Bwwweeeooou! Bwwweeeooou! Bwwweeooou! The blaring tones sounded snapping me out of my reverie like a rubber band that snaps back after stretching too far. Groggy, I hear dispatch mutter out, “ninety-two year old female; cardiac arrest; CPR in progress,” my heart skips. I get up, and run out of the watch room and into the back of the rescue. My preceptor bursts through the rear door, “we have a code; get ready.” We high-tail it out of the fire station with full lights and sirens. My heart is racing my mind as I try to keep up with the onslaught of incoming information.
“She just came back from dialysis,” one of the medics calls out. Okay, so renal failure, pH and electrolyte imbalances.
“She’s vomiting blood. Put on trauma sleeves, and get a face shield.” Okay, so upper GI …show more content…
I stood and tried to maintain balance while we raced to the hospital, but stopped CPR a few times lest I’d fall over. We have her on oxygen, and gave her normal saline, epinephrine, calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate. Nothing changed. She’s still in PEA and no improvement to her condition. My arms are heavy and tight. My glasses and the face shield are fogging up so I can’t see anything. I’m drenched in sweat; it gets into my eyes and burns. My legs are cramping, and my back is sore. I power through it until we reach the hospital. ER staff is already waiting outside to take over. We get her out of the rescue and a tech takes over CPR as the captain leads the way to the trauma room. The room is packed with people, must have fifteen people in that tiny space. We get her on the hospital bed and transfer equipment. Within a minute she was intubated and given more medication. However, through the ET tube came up pink frothy sputum. Her lungs were drowning in blood. She wasn’t responding to any treatments and her condition continued to deteriorate. Not long after, the ER doctor called it and she
“She just came back from dialysis,” one of the medics calls out. Okay, so renal failure, pH and electrolyte imbalances.
“She’s vomiting blood. Put on trauma sleeves, and get a face shield.” Okay, so upper GI …show more content…
I stood and tried to maintain balance while we raced to the hospital, but stopped CPR a few times lest I’d fall over. We have her on oxygen, and gave her normal saline, epinephrine, calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate. Nothing changed. She’s still in PEA and no improvement to her condition. My arms are heavy and tight. My glasses and the face shield are fogging up so I can’t see anything. I’m drenched in sweat; it gets into my eyes and burns. My legs are cramping, and my back is sore. I power through it until we reach the hospital. ER staff is already waiting outside to take over. We get her out of the rescue and a tech takes over CPR as the captain leads the way to the trauma room. The room is packed with people, must have fifteen people in that tiny space. We get her on the hospital bed and transfer equipment. Within a minute she was intubated and given more medication. However, through the ET tube came up pink frothy sputum. Her lungs were drowning in blood. She wasn’t responding to any treatments and her condition continued to deteriorate. Not long after, the ER doctor called it and she