Exxon Valdez

Spent the first three hours helping another car lift a heavy patient on a lengthy wait and return transport.

Then when we were coming back into the city we were stopped on Main Street when a pedestrian came up to us and said some fluid was pouring out of the bottom of our ambulance. We turned onto a side street and the engine died. We got out and it was like the Exxon Valdez -- we dumped all the oil in our engine, a huge black slick. While waiting for a tow, we went to a deli and got some excellent pasta with sausage and marinara sauce.

Switched into a new rig, we got a call for a chest pain. I thought it was a lady hyperventilating. She said she felt tingling in her arms. She had a seizure history, but nothing like this, she said. I was getting frustrated getting her to describe what exactly she meant when she said she had seizures, I'm talking to her and then we are in the ambulance, her left arm and left leg stiffen and start shaking more and more. I put in an IV and get the Ativan out, and ask my partner to get some quick demographics, but it is too late, her eyes deviate to the left and she starts really seizing, though only her left side. Her friends, who are meeting us at the hospital have her pocket book and we know nothing about her -- not even a name. The ativan stops the seizure, and fortunately just as we arrive at the hospital, she wakes up and is quite coherent, much more so then initially. She says she had a focal seizure five years ago.

Our last call is a transfer. My partner is only on the schedule for eight hours. I'm on for ten, but they let me go home because they have no one to work with me.