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  The Shallow Light
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                 Page Two

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Entering Rampart, Johnny and Roy headed for the nurses' station.

"Good morning, Dix!" Johnny smiled his famous grin at his favorite nurse.

"We’re here to get supplies, Gage, not spend all day chasing nurses!"
Roy grumpily advised his cheerful partner.  He stalked away, heading
to the lounge to grab some coffee.

"Did someone get up on the wrong side of the bed today?" Dixie
questioned Roy’s shocked partner as she grabbed the supply list
from his hand.

"I’ll give you three guesses but I think you can figure it out in only one."

Kel and Joe approached the desk, having witnessed Roy’s
uncharacteristic jab and then Johnny’s statement to Dixie.

All three of Rampart’s staff figured out it had to be the annual
visit of Roy’s mother-in-law.

Dixie said, "It’s that time of year already?"

"Yep, I’m afraid so," Johnny confirmed.

"Is it just my imagination or is Roy a whole lot more out of
sorts from this impending visit than usual?" Dr. Bracket asked.

"Yeah, Doc, he does seem to be worse this time," replied the
puzzled paramedic. "I have no idea why.  Although, he did
comment he had a bad morning.  Not to mention the weather."

"I certainly hope things will improve soon," Dr. Early stated what
they all were silently hoping, "With both Roy AND the weather!"

"How is the Brown family doing?"  Johnny asked.

"Mikey is much improved," Kel replied.  "We were able to
remove him from the vent the night before last.  He is doing
excellent."

"The rest of the kids were placed in a good foster home.  Mikey
will be able to join them when he is released," Joe added. "Peri
entered an excellent treatment program.  I think when she
completes it there is hope social services will help them be reunited
as a family."

"I’m glad to hear that, docs!  Maybe that will help take a little
grump out of my partner." Johnny responded.

"Well, guess I had better not get caught ‘chasing nurses’ now,"
Johnny said with a laugh.  "If you dare, tell that partner of mine
I’ll be in the squad."

"We don’t get paid enough to put our lives at risk Johnny!"
Dixie smarted off to the departing paramedic.

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Momentarily, Roy rejoined Johnny in the squad.  Silence reigned
as they pulled out of Rampart’s driveway.  ::This is going to be
an incredibly l-o-n-g day.:: Johnny decided.  

Shortly, they were back to the station and performing their assigned chores.  


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For a day the skies decided to downpour on Los Angeles, the tones
stayed remarkably silent, resulting in a slow, tedious day.  All of the
guys stayed well away from Roy, not wanting to be in the path of his
ire.  Even Mike’s famous spaghetti failed to pull Roy out of his funk.  

Much later that afternoon, as Johnny was busy elsewhere, the Phantom
decided it was time to strike back.  Unfortunately, it resulted in Roy
falling victim to the attack.  

Chet turned tail and ran as he realized what had happened.  

Roy could only stand there and mutter, "What else could I possibly
expect today?"  Roy returned from changing his shirt and Cap, the only
one who dared approach him, said.  "We've decided we would like
to have those chili dogs for dinner tonight.  I'd like you and Johnny
to head up and get them now," Captain Stanley commanded.

"Come on, Johnny let's get this over with," Roy said with a huff.  

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They headed out into the rain once more, heading to bring the food
back to the station.  They had nearly reached the food stand when
the tones went off. ##Engine 51, Squad 51, Station 36, Truck 110,
Squad 45; mudslide, multiple cars over the embankment, Hwy 10,
just south of mile marker 75.  Police and ambulances are
responding.  Time out 16:55.##

"Wow, I’m glad we are fully supplied," Johnny said as he pulled
on his helmet.

"Yeah," Roy agreed.

Roy maneuvered the squad past the heavy Friday afternoon traffic.  

Fortunately, the cars, although already backed up more than a mile
as people headed out of the city for the weekend, managed to get
over enough for the squad to pass.  

First on the scene, Squad 51 pulled up, parking the squad well away
from the slide that was blocking off the full width of the three lane
highway.  The two paramedics pulled on their turnout coats and
grabbed their gear.  Looking up, they saw the sky showed no signs
of letting up.  

::If anything, the weather is worsening.:: Roy thought.  ::Sure wish
I hadn’t wondered what could be worse about today!::

Multiple cars, unable to move because of the slide and the traffic
behind them, were stopped in front of the squad.

