Worst illness/injury from working?

LucidResq

LucidResq

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I knew it was inevitable: I was going to get sick after my first clinical on Sat. after seeing all kinds of delightful pink eye, pneumonia, ear infections, and staph. Today I came down with a sinus infection.

So I'm curious... what's the worst thing you've caught from a patient and/or what's the worst injury you've suffered while working in EMS?
 
C2 Fx, C7 Lat mass Fx, L3 Burst Fx requiring halo placement and vertebrectomy and Ant/Post. fixation and fusion.
 
MSDeltaFlt said:
C2 Fx, C7 Lat mass Fx, L3 Burst Fx requiring halo placement and vertebrectomy and Ant/Post. fixation and fusion.
Click to expand...

That's nothing. One time, I caught the flu!
 
MSDeltaFlt said:
C2 Fx, C7 Lat mass Fx, L3 Burst Fx requiring halo placement and vertebrectomy and Ant/Post. fixation and fusion.
Click to expand...

Good Lord! Did you jump out of that helo before it landed? :P My better half spent 27 years jumping out of planes (Army SF) and his back is nowhere near that FUBAR'd!!!

Seriously, though...DAYAM. Worst thing that ever happened to me was having a tweeker pt kick me in the face and break my nose. Other than that, all other injuries were self-inflicted.
 
MSDeltaFlt said:
C2 Fx, C7 Lat mass Fx, L3 Burst Fx requiring halo placement and vertebrectomy and Ant/Post. fixation and fusion.
Click to expand...

Ouch! How on earth did you do that? Was that all from one event?
 
Yup, just one.
 
Haven't been seriously injured or caught anything, but I've been exposed to some nasty stuff. Influenza type A, leprosy, and TB menigitis to name a few. And all that was from one patient!

-Kat
 
So far I've twisted my ankle pretty badly twice. The second time required physical rehabilitation. The first time we were at the hospital, it was raining, I went to step out of the side and my foot slipped. I came down full force on my foot which twisted my ankle almost completely sideways. The second time, we were dealing with a combative drunk. Police on scene got him into the Reeves and I ran to the back of the bus to get some cravats. As I stepped out on the back bumper my ankle gave way again. I'm guessing it wasn't fully healed from the first time and had no strength. My ankle again, the same one, twisted complete sideways and I fell out of the back of the rig face first onto the pavement. Missing a telephone pole by about 3 inches. This time though, my ankle became even more swollen and painful. Had to go to Physical Rehab. for about 2 months after that. The thing still hurts sometimes.
 
I forgot to ask...does being injured in an ARI with off-duty FF count?

If so, then here's a story for ya:

Many moons ago, I went camping with a bunch of fellow medics and smokeaters. Long story short, there was a large amount of alcohol involved. We bright lovely children decide to hike up to this huge rock up at the top of a steep hill to take a group pic. I fell off the rock. Straight down ten feet, then tumble another 20 or so through the bushes. My partner, Vern, (who was taking the picture) shouts " OH CRAP PETEY FELL OFF THE ROCK", runs to the edge, and TAKES PICTURES OF ME. :excl: I sh*t you not.

Anyhoo, those dumb drunks carry me off the mountain, call in help, and two hours later I'm having my severely dislocated right shoulder set, and all my scrapes and cuts cleaned. So very NOT COOL. I'm still carrying around 6 oz of surgical steel in my shoulder from the followup surgery.

For years after, my crew had a code phrase for when things went seriously south: "Petey fell off the rock". :glare:
 
i must say though, as painful as it must have been, that is an awesome story!
 
My biggest scare was, while a paramedic student I did mouth to mouth on a Premie (5 months) who's Mom, it turned out, had had two more severely Premie births.

In clinicals the next day, my Instructor pulled me aside and told me I needed to be screened for Syphillus, since that often was a causative factor.

Luckily...
 
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yeah one of the first rules, protect yourself, never do mouth to mouth on someone you dont know personally.
 
Flu, and too many times that we would go back to the ER and the nursing staff would say, "you know that last patient you brought us has scabies" itch...itch.. itch...^_^ sigh...... memories
 
Ouch, but not at first.

*shrugs* i dont know if it was bad luck or the fact i had an injury as a child...
3 WEEKS after i got my Basic, ran into a bad call, 600+ lb pt. Pouring rain, Full arrest.. Worse yet was the location... he was laying WEDGED under a overpass ( where the Sloped area meets the crash wall) in the process of getting him out, one of the people helping lift on my side. (my all of 125lb female partner for the shift) gave up mid lift. my back got compressed badly.. shook it off and finished the run, went home after the call after explaining what happened to my boss, Well it turns out that when i got compressed like that, my facet nerve, (the pointless little nerve that runs through the transverse processes) got damaged. That little bit of damage caused two major muscles to keep locked holding me compressed. they eventually had to use RF to kill the nerve so i could be normal again.

Now I just want to get back to work.

Mark
 
On the 4th of January 2008 I rolled my rescue vehicle on the National 14, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Myself and my colleague sustained both head injuries, but he was fortunate to walk away with all the minor injuries.

We were on our way to an accident when I pulled over next to the highway and a vehicle - possibly looking at the accident and not us - drove into the back of my vehicle flipping it several times into oncoming traffic.

I sustained Cardiac Contusion, Whiplash, Concussion Syndrome, Sprained muscles in my lower back and wrists... that was no joke. A month off work....:wacko:

Could have thought of better ways to spend my Friday afternoon...
 
"Petey fell off the rock"
That's cute.:P

As I am not an EMT yet, I haven't sustained any injuries or illnesses on duty, but the worst injury I have ever gotten, was in a car accident. My ankle was shattered into apprx. 100 pieces. Put me in a cast for 1 month and then wanted to do surgery, but the bone was still mush, so I wore the cast for another month. Then was in a boot for about a month, and now I'm doing physical therapy and trying to get rid of my limp. Sprinting is virtually impossible, but the good doc says I'll be symptom free by July (1 year anniversary)
 
*ofLife said:
"Petey fell off the rock"
That's cute.:P

As I am not an EMT yet, I haven't sustained any injuries or illnesses on duty, but the worst injury I have ever gotten, was in a car accident. My ankle was shattered into apprx. 100 pieces. Put me in a cast for 1 month and then wanted to do surgery, but the bone was still mush, so I wore the cast for another month. Then was in a boot for about a month, and now I'm doing physical therapy and trying to get rid of my limp. Sprinting is virtually impossible, but the good doc says I'll be symptom free by July (1 year anniversary)
Click to expand...

Makes my ankle story seem like nothing. :wacko: Good luck with everything.
 
Always, be careful out there.. I had to stop working for 4 months to heal recently... you just feel this horrable pang of guilt every time you hear a siren, and cannot be there to help.
 
lower back injuries
rotator cuff
pink eye
like three hundred colds/flus
closed head injury

isnt this job wonderul?...
 
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