Insert witty title here....

I picked up some overtime on a busy truck, and actually got to run a few calls. I really miss being busy. If nothing else, it gave me something to write about.

Our first lucky contestant was seated in a wheelchair at home, minding his own business, when his wife decided that since she knew him best, he just MUST be feeling bad. That, by default, meant he had a urinary tract infection. UTI's can make old people really sick pretty fast. This guy wasn't sick. He didn't feel bad. He was overweight, had poor hygiene, and smoke 3 packs a day, but said he felt fine. His wife insisted he simply MUST be sick, because, well, she just KNOWS him. He has a history of diabetes, and one of his legs has been amputated. In it's place is the slender rod of a prosthetic. His other leg is horribly swollen- a side effect of the diabetes. I assume he's lost the other leg to the disease, but it's never safe to assume, so I ask "lose your leg to the diabetes?" (waiting for a "here's your sign" type response). "Nope" he says, matter of factly "lost it to a train in '62". Wow! His wife talks him into going to the hospital, by ambulance (because her car is low on gas, forget the fact that she's going to have to come pick him up in ten minutes). He hops on the stretcher and we give Mr. I-don't-have-a-complaint a ride to the ER for "he must be sick".

Number two was a little more dramatic. She called for a headache. She was laying sprawled out on the floor in the hallway, with a washcloth over her eyes. She said she had been in and out of the hospital for 5 out of the last 7 days. She said her migraine was a 10 out of 10 for pain, (and hasn't taken any of her prescribed migraine medications) yet rested comfortably on the stretcher, and was even a bit chatty. I sat at her head and did my report, questioning her when necessary and typing as we drove. There was nothing that needed to really be done for her. Her vitals were fine. I checked her purse for her medications, and found a plethora of bottles. Her painkillers had been filled 2 days prior but the bottle was empty. "oh, yeah, those fell down the sink" she says. Yeah, OK. She adds "I was told I'm in heart failure. I used to have to wear a monitor. I went into SVT but they don't know why". SVT and heart failure are very different. SVT in layman's terms means your heart is beating way too fast. In her purse were some "stacker 3" energy supplements, and a bottle of "6 hour power" liquid supplement. She weighs about 250 lbs, and the most exercise she probably sees is going to the mailbox. Think I found the source of your SVT!