Monday, September 22, 2008

Allergic Reaction

A couple of weeks ago I took the brush engine to station 2. Just as I was turning into the station I heard Chris (now an acting engineer) come on the radio informing dispatch that we had a walk in medical aid, a possible allergic reaction, at station 1. I quickly turned around and headed back for station 1. By the time I got there Chris and Ben (a new firefighter on Monday - Wednesday shift) had already preformed a decent assessment, got me vitals, and placed the patient on oxygen. At this point I did a once over on my patient and saw that he was in severe respiratory distress. He could only speak in one word gasps. He is allergic to bees and was stung about 10 minutes earlier. I got my epinephrine and drew up the appropriate amount. About that time the patient's eyes started to go wide because he could no longer get enough air past his constricting throat. I gave him a subcutaneous shot of epinephrine and within a few moments he was able to breath again. I then started an IV and gave him some Benadryl. Right about then MBA showed up and he was transported.

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