"Hey, Roy.." Johnny said as he pointed above them, "I really don’t
like the looks of this mountain.  I think this section could go at any time.  
These cars can’t move yet because of the traffic, but I think we need to
get the people out of them and back to where they will be safe."

"Yeah, I agree, Johnny." Roy responded.  

"Listen up, folks!" Johnny called out.  "We need everyone who is
between our squad and the slide to please get out of your cars and
move back behind the squad.  This area isn’t safe for you to stay."  

Fortunately, most of the people listened and proceeded as
Johnny had asked them.  

The paramedics surveyed the cars that they could see off the
embankment as they walked towards the slide.  The embankment
was steep, but not a cliff.  As far as fifty feet down the hill they could
see multiple cars, as well as a few victims that looked like they had
either been thrown or crawled out.  Another fifty feet below they
could see the northbound section of Highway 10.

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A four door Buick sedan was buried under the debris, a large
rock on top of the hood and windshield.  Roy reached in and
confirmed what he feared.  "Johnny, the driver is a code F."  

He continued to check the other cars on the road for any victims.  
Johnny headed back to the squad and grabbed the climbing
gear they needed.  As he headed back towards the slide, Vince
drove up and parked by the squad.  He was immediately followed
by Engine 51.

Cap joined Johnny and surveyed the scene while the engine
setup for the upcoming rappelling.  They spotted movement just below.  
A muddy woman crawled up the embankment.  Johnny reached out to
help her back onto the road.

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"My car was the last one that went over," the woman said.  "It was
stopped by the big tree there," she pointed about ten feet down the
embankment.   "I’m fine.  I just cut my head on the window as I crawled
out of my car.  The people in the car in front of me didn’t look good.  
I heard someone moaning.  Please, don’t worry about me, go help the
other people." she implored.

Meanwhile, Vince spotted the car containing the code F.  He noted
the license plate and told Roy, "This car was involved in the kidnapping
of a five year old girl!  She is still missing!"


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From :  Cassidy Meyers <killashandrarey@hotmail.com>
Sent :  Wednesday, October 26, 2005 3:01 PM
Subject :  Muddy Mire, No Fire..


"Vince, there's a ton of people in trouble down there!" Roy said.
"We'll get to her when we can. Could you make sure that any of
the guy's potential weapons in that car have been disarmed? Last
thing we need is a firefighter shooting himself later on in the middle
of doing his body recovery."

Vince nodded, wincing uneasily up at the oozing mountain above the
section of road in front of them. He could see that the cars in the
gully hadn't been in the brunt of the main ongoing mudslide. That
one, was still in progress like a large tongue of slow gooey lava
in a slate colored river, moving across the highway two hundred
feet away from the flashing fire trucks.

Howard could barely see the spots the engine crew had aimed on
the tangle of cars through the fierce rainfall that wasn't letting up.
"I'll make sure to check the whole car out as soon as I get this lady
into the squad car out of the rain."

"Have Stoker check her out a little better and tell him to stay with her
until the ambulance arrives!" Gage said as he and Roy started down
the buried hill already spread knee deep in mud. "Ma'am, go with
the police officer. He'll get you to a safe place and get that cut
on your forehead treated by one of our engine crew. If you start to
feel worse or faint, tell them and either my partner or I will come back
to take a better look at you." he told her over the loud rainfall flooding
down around them.

The shaken woman was nonplussed. "I meant what I said. I'm o.k.
I wasn't even jarred when my car got shoved off by the slide. Just ignore
me."

Cap had to smile at her tenacity. ::As if he could.:: He stepped forward
to take her shoulders from Johnny's firm grip. "Miss. First things first.
Let's get you dry before you start shivering any harder. Vince here
will get you into some warm blankets and I promise you he'll get the
heater going. While you're in there, if you remember anything about
victim numbers, tell us using the policeman's handy talkie."

The dripping woman nodded, accepting the 4X4 Mike Stoker starting
pressing gently to her wound to stop the thick bleeding she wasn't yet
aware of. "This way.." Mike told her, and Vince and he led her
away from the area.

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Gage was already counting the number of injured people doughed into
the pools of mud around the cars. "...four, five, six.. Roy, none of
them are moving but none of them are face buried at least."

