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************************************************************ From : Roxy Dee <laterrapincabesa@hotmail.com> Sent : Thursday, October 21, 2004 3:47 AM Subject : The Angry Cloud~~ Johnny Gage grabbed the stokes and jerked it along the pulley line behind him. "So, how are we gonna manage this? You take one coaster, and I take the other?" Roy DeSoto grunted a reply, pulling himself along the horizontal rope tethered between the sky ride gondola and the Colossus' hilltop track structure. "Yeah, that's the way I figure." Another helicopter appeared from the direction of the parking lot. Gage could see four heads inside its windows. "Looks like we won't be alone for long. Cap's thrown some men in a second chopper." He pulled out his walkie talkie from his pocket. "HT 51, Chopper 11. What kind of gear and personnel do ya have on board?" Gage shouted into the radio to be heard over the sound of spinning rotors. ## Three spinal immobilization boards, six stokes, the full contents of your rescue squad's medical and trauma store and four firefighters. L.A. reports another fire department rescue squad has been dispatched to our location.## answered the pilot on the headset patched into Johnny's frequency. "Good deal. Good deal. Tell the guys we want the drug box and airway gear out first!" Johnny said as he continued to pull himself one handed along the line. ## I copy, 51. Relaying your message.## "I'll keep touch with ya on HT, Roy." Gage said, out distancing the more methodical paramedic on the horizontal rappelling line. Johnny began to hurry even more when he saw a frantic panic start on the first coaster. "Hey, just calm down over there! Tell me what's happening!" he shouted over to them. No one even tried to answer him and five people from the woman's train suddenly lost it and wormed their way out of their seats. Ivan noticed from his vantage point. "No! Stay put! It's not safe to walk on anything but the center boardway!" And he began running, to intercept them. He ran smack into the center of a pack of bees. "AhhhHHHh!" And he, too, started to swipe and slap himself, trying to get them off. |
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"What the h*ll?!" Johnny mumbled as he completed traversing the distance to the rails. He unhooked himself and immediately took action. He turned back towards his partner. "Roy! Yellow jackets! A whole swarm of them!" And he ran over to where Ivan was flailing. Gage picked up the fire extinguisher that the young teen had dropped and used it on him to freeze the bees off of his body. He did the same for anyone under attack. Then he set the red cylinder aside, upright for Roy to find when he caught up to him. "Ma'am..?" he asked the original dark skinned unconscious girl as he shook her. "Can you hear me?" He bent quickly to listen to her breathing while he got a grip on her carotid. The woman had one, but it was thready. And there was a new symptom beyond the flushing he had noticed earlier. Swelling and bumps were erupting on her face, neck and upper arms and signs of blood bright urticaria. "Anaphylaxis!" Johnny positioned the girl's head so she had the best airway he could manage on her and then he got on the HT, wide band. "I've got a full blown allergic reaction on Victim One, Train One. I need a drug box and a clear access to Rampart, right now.." ## Establishing the link, 51. ## said Chopper 11's pilot. ## Fire personnel are en route to you with a biophone and your drug box from the east track. ## "10-4.." Gage said, glancing up quickly for their progress and Roy's, looking away from the sun. The older lady next to the girl began to calm down from the fright she took from the bees. "Ohmyg*d. They came back..." she gasped. Johnny immediately took notice. "What do ya mean they came back?" he asked the rider next to his top priority patient. "The bees... Our coaster passed by a nest back there. We all saw it. They were so angry. They must be worked up because of all the trains rumbling by them every couple of minutes. We passed through a cloud of them and they started stinging us. Then this woman here suddenly gave a shout... I couldn't understand her.. it was Pali or something from India, and then she slumped over." "You mean she passed out right after the bees got to you the first time?" Gage asked. "Yes. Almost right away.." the lady nodded shakily. Gage lifted his head. "My name's John Gage and I'm a paramedic with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Now there's a whole buncha firefighters coming and we'll get you all down from here just as soon as we can." Then he told the coaster operator he had helped out. "Hold this woman's head, just like that. I'm gonna be letting go so take over. Keep tabs on her breathing. I'm gonna talk with these other folks to see if anyone else is allergic to bee stings. I'll be right back with ya in less than a minute.." |
