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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

I Pinch. I Pinch.

We were toned out for an allergic reaction to crab. As we jumped on the rig I was thinking that it had been a while since I had a good allergic reaction call. They are pretty straight forward to treat but ti's a call where we can make a big difference with medications we carry. As we were responding dispatch came through with more information. We were responding to one of our local markets for someone that had been pinched by a crab.

As we entered the store we were greeted by the manager. He escorted us to the front counter where the patient was sitting on some boxes. She had been trying to bag her own groceries when the incident occurred. The crab, while the victim was trying to bag him and take him home for dinner, saw his opportunity to strike and he took it. I can't blame him! He managed to catch the victim's left pinky in the meaty part of the flesh closest to the palm of the hand. It took a sizable chunk of flesh and flayed it open but there was no bleeding. My patient complained that the wound burned and was numb. Interesting combo. There wasn't even any bleeding to control. After a quick assessment we placed a band aid on her finger. Since her husband was right there I asked if she would like her husband to take her to the hospital to see if she needed stitches. She said no, and that she wanted an ambulance to take her. While this seems to me to be a complete waste of resources, no amount of prodding was going to get her to change her mind. When AMR showed up we gave them a quick run down on the situation. The patient walked to the ambulance and climbed in.

The entire call I couldn't get the commercial for the Honda Element out of my head that has a crab in it that wants to pinch.

5 comments:

Books of the World said...

Seriously too funny. Hopefully, AMR bills her outright instead of billing her insurance, if she has any. Would be nice if the hospital sent her a hefty bill for wasteful resources too. Maybe that will stop the abuse. Wishful thinking on my part. Happy holidays to you and youe family.

Firefighter/Paramedic said...

She did mention that she didn't have insurance. That was one of the reasons we were pushing having her husband take her. Now she'll get about an $800 bill for that short ride to the hospital. All for an avulsion that I would have sealed with some super glue and called it good. Oh well.

Melanie said...

That is hilarious, what made it even better was the commercial at the end! Thanks for the laugh!!

Unknown said...

I've been going through all your posts a second time around so i'v read this before and it gets me every time haha thanks for the laughs.

Im fairly new to the ems world and about to take my emt class in a few weeks, i'v been with my rescue squad for around 4 months now and have been reading this blog since before i joined. Your stories are so inspirational and i'm now planning on going to a local volunteer fire academy when im finished with my emt class this summer. Sometimes it frustrates me to train around burned out medics but i always come back to read your experiences and it always reinforces why i decided to dedicate my life to helping others.Every person i see and talk to have changed my life in some way. Its very humbling and it gives me hope to see how many people there are in the world who are "helpers", in these times lately there has been so many acts of violence and terror and yet such as the waco fire/exposions in texas i read that they had to start turning away responders who rushed to the scene from hundreds of miles away because they already had too many people on the scene who wanted to help.

Good old Mr. Rogers.. “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping."

Thanks to you and your department for all the work you do, truly inspiring and cant wait to read more of your stories.

Nicole

Firefighter/Paramedic said...

Nicole, thanks for the comment. It's still frustrating to work with burned out medics. They are grumpy and usually aren't very good at their job. Make sure you find a good outlet for the stress that comes with the job. And remember to enjoy the ride. It's a great field in which to work.

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