First, redirect your blogroll and bookmarks to www.medicthree.com (if you are using the old dailydo.blogspot.com address). Second, head over to www.fireemsblogs.com to check out the bloggers that are there. I’m sure you’ll know most of them.

What this means: My blog will certainly benefit from more traffic. You all will see advertisements that I haven’t ran to this point. There is a leaderboard ad and another placed somewhere in the sidebar. No, I’m not getting rich! It will be hosted on wordpress and that allows much more control and features for all of us. You will notice “community wide tags” were you can click a tag and get all of the posts with that tag throughout the fireemsblogs.com community.

Hopefully within the next 24 hours the blog will up and running. Those of you coming here at www.medicthree.com will notice no difference. Please check out the other blogs there and spread the word. Thanks!

It has been a pretty crazy two years for us, with more changes that I could have imagined. During the past two years, I finished medic school, got my first job, we moved, we moved again, I changed jobs(a few times), we got pregnant, had our son Asher, my wife got promoted, I had surgery, and my wife had a few medical scares too.

But we got through it, and are better off because of it. Without her, I couldn’t have done any of it. I couldn’t have made it through medic school, and I most certainly couldn’t do the job I do now. It is so incredible to be able to come home and have someone who understands me and can help me cope with the stress of this job.

The most exciting part of it all for me is the future. Who knows what and where it will bring us, but together, I am sure we can get there.

Thank you, babe. I love you more than you will ever know.

The virus does not seem to make pigs very sick. Of 103 pigs tested at the Minnesota fair, in St Paul, only three were found to be carrying the virus, and all appeared healthy. They probably caught the virus from infected people, researchers said.

Um, seriously?!?! Damn people, infecting poor pigs with the SWINE flu

Well, JEMS has a story that might just give us some hope that the AHA did the right thing. CNN has the full story. There are some interesting facts to consider in this story. First, the patient was a 33 year old female–not a likely case for sudden cardiac arrest, under most circumstances. Second, she was otherwise healthy, with no known cardiac history. Third of importance to me is that her husband is a Sheriff’s deputy–While he says that it was “different” that being at work, there is little doubt in my mind that his training and experience helped in some way. Fourth, but maybe the most important thing here–a skilled dispatcher walked him through CPR–Compression Only CPR. All of these factors are important.

Lets examine what we can–33 year old women rarely experience sudden cardiac arrest. When they do it is usually caused by other (known or unknown) serious medical conditions–cancer, immune disorders, cardiovascular disease, etc. Initially it was uknown what caused Kathie Harden to die for 18 minutes that night. Kathie being just 33, her husband actually waking up just prior to her losing pulses, outstanding Dispatch direction, quick EMS response, and skilled hospital care can all be thanked. After her initially recovery it is found that she contracted a flu-like virus that attached itself to the left side of her heart, deteriorating heart muscle and function until the Right side of her heart could no longer function. She now lives with an internal cardiac pacer/defirilator.

After arriving at the hospital, Post-Arrest Cardiac Hypothermia was used to cool Kathie’s body to abnormally low temperatures. This is useful in protecting heart and brain function. It allows the body time to repair and recover before trying to fully “restart”. Initially neuro exams did not look good, but after just a few hours Kathie had started to show signs of improvement. After 18 hours Kathie was back from the grips of death. Theraputic Hypothermia was discontinued. She was soon on her path to recovery and “life went on”.

So here’s the thing: what saved Kathie? Was it Compression only CPR? Was it her skilled husband? How about fast EMS response? Her age? All signs indicate that all of these factors were essential to her survival. Most Certianly the Flagstaff EMS Calltaker that helped Scott pound on his wife’s chest that night deserves more than just a little credit. Arizona has worked hard to increase Cardiac Arrest Survivability and this is proof they are winning the battle. Keeping callers calm while giving them the tools to prolong life until destination care can be provided is no easy task and the fine people in EMS call centers everywhere need to be given credit.

