Night Thoughts

Burning off steam— what would a blog be without a little ranting every now and then?

I am running in the night. I hate running in the night. I spent all day working. I am tired. I should be in bed. I need my eleven hours.

A late call came in forcing me to run at this ungodly hour. It has been gorgeous and sunny all day and I was really looking forward to getting in a run as soon as my shift was scheduled to end at 7:00 P.M. But no. At quarter after five, the dipshit dispatchers send me on a call to Milwaukee to transport a 350-lb woman who is having a “hypertensive crisis”. Grrr. Arrgghh. Very frustrating. Now I won’t be getting out till at least 8:30. I guess that’s what I get for being in E.M.S.

The utilization rate (percentage of crews out on a call) when the call came in was 40%. There were three 24-hour crews available who could have taken the call. Phooey.

But I think what irritates me most is the whole rationale of the call itself. The reason why the patient’s blood pressure is high is because of an unhealthy life style. Eat better, get some exercise, get enough sleep at night and you wouldn’t be in this mess. After I push the Labetalol through the patient’s IV, her BP drops back down to a normotensive pressure, but it doesn’t actually fix the problem. All the Labetalol does is relax her blood vessels and slows down her heart rate, thus lowering her blood pressure. Her blood pressure will eventually rise again. What the patient needs is a good dose of exercise. Instead of grabbing a twinkie, maybe go for some healthy vegetables or nutrient-dense meat. I see far too many people who have things like type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, obesity, etc. All of them are on a million different medications, but none of them actually cure anything. It may sound as if I am mad at my patient’s; I am not. Believe me, I love my patients and treat them all dearly. When I am in the back of the ambulance, I am pretty good at playing the role of Patch Adams. Still it bugs me. 

I read a book earlier this year by ‘84 Olympic Marathon bronze medalist Charlie Spedding called Stop Feeding Us Lies. It was a very informative read that went into detail about all the lies we are fed, such as veganism and greenhouse gasses. Charlie also explained how he used to be a community pharmacist, but ended up leaving the pharmacy profession because he was fed up with the system. Most of his patient’s were not getting any better. The drugs he would prescribe to them would not cure them, just treat the symptoms of their illness but not the cause. I can definitely relate to how Charlie feels.

Yawn.

It is late. I am tired. I should be in bed. I am going to end this run, drive the half hour back home to Madison (I am Deerfield now), catch a few z's, get up at 5:30 A.M. to run again, then save some more lost causes. What a life.