Respiratory Distress

[M. Price]

Medic Unit, Johnny's Grocer's on 5th

*As the phone buzzes, I answer to a frantic woman.*

"911, what's your emergency?"

"The cart guy, he's just, he can't breath! Oh my god."

"Okay, what's the address?"

"I'm at Johnny's on 5th, the grocery store"

"Okay, is he breathing?"

"He's really struggling. But I think so. He's like panting."

"Okay, what happened?"

"He was pushing carts and now he is just red and struggling to breathe. I think he drank a couple Monsters."

*Jesus, another thing that should be illegal.*

"How old is he?"

"He's. I don't know. 25? Maybe older? I don't know. Jesus. Tony! How old are you?"

"That's alright ma'am. We've got an ambulance en route. Can you have someone return them at the door?"

"Okay."

Medic 7 respond to Johnny's Grocer's on 5th for respitory distress, 25 year old male.

[T. Murdoch]

*I hear tones for an ambulance drop and look up.*

'Finally! A call! We've been sitting at this station all damn day not doing a damn thing!'

*I stand up, looking around for my partner, the Russian girl. Where did she wander off to? Fuck it, she would've heard the tones. I head out to the bay and get in the passenger seat of the truck. I crank it and hit the bay door opener as I wait for my partner to get in. Come on, this kid could be dying. Time for Tom Murdoch to save another life.*

"Medic 7 responding."

[E. Sjostrom]

*Hearing the call go out I rush out of my bed and down to M7.  Hopping up into the driver's seat I get going to the scene with Murdick.*

[T. Murdoch]

'Maybe this will be an actual emergency instead of some drunk hobo,' *I say to the Danish girl.*

*I take a hit off my vape pen, glancing over at the Finnish girl.*

'Or maybe it's nothing. He's like 25. Fucking kids. I guess he could've popped a spontaneous pneumo or something, but who the fuck knows. We'll see.'

*I stare out the windshield, wondering what lifesaving interventions this patient would need performed. I was a true hero, and I could perform all manners of lifesaving, critical interventions. Hopefully this punk kid would need something, or it'd be a waste of a true hero like myself.*

[E. Sjostrom]

*There he goes, smoking his fake ass smoke from his toy pen and taking guesses as to what we're going to get.  Never change Murdick, never change.  Just wanting to get the job done so we can get back to the station I stay quiet as I get us to the scene.*

[T. Murdoch]

*As we pull into the grocery store, I take another hit off the vape pen. Fuck, I wish it was a real cigarette. Maybe I should tempt fate again and smoke in the front of the box.*

'Let's just throw everything on the stretcher and take it all in. We can bring him back out to the box if we need to.'

*The Baltic girl pulls the truck into the fire lane and I step out. I toss the jump bag and monitor onto the stretcher and then pull it out, heading inside with her. A frantic grocery store employee meets us at the door.*

'He-he's in the office. Come on, why didn't you get here quicker?!'

*I frown and follow her towards the office.*

'Listen, lady, we got here as quick as we could. What's going on? What happened?'

[E. Sjostrom]

*As we arrive on scene and get out I key up the mic to let dispatch know we've arrived.*

"M1 on scene"

*Heading around the back I pull out the stretcher with help from Murdoch who tosses the monitor and jumpbag onto it.  With the stretcher out we head on in to the grocery store and are taken to the office.*

[M. Price]

*Hanging up one 911 call, I hear Medic 1 on scene. Shit I missed their responding report.*

"10-4 Medic 1"

[T. Murdoch]

*We get into the office, where we find the patient sitting in a chair. He's conscious and alert, leaning forward with his head in his hands. He was taking deep, regular breaths.*

'Hey guy, I'm a paramedic, my name is Tom. What's going on today?'

"I uh, it just got really hard to breathe. My heart felt like it was gonna beat out of my chest. I came inside and sat down, and now I'm starting to feel better, but my heart...it's still racing."

*I nod and glance over to the Estonian girl.*

'Let's go ahead and get him on the monitor. Four lead for now.'

*I look back to the patient.*

'You done any drugs today? Any alcohol? Ever had anything like this happen to you before?'

[E. Sjostrom]

*With a nod I grab the monitor.  Placing the leads around the patients torso the monitor reads the heart beating at 117.*

[M. Price]

*Looking at my call notes, I see two units marked. Medic 1 arrived, marked responding because I missed it and Medic 7, still MIA.*

"Medic 7, ERT. Looking for a status update. Are you still responding?"

[E. Sjostrom]

*As I'm about to get out the BP cuff I hear dispatch over the radio and realize I called us on scene using the number for M1.  Fuck.  Too used to being on that unit.  Keying up the mic I attempt to fix my mistake knowing Murdick is going to lose his shit.*

"M7 to county, on scene.  M1 not on scene, not responding, forgot what unit I was on."

*For fucks sake that's embarrassing and now as I strap on the cuffs to check his BP that's on my mind.*

'126/84 BP'

[M. Price]

*Fuck, that's gonna be an embarrassing discussion with the PIC.*

"Yeah, 10-4, cancelling Medic 1. Medic 7 on scene."

[T. Murdoch]

'No dude, I haven't done any drugs. Nothing like this before.'

*I nod and take my stethoscope from around my neck, listening to his lungs.*

'Well, your lungs sounds okay, so that's good.'

*As I hear the Lithuanian girl correct her mistake, I frown at her. We'd have to have a discussion in the truck, but not in this goddamned grocery store. I squat down, looking at the monitor and then back up at the patient.*

'Your heart's beating a little fast. What were you doing when all this started?'

[E. Sjostrom]

*Seeing Murdick frown at me I just roll my eyes.  Yeah, yeah, I know.*

[T. Murdoch]

'I mean, I was just doing my job, man. Collecting the carts. I had downed a couple Monsters on my break and just went back out.'

*I nod.*

'How many Monsters? Those'll fuck up your heart if you take too many at once.'

'I dunno man, I drank two or three on my break.'

*I shake my head.*

'That was fucking stupid. Don't do that again. You're gonna give yourself a heart attack. You wanna go to the hospital or what? How are you feeling now?'

'Do I gotta go? I feel better now that I'm just sitting here.'

'No, you don't have to go. You're an adult, you make your own decisions. If you don't want to go, we gotta get some paperwork. Erika, can you grab the laptop?'

*I reach down and press the NIBP button again as I watch the rhythm on the monitor.*

[E. Sjostrom]

'Yeah'

*Pulling out the laptop I bring it to the RMA form.*

'Alright, are you sure you don't want to go?'

'Yeah, I don't'

'Alright, well sign here so that we can say that we came here, checked you out, and you refused further medical assistance.'

*He nods, signs the paperwork and I start packing up.*

[T. Murdoch]

*Once the German girl gets everything back on the stretcher, we start to push it outside. Once we're outside and I see no one's around, I look to my partner.*

'Is that fuckin hard to remember what ambulance we're in? Fuckin christ. This is Medic 7. Seven. Not one. Fuck. I'm gonna smoke before we leave.'

*I pull my cigs out as I step away from the truck, lighting up. I burn it quick and then get back in the truck so we can get clear.*

[E. Sjostrom]

*Loading the stuff back into M7 I hear Murdick's comment.  Fuck.  As Murdick has his cigarette I pull out a Winston and light it up.  Inhaling and exhaling the smoke I debate on defending myself but really not caring I keep quiet until I see Murdick is done.  Snuffing out my cig with my boot I head back to the driver's seat of M7 and get in.  As we leave the scene I key up the mic.*

"M7, clear"