"Points in our favor.. Cap!" Roy called out.

Stanley came back, running from the engine. He had been calling
for another alarm assignment, a heavy equipment crew to handle
the moving mudflow, and another six ambulances.

"I think we're gonna need all the resuscitation gear, drownings
are most likely gonna happen in all this." DeSoto said about
the flooding rain.

"I'm way ahead of you. Marco's getting everything now. Want
a tank to go down with you initially?"

"Yeah." Roy nodded, letting Kelly quickly tie off a lifeline to his
belt from the engine's wench. "Put it in a stokes, we'll drag it
along with us while we check out the victims thrown free of their
cars. The ones still inside vehicles are gonna haveta wait a while.
They're sheltered at least."

Lopez hustled and guide-roped a bare stokes' head end with fast
knots to the engine's bumper. He got a canvas web sling snapped
into place along with packages of folded yellow shock sheets for
when they chose the first person to rescue and extricate. "Here's
the first rigging, guys. I've got four demand valve tank regulators
cracked open and set in here."

Gage and Roy nodded as they studied the hill for the safest way
to slither down it using their lifelines. "Lower it down to us as we go!
We'll signal ya what we find."

Chet returned Roy and Johnny's HTs, wrapped in plastic bags.
"Waterproofed fellas. Go.. We got ya.." he told them as he and Hank
took up their waist ropes.

DeSoto and Gage wasted no more time, slipping deep into triage
mode.

Roy shouted, "I'll take these three!" he said, crawling through
the mud towards the nearest twisted group of victims sticking
out of the muddy morass.

Gage waved to him as he high stepped through the mudflow
down to the lowest cluster of victims that he could see. He
carried a resuscitator with him, from the stokes Marco was
sliding down alongside them. He put an oral airway in between
his teeth as he scrambled, to keep it relatively clean.

Johnny reached the first man and tipped back his head from
where he lay on his back. He didn't bother with spinal precautions
when he realized the man wasn't breathing, lying as he was,
partially submerged in muck.

He crouched down hopefully over the man's nose and mouth
to see if he started breathing again. He didn't. And a set of
gloved fingers to the neck proved the lack of a pulse, too. ::Dead.::
Gage thought.  He rose up only briefly to his knees in the muck
to give Cap a cut throat gesture about the man in front of him so
Hank would know about his killed status and mark the dead man's
position on his chart for the coroner. He threw an unopened blanket
packet onto the man's chest to show other workers that he had
been assessed as a fatality and then he moved on.

The next woman lay on her side, gurgling weakily. Gage scooped
away water and mud from her nose and mouth and immediately
tipped back her head further until she started gasping in stronger
more relieved breaths. He left a flowing oxygen mask over her face
to shield out the rain and he used the oral airway he had carried
with him. He decided to leave the first demand valve unit behind
for the extrication firefighters behind him to find and use on
her later should she need it.

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Johnny moved on again, pressing through the mud with his
hands for the location of another victim to check.

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Roy reached his first victim, a young teenager. The girl immediately
reacted when he touched her face and head to listen for breathing. She
screamed. DeSoto froze. "Easy, calm down. I'm Roy DeSoto, a Los
Angeles County fire fighter paramedic. A bunch of my crew behind me are
gonna get you out of here before anything else happens with that hillside up
there, ok? Now tell me, where is this pain of yours coming from?" he
asked with a gentle smile, wiping away mud and blood from her lips with
his gloves.

"My l-legs. I think they're broken!" she sobbed, breathing fast.

"Ok, lie still. I promise I won't bump them again. How's your back or
your neck? Do they hurt anywhere along here?" he asked carefully probing
over and behind her head and on down her spine underneath the mud
while he held her forehead still.

"No..*gasp* ...no.. Just my legs." she trembled. "Oh, g*d. What happened?"

"Mudslide. We're off the side of the highway about thirty feet down.
Hold still as you can while I cover you in this sheet to warm you up a bit.
Some other firemen are on their way down to come stretcher you out
of here, ok?" and he turned to crawl to the next form lying in the mud.

