Well folks, the more time I spend in the blog worl the more I enjoy it. I find that I love reading others blogs and they indpire me to write more in mine. Although I do not feel I have the tongue for writing. But who cares? This blog is for my benefit only.
I had the biggest feeling of accomplishment this morning when ZI left work. It was a pretty slow night at work, only one call all night but it was one where someone actually needed help. Around 8pm we got dispatched for a teenage boy on a school trip having an allergic reaction. Turns out the boy had unkjnowingly ingested some kind of food that had peanuts in it, and well he is allergic to peanuts. He had apparently had a bad reaction before but for some reason his doctor did not see fit to prescribe him with an Epi Pen, but instead told him to just take benadryl. Well 30 min after ingesting this food this boys face and lips swelled, his chaperone gave him some benedryl which helped, about 5 hours later the reaction which had been downplayed with the benedryl was still going on and hives were beginning to show and grow. Although the boy was not in any respiratory distress 911 was called when a second dose of benedryl didnt seem to be working.
Initially I thought the boy was doing just fine, his breathing was great his vital signs were text book perfect, but I as the ALS provider dutifully took the call, hooked the boy up with the run of the mill ALS equipment: monitor and IV. I was getting my infor and taking vitals and called my report in and we were taking the ride nice and easy to the hospital. After taking my 3rd set of vitals I noticed my pt was getting sleepy and his vitals were trending downward and pretty fast, in a matter of 10 min. Although his breathing still seemed to be ok, I took the initiative to give him a little boost with my friend Epinephrine and opened his IV fluids and turned the lights and sirens on. Pt was treated at the ED and was released in under 3 hours with a brand new script for an Epi-Pen...
Now keep in mind, as I have noted before, I have been a medic for about 2 years but there are so many things I have yet to experience, a severe allergic reaction being one of them. I am still learning the new protocols at work and I knew I had followed them on this call, it states if the pt has respiratory distress or hypovolemia (low BP) that is <90 then go ahead with the Epi. I found myself pondering if I had indeed made the right choice. I hate to become a "cookbook" medic, doing things only because thats what protocol says, but I felt I may have in this case. I have spoken with a few peer medics since the call and for the most part get the same answer, "well the epi wasnt going to hurt him, you did what you thought was best for the pt".
Truth be known I was scared half to death, but knew as long as I stuck to the protocol Id at least be safe in court....
Its times like these I wish Id had the opportunity to get more experience when I was still in school or precepting. But it's not as if I didnt try, I really did...damn white cloud....
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