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He jogged to a central point along the train's length and yelled, "Is there anybody who's sensitive to insect bites or stings here who's gotten stung?" None of other fifteen people on his train spoke up. "How's she doing mister?" said one man with three bee stings around his eyes. "She's alive and help's coming fast. You can stay standing there but don't go too far from the train." Johnny said. Then he ran back to the roller coaster operator, while he got out his radio to deliver a casualty number report to Cap waiting below once he got some initial info from Roy. He read the young teenager's name tag. "Ivan. Is she still breathing ok?" he said working down the line of people to give them the same orienting speech. "Go ahead and listen to her chest if you have to. I'm wondering about any funny noises, like wheezing, or any signs of choking.." Ivan listened. "I hear whistling Mr. Gage. Is her throat swelling up?" "I won't lie to you, Ivan. And I don't wanna scare you. Yes, it is. But it's very important for you to not panic. I need you to tell me the first second her gums or nail beds lose color and start to turn blue. That'll happen if she begins to quit trying to breathe on us. She'll get a shot that'll fix all of that, in less than a minute, once the others get here. Just keep calm and keep close tabs." The trembling ride operator nodded animatedly, unable to speak. He was still coming down from his adrenaline peak that had surged through him while he was desperately braking the second train. He adequately managed the black haired girl's airway despite his shakes. DeSoto had already started his quick checks of the motionless people on the second coaster. He had two. And four others in his train who were in varying degrees of wakefulness. "Roy! Whatcha got?" Gage shouted.. Roy started his list of severity in worst order first. "Two in the front car are out cold, good airways. Possible coup contra coup on both. I got unequal pupils with blood out the nostrils. Pulse and breathing are slowing on one of them. Two cars back, a forty year old female has some dyspnea and is reactant to pain. Broken left collar bone. Her abdomen's also distended. The other three in the back are uninjured or just minor. " Roy said eyeing up the last few visually as they regained their bearings and started asking him questions. He vaguely wondered what physics had come to bear to save those farther back from getting as hurt as those in front. And a mental ghost of an answer touched on the idea that the hitches between the cars had shock absorbed the impact energy successively. "I'm leaving all six of them in their seats. The cushioned shoulder bars are doing a good job of keeping them immobilized. And it'll be easier to treat them this way, too, until we can get em out of here." DeSoto concluded. Johnny pressed his talk button. "Cap? We've got seven victims! Including the original woman." ##Affirmative. Turning back three ambulances and keeping one. ## "Johnny?!" came Chet Kelly's voice. "I got the drug box." he puffed, gingerly tire stepping over the wooden slates and air spaces. "Rampart's on channel two on relay from Copter 11. And Stoker's right behind me with the O2 and airway kit. Marco's got the IV box. Loaded with Ringers." "Great. Let me see the drug kit." and he took the handle from the firefighter. "Here, change the radio over for me and get a doc on the line. I'm grabbing her epi." Gage tossed open the lid of the black box and snatched out a prefilled white papered syringe and tore it open with his teeth. "Ivan?" "She's still doing it." said the teenager, still carefully holding the woman's swelling head back over the seat pillow. "But I think she's breathing worse. It's definitely faster. Around 22 times a minute." "Ok. Just hang on. I've only gotta get a say so from a doctor. Then it's instant solution time.." he said, holding up his needle covered epinephrine syringe. |
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A man from Truck 99 came with the three light wood backboards and three C-collars. The helicopter pilot and his crewman were busy hovering a distance away, lowering a half hitch on a safety with the six stokes sandwiched and bundled together on a fall line. Mike Stoker jogged in and knelt by Johnny, only long enough to slip in an oral airway on the unconscious bee stung girl of Gage's along with a high flow oxygen mask before he ran to Roy's side to set up the rest of the three tanks of 02 that he carried with him. Johnny cursed under his breath after Chet had given a hail to the base station in Torrance twice. "Come on, doc. Get the lead out." |