The girl grabbed the back of his jacket. "You're not leaving me?!" she
startled in fright. She immediately winced and screamed when her
shattered legs jolted her. Roy grabbed her shoulders, pulling the sheet
over her face so the rain would stop drowning her. "I have to. Others
may be hurt worse than you nearby. I won't be far. And it'll be less than
five minutes until the next crew gets here to get you out of this mud." he told
her when he saw that there was no active arterial hemorrhaging happening
from her broken legs in the water pooling up around the craters their
bodies were leaving in the thickening mud.

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The girl's eyes connected with his for a moment as she tried to talk again, but
then she suddenly sagged into unconsciousness underneath his hands.
"Hey.. are you still with me?" Roy shouted, pinching the skin of her neck.
She didn't wake in the slightest.

DeSoto cross fingered an oral airway into her mouth and left a high flow
oxygen mask in place once he was assured her breathing continued.
He raised her head up onto a torn free car door to thwart the rising level
of the mud flowing around her. Then he used his HT. "Cap! This girl first.
She's real shocky!" he said when his fingers failed to find a pulse lower
than the crook of her elbow.

##Two men from thirty six's are coming down for her. We see you! So far,
Gage's got one alive.## replied Hank from the talkie's speaker.

"She's airway secured. No apparent spinal injuries." Roy told him.

##10-4, pal. They've been notified. Keep going with triage.##

DeSoto crawled away from the teenager, feeling the tug of not wanting
to acutely, dragging another muddy oxygen tank case along behind
him.

A man called out to him from a filling hole. He was buried up
to the waist in muck. "Hey, fireman! A little help here?"

DeSoto whirled, almost losing his balance and falling in
the mud until he spotted the man. "You hurt at all?"

"Nah, I'm not a driver from one of these buried cars.
I'm a bystander who wanted to actively help instead of
gape like those morons are doing up there. But I was
stupid enough to get stuck stepping into a hole."

Roy continued to slide his eyes around for his third victim as
he talked. "We'll get you out of there real soon. Just keep
still so you don't sink down any deeper. Grab this rope."
he said, tying one off to a tree over the man's head. "Keep
yourself on top of all this mud. I gotta keep searching here for
other victims."

"I know.." said the muddy man. "Check over by that shrub.
I thought I heard coughing over there a minute ago."

"Over here?" Roy asked the trapped man, spitting out
the rain streaming into his face.

"Yeah. Sounded like a kid." he replied with a shiver.

Roy found a child eight feet further along under the branches
of a chaparral. He knew he had found Vince's kidnapped girl
by the way her mouth was taped with her hands tied behind her
back.

Giving a cry of instinct that only another parent would understand,
he pulled the tape off her mouth and listened for signs of respirations
while he felt for a pulse. He found very weak ones under
icy cold skin. ::She's hypothermic already.::

He opened the resuscitator case and began using it, fast. The
oxygen slowly boosted the unconscious little girl's color away
from cyanotic gray.

The trapped bystander wanted to know. "Is that person alive?"
he asked, unable to see Roy clearly through the driving rain.

"Yes, thanks for the tip. It was a near thing but I think she's gonna
be ok."

"A woman?"

"No, a little girl. One the police have been looking for."

"Good deal. How about that..." chuckled the man. "I'm stuck,
but I'm a hero, too. Kinda makes feeling like an absolute fool
all worth while."

Roy was relieved enough to laugh along with the well meaning
bystander. Moving her as a unit, DeSoto pulled the little girl into his
arms and into the warmth of his wrapped overcoat and body heat as
he stood up with her to meet the extrication crews coming down to meet
him. "Tell Vince I'm coming up with his kidnap victim! There's two live
victims down here besides mine. One ok, one unconscious and
breathing secured."

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The roped firefighter team nodded and Roy recognized them as
part of 36's engine crew. They had a stokes between them and
shovels.

"Where are your paramedics?" Roy asked.

"Topside!" they replied. "Waiting for your partner's two victims!
Need help with her?"

"I got him.." shouted Marco, skidding down the hill with a child's
backboard. He set the board on top of a car roof while Roy
kept up ventilations on the girl and strapped her in tightly for
the trip to the road. As a precaution, a rope had been tied to
the head of the board and a fireman from Truck 110 manned it.
"Roy, how's she doing? She arrested?"

