile. As I entered the scene unfolded before my eyes. On the kitchen floor was an elderly man, who was as pale as a ghost. His lips were an eerie blue and his hazy eyes were rolled back into his head. If it weren’t for his spastic chest movement, struggling to catch a breath of air, I would have thought he was a corpse. On the other side of the man, sitting in an electric wheel chair was an elderly woman, who I presumed was his wife. She seemed unphased by what was going on, which told me she had been through this before or she wasn't mentally "with us".
While I had been surveying around the room, the paramedic and the EMT had exploded into action. They both moved like they had done this 100 times, which I'm sure they had. The paramedic looked up at me and I froze, "Oh man," I thought, "He's going to make me do something!"
"Andy," he said. "This man needs an OPA and you need to bag him."
I nodded and nervously searched frantically through the medic bag looking for an OPA. An OPA is basically a piece of plastic that the EMT shoves down your throat when you're unconscious to keep your airway open. I had shoved one down a mannequins throat dozens of times, but now I had to do it on a real person. With shaky hands I measured the OPA's against the side of his face until I found the right size. I opened his mouth with one hand and tried to get the OPA, but it was a lot harder than I thought. I struggled, trying to force this piece of plastic into a stranger's mouth while his family members looked on. The back of my neck burned with frustration and I was positive that I looked like I was trying to kill this man to his loved ones. Finally I got it in place and immediately I put the bag-valve-mask on his face to give him oxygen. After only a minute of oxygen, the color of his skin returned to normal and the blueness left his lips. It was incredible! I felt like I had brought this man back from the dead. He had one foot in the grave when we arrived and now it appeared he was going to be just fine.
I don't think I'll ever forget that first call and more importantly, I won't forget that good feeling I got after we left that man in the good hands of the ER. I can see that man now, sitting with his wife in that same kitchen all because of a bunch of strangers came into his home and took him back from the clutches of death. I know I didn't see anything terrible during my ride-outs. I didn't see the child who was accidentally run over by his father because he was playing behind the family car. I didn't see the homeless man who passed out drunk on the railroad tracks and woke up missing a few limbs. And I didn't see an infant who died in its sleep, discovered by the family the next morning. These are things I don't want to see, but I know I will eventually. But if I can get the gut feeling that I had with the elderly man, knowing I did the best I could to save a persons life, then I think I'll be ok.
Posted by Andrew McEntyre | 11:26 PM | Leave a Note
Monday, May 07, 2001
Man who walks through airport terminal sideways is going to Bangkok...UPDATE COMING SOON! (after finals)
Posted by Andrew McEntyre | 10:04 PM | Leave a Note
Wednesday, February 21, 2001
My Morning Drive Checklist- By: Andy M.1) Barreling around the corner of a steep, mountain road and hitting a nice, thick patch of ice 2/3's of the way through the turn.
2) Hauling ass down the highway, because I'm late as usual, and glancing in my rear-view mirror just in time to see a California Highway Patrol Officer closing in on me.
3) Changing CD's while drinking coffee, eating a healthy McDonald's breakfast, and merging with a wall of bumper-to-bumper semi-trucks.
4) Spitting coffee all over the dashboard as I slam on my brakes because the flow of traffic decided to halt suddenly.
5) Reducing my speed from 50 m.p.h. to 25 m.p.h. as I roll by the really fat campus police officer, who is chomping jelly donuts in his Ford Explorer.
6) Driving aimlessly up and down the full parking lots, desperately looking for an empty space so I can park my truck and run to class.
7) Yelling at the asshole that just jacked my parking space and sending him the proper sign language.
8) And finally! Parking in the over-flow lot and making the 15-minute uphill hike to my English class.
Posted by Andrew McEntyre | 11:30 PM | Leave a Note
Tuesday, February 13, 2001
Ok, when the last time you have updated something is in a different month, it has been awhile. So I guess it's time for me to kick down some action on Drain Bamaged. First, let me start with a weather report. It is snowing like mad right now!! I have never seen this much in the 7 years I have lived in this town. Of course, we have a nice big driveway that requires constantly shoveling and plowing. So you can guess what I have been doing lately. I was out there shoveling in the blizzard earlier and I was thinking of some stuff. I guess the first thing I thought of was, "How in the hell are my parents going to clear the driveway when I move out?" Yes, they are getting older and more frail by the day. So I guess they have two options. One is that they could buy a whole bunch of food and become hermits. The other is that they could move to Florida and spend the last of their days playing golf and catching skin cancer out by the swimming pool of their retirement village.God, I really don't want to get old. I just can't help thinking about what I'm going to be like when I'm an old putz and I can tell you, it won't be a pretty picture. With all of the injuries I have sustained from snowboarding, surfing, high school football, and whatever other sport I've put my body through, it'll be interesting to see if I can walk when I'm 60. Then I reminisce on all of those "boxing nights" that I had in the garage with my buddies. Receiving blow after blow to the head and numerous concussions is going to catch up with me eventually. It's kind of depressing, to picture what my youth is going to turn into. But I guess I can have fun when I get older, somehow. I'll think of stuff to do and keep my occupied. Maybe I'll shop-lift all day. I mean, how many old people do you see in prison for shop-lifting? None! Who is going to throw an old man in jail for stealing some Depends? Another thing that'll be strange is what kind of music me and my generation are going to listen to. There is going to be old people listening to rap! I have so much trouble seeing that. Could you picture your grandparents jumping around the house and breaking stuff while they blast some Limp Bizkit? I think not. So it will be interesting to see what is going to happen to Generation X. I guess that is something to live for.