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************************************************** From : patti keiper <pattik1@hotmail.com> Sent : Tuesday, October 26, 2004 7:34 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Cupid....Draw Back Your Bow.... Johnny Gage elicited Marco's help. "Lopez. Grab her legs. I wanna get her to the ground now. And stick around. She may need some help with breathing by demand valve. I'm gonna have epi going in as soon as Chet gets Rampart notified." Marco nodded, and he carefully took the slight woman's shoulders, and together, paramedic and firefighter lowered the allergic reacted young woman to a flat area in between the roller coaster's tracks. Lopez automatically took the woman's head and checked her status. "Thanks." he said to Ivan, the ride operator. "I got it from here. Why don't you go over to my coworker and see if he needs any help waking those other people. His name's Roy." "O-Over there? uh, ok.." said Ivan. "Mister, is she gonna die?" "No.." said Johnny with conviction up at the teenager. "We caught her early enough. This med will turn her around quickly and we'll avoid any chance of cardiac arrest." he said, putting the unused epinephrine syringe on the girl's stomach while he grabbed out the Normal Saline I.V. components he'd need for maintaining her hemodynamic stability. Ivan offered a weak smile before he jogged over to the impacted roller coaster. "Chet? Anyone on the line yet?" Angrily, Johnny pulled off a bee that was still stinging the Khmer girl with his bare fingers. Then he hastily got a set of vital signs on his patient after cutting her shirt open down to her elastic tube top with the shears from his holster. Chet shook his head. Then he shouted a little louder into the biophone's black receiver. "Rampart, this is HT 51." said Kelly into the biophone for a third time. "Do you read?!" Marco gave Johnny some information. "Her airway's still clear from what I can feel, Johnny." he said triggering the thumb pad on the positive pressure O2 mask that he had pressed over her nose and mouth. "Respiration's thirty, irregular and shallow." "Keep up supporting her inhalations. That's too fast a rate to do any good." Gage ordered Marco. The helmeted firefighter nodded, licking dry lips. |
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Finally, Dr. Brackett's welcome voice toggled into the frequency. ##Go ahead, 51.## Johnny waggled gimme fingers at Chet for the phone. He got it. "Doc, analyphalaxis. Small female early twenties. From multiple bee stings." he said rapidly. Kel immediately understood the need for haste. ## 0.3 mg of epinephrine 1:1000 solution sub Q. Then a large bore IV Normal Saline wide open for follow up boluses of epi 1/10,000 for a minute. Stat.## Johnny dropped the phone and snatched up the syringe, delivering the badly needed adrenaline into the soft tissue of the girl's abdomen. He continued to listen to Dr. Brackett's orders issuing from the phone receiver by his feet while he established a very fast I.V. from the set up and bag that was hanging from his teeth. ##If she's non reactant to pain, go ahead and insert an esophageal airway. Especially if she hasn't turned around after a minute or so. Give me a set of vitals when you can.## Kelly anticipated and picked up Johnny's notepad from on top of the biophone lid. He also propped up the girl's limp blue jeaned legs onto a gear box to offset the increasing signs of hypotension he saw developing in her. "Rampart, vital signs are: Blood pressure, 70/48. Pulse is 140. Respirations are ..." he paused, setting a hand on the woman's stomach for a count... "..30 and irregular. She is under active ventilations on 100 % O2 at twelve times a minute." reported Chet. ##Standing by, 51..## answered Brackett. Johnny handed off the running I.V. to the girl's seat passenger to hold and he crouched over her chest to listen to her breath sounds around Marco's hands. He froze there, waiting for the slight sounds of stridor and wheezing to go away, listening intently with his head lowered, through a stethoscope. They finally did after fifteen very slow seconds. |
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Johnny Gage smiled. "Rampart, Squad 51. Her dyspnea's actively easing and there's no signs of laryngo or bronchial spasms forming." Dr. Brackett let out a long sigh of relief and he straightened up out of a worried two palmed lean on the base station's counter. ##All right, Johnny. Guess we're gonna get lucky. Belay that EOA and send in a strip as soon as possible. Start an aminophylline push,.....5 mg i/v then .5 mgs on a slow drip. I want to prevent a biphasic reaction even before it happens and I wanna lock out any refractory bronchospasms permanently for this exposure. If you feel you need to give her another covering dose of epinephrine as a bolus, make it 1/10,000 at .5 mg intravenously every ten minutes as necessary. Also, if pulmonary edema shows up or any multilocal ventricular tachycardia, have 2 mgs propranol IV standing by. Remember if arrythmias develop, subsidence of the ventricular effects may be followed by atrial tachycardia and atrioventricular blocks. So watch for that transient bradycardia as a secondary epinephrine overdose earmark. Don't be afraid of it. Preserving her airway and ending any adverse vasoeffects are paramount in this stage of the game.