"No. Breathing too slow. I don't think she's hurt badly. She's
just real cold." Roy replied. "Looks like she ran over here from these
footprints. Probably fell into the mud when she got overtired from
panicking after she got away from the dead kidnapper's car.
How's my first victim?"

"Squad 45's already transporting your leg fractured teenager out by
ambulance. All helicopters are still grounded because of the weather
at the airport."

"I'm not surprised." DeSoto sighed grimly. "Though we sure
could've used one to spot more slide victims. What does Johnny
have?" Roy asked, giving the little girl another careful breath on
the demand valve as Captain Stanley rappelled down the hill
toward them to aid their climb to the top of the gully.

Lopez tipped a flood of rain off his helmet away from the little girl's
face. "A water drowning and a possible conscious cardiac."

"Anyone spotting any more victims inside of cars?"

"All of the ones we're seeing exposed, are empty."

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Soon, they got to the road and quickly to a blasting heater's
warmth inside of an idling Mayfair.

It had its doors open flush with the doors of Gage's so
the two paramedics could see each other's victims. Medics from
Squad 99 that Cap had called appeared and jumped in to
help them with their four victims which included the first
head wounded eye witness.

DeSoto picked up the biophone while Marco stayed to ventilate
the tiny chilled girl on the small backboard. ##Rampart, this
is Squad 51. How do you read?##

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*****************************************************************
From: Roxy Dee <laterrapincabesa@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu Oct 27, 2005  11:54 am
Subject: Mud Salvage


Joe Early looked up when he heard the double incoming
transmission buzz begin over the ER base station. He
saw that the red light was flashing urgently in a triple
call rescue pattern.  He turned to Sharon Walters next to him.
"Sharon, looks like we've a multiple casualty rescue
coming in. Go get Dr. Brackett and Miss McCall to help
field these, stat."

"Yes, Doctor." she replied and she hurried off to find them.

Joe entered the room and toggled the first switch on the band.
"This is Rampart Base. Unit calling in, please repeat."

##Rampart, this is Rescue 5-1.##

"Go ahead, 51."

##Rampart, we've four victims of a mudslide involving vehicles.
Trauma isn't grossly apparent but exposure symptoms
are present to various degrees in all of them.## DeSoto said.
Then he motioned for his partner to go on ahead with transmitting.

On a separate biophone, 99's, Johnny added his patient info.
##Victim One is a male, approximately fifty five years of age,
complaining of severe mid substernal chest pain with
shortness of breath. Conscious on oxygen at 15Lpm. He's
got an irregular pulse by palpation at the wrist.

"Victim Two, is a semi-conscious female, around twenty, fresh water
near drowning, breathing on her own in good color on O2. Breath
sounds indicate mild pulmonary edema bilaterally with growing
rhonci. Pulse is regular but mildly tachycardic. Victim Two denies
any cervical spine or back pain.##

Roy got a nod from Johnny to take over on their own biophone
while he stooped to get a set of vital signs on his more urgent
cardiac case. DeSoto spoke loudly, to be heard over the rain
pounding down on the roof top of the ambulance.
##Victim Three. Female aged five in protective police custody.
No obvious bleeding but she's moderately hypothermic under
assisted ventilations. The child is spineboard secured. Note that
she was in a car that has sustained a traumatic fatality.

"Victim four. Female. No injuries beyond a largish head laceration
above the left eye...," Roy added more when Stoker pointed to his
helmet and waggled iffy fingers at him about the first woman who
had walked out of the gully...." but noted on her by a firefighter is some
anterograde amnesia post accident.## He looked away when Mike
nodded in affirmation at the kind of memory loss she was experiencing.

Joe Early looked up from the fast notes he was taking with
a pencil. ##Go ahead with vitals on Victims One and Three to start.##
he told both paramedics.

Johnny took the airwaves first. ##Victim One. Vitals signs are: Pulse is
arrhythmic at 54. Monitor shows.... a junctional escape rhythm. It has normal
QRS complexes with inverted P waves, on lead two. BP is 96/50.
Respirations are shallow and rapid at twenty two. Pain is at eight of ten
and is described as building.##

Roy spoke quickly..##Victim Three. Pulse is 46. Respirations
unassisted are at eight. BP is 60/42. Passive rewarming of her extremities
has begun. Skin is cool to cold, but now dry.  We are attempting to
get a core body temperature. An EKG reading is ready. Non specific
brady without irregularities..but it is not improving to oxygen and
ventilations.##

Joe hit the talk switch. ##DeSoto, send your strip by telemetry. Gage,
give me his using the defibrillator paddles to save time.##

Dr. Early got Brackett on the line with Gage's acute MI with
a finger point and a pass off of the feeding strip from him over
the remote monitor. He also gave the attending his notepage
on the man.

