Looking For Trauma To Keep You Alive, And Me Awake.

Good morning! technically good afternoon, but I have just woken up, yes at 16:16. i was working nights, 1900 to 0700 on the J599, duty station officer car. No no no, I'm not a station officer... yet. the reason why I was working on the J599 car was because the DSO gets sent to all the trauma, things such as stabbings, shootings, hangings, jumpers, fires, drownings, etc. and as i get my bag in just 4 months!!! i thought it would be good experience for me.

I did encounter a very big RTC the other day with a chest impalement. he crashed at 80mph, and had a wooden post impaled through his chest, bleeding internally. I froze for less than 2 seconds as i never have seen anything like that before, but i sucked up the shock and got stuck in. i was first on scene, i banged two 16gauge cannulas in each arm, put him on 100% oxygen non-re breather and started getting observations on him. He had such a horrendous injury to his chest, that i could physically see his lung inflating in front of me. He started to get consolidation in his left lung, so it was either filling up with blood, or he was tensioning from a pneumothorax. I wasn't going to decompress it though, i knew the doctors wouldn't be long, and if need be, he'd do a chest drain.

That boy is still alive. He played knock out ginger on deaths door, and was very lucky not to get caught. It's the quick thinking, the fast acting, and paramount communication from technician/paramedics, doctors, police, and nurses that manage to establish life. It is something that makes me feel proud and as though I've done my job to the best of my ability, when I see someone in their worst last minutes, but drag them out that downward spiral.

There are a few people I strive to make proud, my Mother Bonnie and Father Paul, and my PPED/APPED; Lee and Simon. Lee is the Paramedic and she is my PPED (Paramedic Practice Placement Educator) and she overseas all my signing off. She has to ensure that everything i do is accurate. She is one of my best friends that allows me to crash out on her sofa after one too many. Simon was the Technician and my APPED (Assistant Practice Placement Educator) of the crew, but also a best friend. He was gay too, and acted like an older brother to me, showed me the routes of London, the kind of clubs he went to, his friends, his home etc. He really took me under his wing and made sure I was looked after. Simon recently died from an overdose, it's something i have really struggled to cope with, and wont ever understand why he never spoke to us before about his problems.

Those 2 seconds of frozen shock were overcome by me saying in my head, "Simon is telling you to crack on Declan!" and that's when I got down and began to save that dying boy. I know Simon would have been proud, I just wish he was here to see me do it. I made a promise to myself, that I would always be the best Paramedic i can be, even on the days the patient really did not require an Ambulance, I'll remain professional and polite. Something that Simon taught me was a fundamental quality of being in our job.

The Good Paramedic Gets Sued

The Bad Paramedic Gets Sued

The Nice Paramedic, Never Gets Sued.

Rest In Peace Si.

You got my back.