Does this mean Compression Only CPR is the end all of Cardiac Arrest Care? Obviously not. Kathie recieved several rounds of CPR and several shocks from the AED brought by EMS. In the end cardiac drugs(epi) and defibrilation saved Kathie. But without early Compression only CPR it is certain that the tools EMS brought with would have had little chance to obtain ROSC.

I’d like to congratulate Flagstaff EMS Dispatch, Scott Harden, and the men and women of Flagstaff Medical Center EMS for providing outstanding care to Kathie that night. Every one of them did their part in saving a life–something that sadly most of us rarely get the opportunity to do, despite our profession.

We’re celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary tonight. It is actually Tuesday, but I work, and can’t get off. We went out to dinner, which went well and came home and put the boy to bed. We the proceeded to go all choco-crazy. My wife loves Chocolate and, to be honest so do I. We decied to try some Europa ChocoVine Chocolate wine, Green and Black’s 85% Cocoa Dark Chocolate, and my wife’s favorite Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans. 

ChocoVine pairs dutch Chocolate with a red wine. At around 10 dollars a bottle it isn’t outrageous by any means. In total, this treat was about 20 dollars. The ChocoVine is rich, with a similar bit of chocolate liquor. I’m not sure we’d drink it every weekend, but as a special treat it is great. The Green and Black’s chocolate is a touch bitter, like all good dark chocolate and leaves you craving more. The Espresso beans are not too soft, not too crunchy, and are by far my favorite part of this little treat.

I saw the surgeon today and he seems to think this is his best one so far. I hope he is right. There is always the risk of this procedure failing later on, and right now the life expectency of this surgery’s success is anywhere from 10 years to lifetime. The procedures that are 10 years old are starting to fail, but the process is much different than it was 10 years ago. It isn’t done nearly as tight as it once was and much regard is placed on making sure the patient can burp and potentially even vomit.

Those things might not sound all that exciting to the average joe, but to me they are. I have been reflux free for 10 days and I am ecstatic about it. I never imagined I’d feel this good 10 days out, but I do! My incisions need a few more days of good heeling, but for the most part, I’m in heaven!

To celebrate I am smoking salmon and a pork loin.

We’ve been getting snow for the last few nights that, while gone by mid day, is a real pain in the ass for us competent people in the moring. See, incompetent people don’t seem to understand that just like last year and every year before, snow comes, causing the pavement to get wet and sometimes slick. This means you HAVE TO ADJUST YOUR DRIVING APPROPRIATELY! Seriously people.

Much of our job is the result of stupid people doing stupid things. Often times these stupid antics cause innocent people to be hurt or worse die. When you roll out onto the roads this winter(yes I know, it is only Fall, but Mother Nature changed her damn mind this year and I can’t control that) please take your time getting where your going. Worse than you getting hurt, is you hurting someone else. To my EMS/LEO friends: Watch your backs. Wear those stupid vests. No one can protect you like you can.

Godspeed friends.

Back to work…..

As you can see I’ve changed things up here. I’ve also started another blog(cause I am already so good at posting here…) about my obsession with bbq’ing! Check it out at www.bbqguyblog.com and let me know what you think. I am still trying to sort out the theme for BBQ Guy Blog, so I’d love some ideas there, too. I’m guess I’ll end up with a “magazine” style.

Let me know what you think of the theme here, please. I’ll get the blogroll back up in a bit!

My first memory in recovery was being able to burp. This is a godsend. I’m honestly not sure how people who can’t burp survive this surgery. The bloating that I’m feeling now is insane. As this surgery has progressed over the last 15 years, they have made the “wrap” looser and looser. Ideally it should prevent reflux and regurgitation, while not restricting swallowing and the like. Hopefully that is what we have done here. Obviously at only 3 days post op the swelling is high and it is hard to judge, but I AM reflux free so far. I haven’t been 3 days sans reflux in years.

Once my intestines get moving a bit more, I imagine things will be much happier in M3 land. Hoping to return to work on monday. Sorry for the rushed post, but will keep you updated!

Wish me luck, folks. Hope you are all well and I’ll bring you a status update as soon as I possible can.