Kel sized up the findings in seconds. "Johnny, his BP's too low
for nitroglycerin. Give Victim One 325 mg. children's aspirin and start
an I.V. of 5% Dextrose in half normal saline TKO. Give 0.5 mg atropine.
Also morphine sulfate with 5 mg titrated to obtain pain relief.
If you gain no resolution of his PJC's after a minute, administer
Dopamine 10 mgs IVP. We'll try epinephrine and an isoproterenol
drip only if you begin noting a Type II second degree or third
degree AV block. Watch for respiratory depression or any further
signs of deepening hypotension and guard against it aggressively
with positive pressure ventilations and a fluid challenge if
necessary.##

Gage kicked back the instructions through the phone propped
onto one muddy shoulder, while he spiked the I.V. bag that
the shivering, moaning man needed.

Joe advised Roy on his small child. ##Roy, on Victim Three.
Establish an I.V. of lactated Ringer's and infuse at 150 ml/hour.
If despite oxygenation and ventilation, her heart rate falls below
60 bpm with poor systemic perfusion, give her some epinephrine
I.V. of 0.01 mg/kg 1:10,000, 0.1 mL/kg. You may repeat every 3 to 5
minutes at the same dose to a third injection. Add Atropine 0.02 mg/kg
which you can repeat once if you still don't regain that minimum pulse
rate. Avoid all rough movement and excessive activity around her.
Jostling could move chilled acidotic blood around and cause
ventricular fibrillation. Keep in mind if she arrests, defibrillation and
anti-dysrhythmia medications should not be used until her core
temperature has been raised to at least 86° F.
Monitor her core temperature. Switch to warm, humid oxygen via ambu.
Start active rewarming of both her axilla, trunk, and groin areas
and heat your I.V. fluids to 106°F if at all possible under your conditions.##

"10-4, Rampart." and DeSoto repeated his orders back to
the listening doctor on the other end of his line. "The girl's temperature is
currently 84.2°F and rising."

Image of gageivbottleoutside.jpg Image of joebrackettbasestationchat.jpg

Chet Kelly used a spare fire glove that he had thrown onto
the Mayfair's dashboard heat vent to steam as an improvised, insulated
I.V. pouch. He tested to make sure it wasn't hot enough to melt the
child's I.V. bag, like one would test a few drops of bottled milk for a
baby on an inner wrist, and Roy found that he had to smile at that.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Early turned to Kel about his patient. "What do you think?
Bradycardia's a late sign of severe hypoxic deficit in a small
child. Think the cold saved her from getting brain damaged?"

Kel frowned, studying the countertop. "Depends on how she became
dyspneic in the first place. We won't know a definite outcome
until we get a true esophageal temperature reading and warm
her up back to normal using aggressive peritoneal, chest tube and
bladder lavage."

"I was afraid you might say something like that." said Joe.

"I wouldn't tell you anything but the absolute truth in this kind of
matter." Kel replied.  "In your shoes, I'd be hunting for a little
optimism myself." Then he turned back to the radio. "51, Victim
Two. Go ahead with her vitals set and findings."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gage finished injecting the heart attack victim's medications
as he spoke. ##We've got her head elevated and it's helping
with her shortness of breath. Level of consciousness is improving.
Pulse is 120. EKG remains unremarkable. But respirations are 22
and mildly labored. Her BP is 100/70. Body core temperature drop is
negligable at this time. Seems the blankets and all the heaters
running full blast in here are starting to work for her.##

Brackett told Johnny to start an I.V. saline lock as an open window
for future meds and to give the woman a dose of Albuterol to ease her
bronchospasming. ##Dirt and debris might be the cause of some
of her difficulty, Johnny. Guard against further aspirations and keep
treating for shock.##

Joe handled the last victim after he got vital sign details.
##Roy, check her neurological status and watch for other signs
of mental deterioration with that possible head injury. Immobilize her
head and neck and place her onto a longboard with her head raised
just as a precaution. Start her on O2 and check her blood glucose.
It may be that exertion under these frigid conditions have caused
a little hypoglycemic imbalance in her bloodstream.##

"10-4, Rampart. Squad 99 is riding with us in assistance." replied DeSoto.

