Brian.Evans
Registered Member
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2011
- Messages
- 3,267
I apologize in advance as this will not be knife related. However, given the slant in this forum, might be appreciated.
Like so many of us on this particular corner of Bladeforums, I enjoy reading Carl's stories. I especially enjoy reading about Mr. Van, and plan on passing down some of his wisdom to my kids, particularly don't fight with your knife, keep it clean and sharp, and out a knife in your pocket and put a handkerchief on top of it and you'll be ready for anything.
Recently, I read that last little bit about hankies. I picked up four or five from WalMart when I was grocery shopping the other day, not really sure if I'd even use them. When I brought them home my wife looked at me funny, but she's pretty long-suffering and just rolls her eyes more often than not now.
I had carried my first hankie for two or three days, and never had call to need it until this morning.
As you all may have surmised, I'm a paramedic. This morning at 0430, Medic 9 was called to a local residence for a possible heart attack. Upon arrival we found an elderly female unresponsive and breathing around 8 times a minute. We immediately began override bagging her, as her breaths were ineffective. As we started an IV, obtained a blood glucose, and put her on the heart monitor, her breathing became less and less effective until we were no longer over riding her own drive, but breathing almost completely for her. We rapidly moved her to the cot, out the door, and to the ambulance. She took three breaths from the time we left the house until we hit the truck. Her last breath was as we loaded her into the ambulance. My partner had laid out an ET tube and laryngoscope, hooked up oxygen and got the 12 lead EKG cables ready. I slid the 6.0 ETT home through her vocal cords less than a minute after she stopped breathing. Her heart kept beating, but had decreased from 155 inside to 120 in the truck and rapidly kept dropping. I watched it drop to 110, 100, 80, 70 by the time we hit the ER doors. We were only 8 blocks from the hospital. She ended up going into full arrest shortly after arriving at the hospital. Because we had aggressively treated the airway issue, we were able to help the ER team get her back. One shock, and a bunch of drugs later, a heartbeat returned and we all breathed a little by deeper. Last I knew, she was still alive. I will call to check on her in the morning.
Now, where does a hankie come into this?
Back at the bedside, right there at one minute into the call, my nose started running. Really running, not just a little drip. I pulled out my hankie, blew my nose, stuffed it back in my pocket (on top of my sharp knife) and got on with the call. Now, I could have ran the call just fine with a runny nose, but I will tell you that I was able to concentrate much more effectively without my nose dripping onto my mustache. I don't know if it made a difference in the outcome, but I did say a little thank you to Mr. Van when we cleared the hospital and headed back towards home.
Thanks Carl, for passing on his wisdom to us on this forum. I will keep carrying my hankie, and think of Mr. Van every time I do.
Like so many of us on this particular corner of Bladeforums, I enjoy reading Carl's stories. I especially enjoy reading about Mr. Van, and plan on passing down some of his wisdom to my kids, particularly don't fight with your knife, keep it clean and sharp, and out a knife in your pocket and put a handkerchief on top of it and you'll be ready for anything.
Recently, I read that last little bit about hankies. I picked up four or five from WalMart when I was grocery shopping the other day, not really sure if I'd even use them. When I brought them home my wife looked at me funny, but she's pretty long-suffering and just rolls her eyes more often than not now.
I had carried my first hankie for two or three days, and never had call to need it until this morning.
As you all may have surmised, I'm a paramedic. This morning at 0430, Medic 9 was called to a local residence for a possible heart attack. Upon arrival we found an elderly female unresponsive and breathing around 8 times a minute. We immediately began override bagging her, as her breaths were ineffective. As we started an IV, obtained a blood glucose, and put her on the heart monitor, her breathing became less and less effective until we were no longer over riding her own drive, but breathing almost completely for her. We rapidly moved her to the cot, out the door, and to the ambulance. She took three breaths from the time we left the house until we hit the truck. Her last breath was as we loaded her into the ambulance. My partner had laid out an ET tube and laryngoscope, hooked up oxygen and got the 12 lead EKG cables ready. I slid the 6.0 ETT home through her vocal cords less than a minute after she stopped breathing. Her heart kept beating, but had decreased from 155 inside to 120 in the truck and rapidly kept dropping. I watched it drop to 110, 100, 80, 70 by the time we hit the ER doors. We were only 8 blocks from the hospital. She ended up going into full arrest shortly after arriving at the hospital. Because we had aggressively treated the airway issue, we were able to help the ER team get her back. One shock, and a bunch of drugs later, a heartbeat returned and we all breathed a little by deeper. Last I knew, she was still alive. I will call to check on her in the morning.
Now, where does a hankie come into this?
Back at the bedside, right there at one minute into the call, my nose started running. Really running, not just a little drip. I pulled out my hankie, blew my nose, stuffed it back in my pocket (on top of my sharp knife) and got on with the call. Now, I could have ran the call just fine with a runny nose, but I will tell you that I was able to concentrate much more effectively without my nose dripping onto my mustache. I don't know if it made a difference in the outcome, but I did say a little thank you to Mr. Van when we cleared the hospital and headed back towards home.
Thanks Carl, for passing on his wisdom to us on this forum. I will keep carrying my hankie, and think of Mr. Van every time I do.
) 