## "10-4, Rampart. Stand by for an EKG on Lead Two." Gage replied. He pulled over the blue Tetronix monitor and opened it. Then he wiped down sweaty places on the woman's shoulders and ribs skin with her own shirt before attaching four of its electrode pads. He deftly snapped on their sensor wires. Gage plugged the EKG in to the biophone and adjusted a dial in the red case to a good send frequency for their apparent altitude above ground. "Rampart, transmitting now." he said to Brackett. Dr. Brackett read his feeding cardiac strip. ##So far so good, 51. Give me a second vitals set after you've delivered your I.V. meds and transport as soon as possible.## "10-4. We'll be bringing her in by chopper. ETA's approximately ten to fifteen minutes, doc." ##Understood. I'll consider myself on hold for any preflight info.## Under Marco's hands, the woman coughed and the fingers of both her hands, resting on the hot sun lit railwood slats, twitched. Johnny immediately bent close and pulled out the short oral airway in her mouth before she could gag on it. "Heyyy.. How are you doing? Can you hear me yet? What's your name?" |
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The girl sputtered, shoving away the O2 mask vaguely, moaning. "....hhghhh. Can't....br--" "Marco, raise her up..." Gage told him. Lopez did so, leaning the girl's weight against his chest. He switched out Marco's hand held ventilator for an elastic banded simple clear mask. "Is that better, hon?" Johnny asked her. "What's your name?" he repeated. "...*gasp* Lathika.." she whispered. "...oh, those horrible.. *cough* things. My father said they could kill...me..." she sobbed softly, with a heavy India accent. Some wetness ran out of both her eyes. Sweat and tears. "Yeah? Well, this time they didn't." Marco smiled. "Just relax, Lathika. You've been given some medication that's ending your allergy attack. You'll feel better soon. The swelling's already going down on your face and neck." "Is....he right?"...Lathika asked Johnny. "I still can't open my eyes all the way." "Absolutely.. Now don't move around too much. I got an I.V. started in your arm." Startled and still very shaky, the girl looked down. "Oh!" "Shhh, it's ok. It's ok. You're doing fine. You were only out for a little while.." Gage lied. "You've nothing too serious going on. Now we're gonna get you comfortable and to the hospital so the doctors can check you out, all right? You're going to be flown out to them. Ever been on a helicopter before?" he grinned encouragingly while he took her wrist pulse and eyeballed her breathing rate. "No.. " she gasped. "Well, it's pretty fun. Noisy, but fun." he told her. Then he slipped into paramedic again. "How's your breathing now? Is that suffocating feeling going away yet? Your voice doesn't sound as hoarse as it did just a few seconds ago." "I...I think I'm ok..." she coughed wetly. "How's my heart? I've got some problems there. I had rheumatic fever as a child." Gage and Marco exchanged a flickering glance and both their eyes fell on the EKG screen, but only normal sinus tach was registering. "What kind of problems?" Johnny asked quietly, holding still. "Father says I've got a murmur. He's a doctor back home in New Dehli." Gage relaxed. "Oh... ok. Thanks for mentioning that. Lathika, your EKG looks pretty good for becoming the one of the first human ballistic pin cushions in the whole entire history of the Colossus County Fair." he joked about the bee attacked coaster accident she had nearly been in. Lathika laughed weakily. "Where am I?" she whispered hoarsely. Ivan had returned and he was kneeling by the girl's feet. "Still on the highest hill of the roller coaster ride. I'm the one who spotted you blacking out and called the fire department." "Thank you...sir..uh,.. Mr.." said Lathika shyly, suddenly taken by her new, unexpected attentive guest who was more her own age than the helmeted firemen around her. "Svenson..But, please, call me Ivan." offered the Swedish accented teenager. "Thank you, Ivan. For watching out for me. And all of you other men as well. Father will be grateful. And.. so am I..." she said and then she smiled the whitest smile Johnny and the others had ever seen. No one noticed the hives or any of the swelling at all on her face and were thoroughly dazzled by her emerging exotic beauty. "No problem.. " they all said, surprisingly effected by the charismatic Khmer girl. Ivan was tongue tied. |
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