Brackett wrapped up their treatment call. ##Both of you, survey
all victims head to toe for other hidden problems you haven't
noted yet. Keep everybody warm and dry and continually monitor
their vital signs every five minutes.  Keep ventilating those with
airways in place with warmed humidified oxygen. Transport
as soon as possible. What's your ETA, 51 and 99?##

"Fifteen minutes max for both ambulances. All air support has
been grounded by storms." said one of 99's paramedics using
his HT on the biocom frequency.

##10-4.## Brackett replied. ##We'll be waiting.##

Dixie McCall picked up all the care notes the doctors had started,
leaving only two blank supplemental sheets for them to add on to
as they stayed inside the base station alcove to monitor the
rescue squads progress to the hospital. "I'll get treatment rooms
two through four set for everybody. I've already gave Morton a
heads up. He's on lunch. And I've notified a pediatric neurologist
about our hypothermia case." she told them.

"Efficient as usual. Thanks, Dixie." said Joe. "Have you heard an ETA
on Squad 45's victim with the bilateral tib/fib fractures?"

"She's here and has already been anesthetized for an emergency
exploratory. Dr. Weathers planned ahead of time that he wouldn't
disturb you boys while you dealt with the multiple casualty call. And
before you ask how you never heard anything on them while they
rushed in here,..he handled her radio traffic from security dispatch."
Dixie told them with a gracious head incline.

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Dr. Brackett grinned ruefully. "That was ingenuous. Saved us a bit of
noisy confusion in here. I hate it when we've got more than two calls
running at the same time. This room's too small for comfort or
concentration's sake."

"That's what he figured." Dixie demurred. "I'd better go get things
set up asap. We're gonna need a lot of hot water along with all
the warming measures equipment." And she left the two doctors
behind to mull over plans of attack for their latest mudslide cases.

**************************************************
From :  patti keiper <pattik1@hotmail.com>
Sent :  Thursday, October 27, 2005 9:02 PM
Subject :  The Dogging Emergency....


Captain Stanley watched Squad 99 treat patients
alongside his men until he knew it was time to move
all four ambulances out. He had just wrapped up the last
victim in blankets when Squad 36's paramedics came
out of the gloom.

"Do they need us?" one of them asked him.

He shook his head. "How's your new man?"

"You mean the less than smart guy who piled on down
the hill to try and play the hero?"

"Yeah."

"He's got a sprained ankle. Refused transportation." answered
the second taller medic.

"Well, he's gotta save face somehow. Can blame him too much
for beating a hasty retreat. He can still smile plenty for finding that
little girl for us over a nice hot dinner cooked by his adoring wife."
Hank quipped.

The two from 36's chuckled. "Any more victims, captain?"

"Nah. 99's engine crew says no more are being found on top of this
stuff. You can stick around if you like, just in case." Stanley kidded.

"We're gonna have to. Our captain's the tenacious type. He won't
let us leave until every inch of that slide's been probed and checked.
Think about us when you're showering up in a half hour and count
your blessings that yours was the first station on scene, okay?"

"There's always next time. You know how it works. The medically
treating station gets to leave when their squad leaves while transporting
victims."

"We do. Won't be so slow next time. Just you watch. Second arrival
search duty's gonna be yours. Count on it." they promised without sting.
"And we'll be sure to make it during a frosty night in the mountains on
brush detail." they laughed good naturedly as they returned back
the way they had come with their gear boxes.

Captain Stanley winced in sympathy. "Stay warm, fellas." He drew out
his HT. "Engine 51, L.A., Station 51 out one half hour."

##Station 51. *Spap*##

"Come on, gang. Let's wrap up our end and clear out of all this rain.
I swear my socks are shrinking." Hank told Marco, Kelly and Stoker.

The three soaked and muddy firemen left for the engine with
absolutely zero prodding. Just the idea of slide clean up made their
upcoming station vehicles wash detail seem like a cakewalk.



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