First paramedic experience! :)

[Joe]

Who thought it'd be saving myself? I'm a fuckin' lifeguarding legend now I guess.

Anyhow, imagine this: I'm in the shower (don't need to imagine vividly) and I go to sit down, slip and fall and my left foot's (luckily it's the hi-hat and just sits there ^*^) big toe gets slammed up the bottom of the shower door (the thing that's supposed to hold the windshield wiper type thing that keeps water in) between the nail and the toe. From it comes blood, and when it's wiped away, torn and misplaced skin.

So, I activate the EAP. Immediately call for help ("MOMMY!!!!") and apply direct and immediate pressure (hand towel). Then (after getting back in and washing my hair, ew if I didn't), I cleaned the wound and dressed it with two bandaids, laid parallel, and a 4x4 8ply gause pad wrapped around, finishing it off with what kind of looked like scotch tape, albiet thicker.

I wonder if I'll have to work tomorrow? I'll probably get a perminant spot at the bottom of a slide (happy happy joy joy, yay for chair!).

EDIT -
If anyone's wondering, yes, I did wrap a towel around myself before my mom came.

[CrAz3D]

...and you just cut your toe?...was it deep?
What is EAP?

[dark_drake]

What is EAP?

Emergency Action Plan

[CrAz3D]

What is EAP?

Emergency Action Plan

oh.

So the EMT was Joe?...

this is a lame story.

better story:
I ate bread that had mold on it for lunch

[d&q]

Well that's disgusting!

[CrAz3D]

Well that's disgusting!

...It was only partially moldy & I tore that part off anyhow

[Newby]

Why were you sitting down in the shower? Curious.

[Joe]

I shower for a half hour and just sit on the floor. Sauna-ish.

...and you just cut your toe?...was it deep?
What is EAP?

No, it kinda went between my toenail and my toe and ripped the skin under my nail (I'm assuming, at least).

And yeah, an EAP is an Emergency Action Plan, lifeguarding term. It's what you do when someone drops dead, cuts their finger off, cuts their head off (and consequently drops dead), etc. It's activated by two or three long whistles depending on what program you're trained in (Ellis or Red Cross, respectively).

So the EMT was Joe?...

I'm not actually an EMT by certification, but by what the acronym means, Emergency Medical Technition, yes.

EDIT -
I just took the dressings off (I don't like sleeping while my extremities are coated in blood) and it looks really cool. The area around where I stabbed myself is basically pure white (and numb.. that worries me!) and then about 1/2 cm away it turns right to light-purple (like when you stand still for 30 minutes and look down at your feet, and see them when half your blood is down there). It didn't actually bleed too much into the bandage, but it being white worries me.. hopefully it's just because it was in bandages and gause all day. I called my friend Rick (he's a leader in my youth group) and left him a message asking him about it (he's an EMT) so hopefully he'll call me back soon. :)

[Joe]

Out of curiosity, I looked up paramedic on Wikipedia. Heres the listing of their training, with strikethroughs on what I can't do:

Some of the many skills performed (as permitted by local protocol):

    * Basic Life Support
    * Advanced Cardiac Life Support - ACLS
    * Pediatric Advanced Life Support - PALS
    * Basic and Advanced Trauma life support
    * Provide advanced cardiac care, including:
          o Manual defibrillation;
          o Synchronized cardioversion;
          o Transcutaneous pacing;
          o Electrocardiogram monitoring and interpretation, including 12-lead ECG;
    * Provide basic and advanced airway management, including:
          o Visualize the airway by use of the laryngoscope and remove foreign bodies with Magill forceps;
          o Perform endotracheal and nasotracheal intubation, (including use of the Eschmann catheter);
          o Perform retrograde intubation;
          o Perform Rapid Sequence Intubation (generally known as RSI);
          o Perform surgical cricothyroidotomy;
          o Perform needle cricothyrotomy/transtracheal jet insufflation;
    * Establish vascular access for medication administration and fluid resuscitation via several routes:
          o Peripheral intravenous cannulation;
          o Intraosseous cannulation (placement of needle into marrow space of a large bone), by hand, with a drill or spring-loaded device;
    * Utilize noninvasive diagnostic devices such as pulse oximetry and capnography;
    * Perform needle decompression for tension pneumothorax;
    * Perform pericardiocentesis for suspected pericardial tamponade;
    * Administer medications via intramuscular, subcutaneous, intravenous, sublingual, endotracheal, rectal, intraosseous and buccal routes
    * Use of glucometry for diabetic patients
    * Obtain venous blood samples
    * Ventilator and IV pump management

[iago]

Was it really that bad?

I mean, when I stepped on a big piece of porcelain that punctured a good part of my toe, I just put a bandaid on it and went to bed. :P

By the way, the "windshield wiper thing" may be called the "weather seal" or maybe the "gasket" :)

[Joe]

It was pretty bad. Maybe not OMG CALL THE EMT bad, but the bleeding under the nail was bad. If it happened at work, I would have radio'd the EMT on Duty without a second thought, but only because he's there for us to call him for anything that could be bad. Your basic emergency room person is only an EMT-B I think, so for this instance, anything except for X-rays and stitches, I could do. Also, I suppose I have a pretty good judgement of whether or not something is beyond my personal aid, but that's sort of yet to be tested at work.

Either way, I turned a good section of the towel red but once I applied pressure and bandages it apparently stopped quickly, by the cleanness of them when I pulled them off tonight.

By the way, I can feel it again and it returned to it's normal color. I don't know exactly how I plan on showering tomorrow morning though, with it being an open wound and all. I've already arranged with my manager that I'll be sitting in a chair all night tomorrow. :)