Re: [CH] Beware the Salsa

Dave Drum (dirty_dave@chillicooks.org)
Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:06:15 -0500 

jim wrote:
> I wouldn't think the ID bracelets cost much.  At a minimum, simply put 
> your name, date of birth, port location, and allergies.  I don't think it'd be 
> hard to Google or even ask your MD for sources.  For the cheapest 
> solution, print it out on a piece of paper and stick it in your wallet so that 
> it falls out if/when we pull it open to check for info.  One old guy on the 
> list puts it all on a USB flash drive.
> 
> Dave- the "amp" would have been the D50.  It is so routine that we don't 
> think much of it, but I guess I can appreciate the effect it would have on 
> the public.  We were at a Burger King, called on an unconscious person.  
> We get there and immediately suspect "diabetic" -confirmed by 
> bystanders who said he kept asking for 'sugar' before he went under.  
> The crowd at the place figures he's dead since they can't rouse him for 
> anything and he's only barely breathing.  We get IV access, administer 
> the sugar water and it's "Lazarus, come forth!" :-)  Up he pops, to lucidly 
> and clearly converse with us, sign the release (refusal of transport), to 
> the cheers of the public.  We feel like frauds sometimes ;-)  I don't mean 
> to make light of it- it *IS* a serious condition (and will result in death if 
> not reversed quickly), it just feels so routine to us and requires so little of 
> our skills that we feel guilty over such a simple thing as 'sugar water' 
> making such a difference.

Never feel guilty over helping others - even if it is simple to you - 
through familiarity ... at the very least it will make some folks 
bitch less about the taxes they pay for services such as yours.

BTW - my sugar was at 41 mg/Dl when taken in the ambulance. I have 
been told by my croakers that much below 40 and your candle goes out.

If I had any idea who those folks were - both from the Fire dept and 
the Paramedics I would make them a big pot of chilli.

Meanwhile - they have adjusted my meds to the point where I am taking 
only a minimal dose of one diabetic med - down from the two whacking 
doses of two meds I used to take.

Still dunno what made the blood sugar problem flip-flop.

-- 
ENJOY!!!

 From Uncle Dirty Dave's Kitchen
Home of YAHOOOOAHHHH Hot Sauce & Hardin Cider

... A joke's a very serious thing. -- Charles Churchill