All right my future old people. You all take good care of your bodies so our grandchildren don't get sick of our feeble complaints when we're well into our 80's and push our wheel chairs out into the middle of a busy street. Peace out! And thanks for some of your letters! I've never got fan mail before ;)
Posted by Andrew McEntyre | 12:13 AM | Leave a Note
Thursday, January 25, 2001
Hi boys and girls! Sorry I haven't been writing, but I've just been so busy. A hot English teacher, oropharyngeal airways and snow. That about sums up my week. So I guess I'll explain in order.Hot English teacher- Ms. Cowles...ahhhh, yes. She is definitely the hottest teacher I have ever had. She's only like 25! She should set a new standard for teachers across America. If all teachers looked like her (or better), the U.S. would not have a public school attendance problem anymore and students would be more than happy to stay awake in class. At least that's my opinion. It's funny, sometimes I catch the other guys in the class stuck in this dreamy gaze, locked on her. And I'm pretty sure I do the exact same thing. At least I know it's not just me.
Oropharyngeal airway- Say that three times fast! It is this thing they are teaching us to stick down people's throats when they are unconcious, in order to establish an open airway. It slides along the roof of your mouth until it reaches your uvula (that little punching bag-thingie that sticks down in the back of your throat) and then you rotate it 180 degrees until it lays down the back of your throat, resting flush with your lips. You see, I have a REALLY bad gag reflex. I mean I gag when I even see a tongue depressor, heaven forbid one comes near my mouth. So it may sound stupid, but jamming that thing down a dummies throat makes me cringe, but I got over it. I just hope I'm never rendered unconscious.
And last, but not least, snow- We got dumped on again! And yet again, those city plows that we pay taxes for, failed to do their job. So I was sliding my truck all over the roads this morning on the way to school. I engaged in the "death slide" on the way down this street called Sonoma. The "death slide" is when your brakes lock up and you become this unstable mass, barreling down the road sideways, hoping a car is not coming the opposite way.
So that was the week and life of Andy. I hope you all enjoyed this episode. Tune in next time!
Posted by Andrew McEntyre | 10:11 PM | Leave a Note
Wednesday, January 17, 2001
Hey out there! How is everybody? I'm doing great, I guess. I just started my E.M.T. class today and I love it already! It's not a very easy class though, not at all. When the teacher says, "The final is a bitch," (in her exact words) I guess that really means something. The grading scale is way jacked up too. 80% is passing in this class, anything below is an "F". No-questions-asked. We also get 13 hours, minimum, of homework each week. The class alone is 8 hours every Wednesday. Add 12 hour shifts rolling with an ambulence crew... too many numbers. Ok, bottom line, the class is awesome. I'm going to learn how to save lives and I'm going to be a happy guy.Today, we went over legal issues that deal with an E.M.T. It was pretty interesting stuff. There are so many "what-ifs" with this job. Nothing seems to be in black and white, but it's all laying right in the grey area. Things like- parents have no authority to refuse treatment for their child, if their refusal is based on religious beliefs. Or if someone is a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate), you must honor that DNR document, no matter how much one of their family members begs you to save their loved ones' life. It deals with some pretty ethical issues and many of these issues could get you into some serious trouble if you don't abide by the rules. Could you just sit there and let someone die if you had the knowledge and ability to save their life? Could you defy the wishes of parent in order to save their sick or injured child's life? These are questions an E.M.T. might face in his or her career, and it is definetly something to think about.
This job is for me though. I couldn't go through life, knowing exactly what I was going to do that day. Like working in an assembly line. I would lose my mind and then I'd be the next story on the news where the guy brings a gun to work and mows down his coworkers. Well, I probably wouldn't go that far, but I'm sure I would not be happy! I need challenges and different environments. I crave situations that let my adrenaline flow. Sometimes I think I perform my best when I am under pressure. And aside from all that action crap, knowing I can make a difference would make this job all worth-while.
All right, that's all for now. I'm exhausted. Bye!
Posted by Andrew McEntyre | 11:29 PM | Leave a Note
Monday, January 15, 2001
What's up everybody? Not much here, I'm just chillin' like a villain. Eating hot, chocolate chip cookies and watching it snow. (ha, how many villains chill like that?) I had a busy weekend, though, and it's very nice just to relax. I work in a restraunt, bussing and cooking, where ever they need me most. It's kind of a pain in the ass job, since my boss is too cheap to hire more people to help me out. But it's all I need right now to pay for gas and chicks... important stuff. There are a few things I've learned from working in a restaurant though. One is that eating out is bullshit. It'd be so much easier on me if the restaurant came to your house and catered for you. Then I wouldn't have to clear any tables and I'd be such a happy person. The other thing I've learned is NOT to have children. I clean up after 20 or 30 little terds every night and it really wears on my nerves. The things parents let their children do! Everything from ripping open every single sugar packet and dumping the contents all over the floor to making the most terrible concoctions in their water glasses, then spilling it all over the place. I think it's God getting back at me for doing the exact same thing when I was a little brat.If and when I do have kids, there is one thing I'll never do- hit them. Nothing pisses me off more than when I see a parent smack their child. It just gets my blood boiling. It's like, "Yeah, go ahead, smack your child in the face. That'll make it stop crying, great job mom!" They need to make a special place for bad parents, a place where they get smacked everytime they whine or make a mistake. God help us if I ever run this country... Bad parents every where would have a new reason to buy diapers...
All right, enough ranting tonight. Tomorrow I will start my second semester of college (yeah! I made it through the first). All right ladies and gents, take it easy! And send me mail! My box is so empty and lonely.
Posted by Andrew McEntyre | 9:00 PM | Leave a Note