In November/December2003 I did an interview with my good friend Aaron. This guy was always into body modification and nothing was too extreme. Aaron decided to follow the family tradition of medicine and is now a paramedic. Check out the following insightful declaration Aaron made on his weblog with reference to his know-how on the mean streets of Detroit.
2005/01/05 19:16 We get called to a slum nursing home on Detroit’s east side Priority 3 (no big deal priority) for "stomach flu like symptoms", we get there to find an 78 year old dude lying flat in his bed. I go there, and try to wake him up, nothing, dig my knuckles into his sternum to see if he is alert to painful stimuli, nothing. Reach down, no pulse. So we have a CPR on our hands. Of course this is the one call I don’t bring our jump kit, which contains all our emergent supplies in on (because of the nature of the call), so my partner begins chest compressions, and I run back to get the backboard, and jump kit. I get back up to his room give him a quick few rescue breaths, prepare my stuff to intubate. Give a few more breaths; open his mouth, and bam. Fucking pukes everywhere, which is not unexpected, but still startling. Anyway, by this time, he was already on a backboard, so we flip him on his side, and without exaggeration, a liter of fluid comes out of this man. The most vile smelling substance you've ever smelled. Flip him back over, try to intubate again, and bam, same thing. So I decide fuck it, lets get him out of here, since we are only 3 mins from the hospital.
We get to the hospital, put the guy on the heart monitor, and he has a fucking rhythm. I look at it for a second, and realize it's an internal pacemaker still working on the dead guy. Pretty creepy.
Well, I sat around for a min while my partner did paperwork; I got to watch them close his eyes for the last time (his eyes were open the entire ordeal). So I’ve seen mans ultimate destiny before my eyes.
My final thoughts on the subject. Live every day up as much as you can, it’s not pretty in the end. ~ Aaron
Posted by Liz at January 7, 2005 11:44 PM