Parker came to visit

We watched the movie Cars, built a better mouse trap and went fishing.

It's better than sleeping at night...

About 5 years ago, I took the advice of a good friend and enrolled in an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) class. The first night, they showed a video of an ambulance rolling up on the scene of an accident. There were flashing lights and radio chatter and I said to myself, "I can do this". It took me a year to get certified, but I have now run hundreds of calls with the Madison Country Rescue Squad.

When we moved to Lake Monticello, I moved my membership to the Lake Monticello Volunteer Rescue Squad.

Last night (or was it early this morning), we got a call for a 37 year old asthma patient having difficulty breathing. Before we got there, dispatch radioed that he was now unresponsive and not breathing. When we got there, he was not breathing and had no pulse. We started CPR and inserted an airway tube while the medics installed an intraosseous device (into the marrow of his leg), which is faster than starting an IV. They pushed the regimine of cardiac and pulmonary drugs. We continued CPR. After 40 minutes, the medic said that he was going to call it if we did not have a pulse in 5 more minutes.

As we paused the CPR, we detected a pulse, faint and irregular, but it was definately a pulse. The medic set the EKG for pacing and we called for the helicopter to be launched. The helicopter had been on standby through all of this, but we are not allowed to launch it unless we have a pulse.

We moved the patient to the ambulance and then drove to the landing zone. Before we loaded him into the helicopter, he had a stable heart rate, decent blood pressure, was opening his eyes and moving his head.

I don't know if he will make it, he was down for a long time, but I love being an EMT when I can help make a difference.

What did you do last week?

I went out to sea on a new Navy ship. It's called the USS Makin Island and it is an LHD Amphibious Assault ship. Its just about 900 feet long and is basically an aircraft carrier for helicopters and other things that can take of and land vertically. I have been working on the software for this ship for the last 4 years. This 4 day trip in the Gulf of Mexico was the second time it has been out to sea for tests. The water was calm, the weather was cold the beginning of the week, and then warmed up. Most of the tests were successfull, but we had some problems that set us back a day. Since we got back after the last flight out on Saturday night, the company arranged for the 8 of us to fly back to Charlottesville in one of the corporate jets. I love working for a big company almost as much as I loved looking out the cockpit window as we flew over Atlanta without stopping.

So, here are the pictures:

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An Evening With Lilliana

We got to tend Lily while Isaac and Katie went out for a birthday celebration. Of course we brought the camera along.