A Paramedic Tried to Break My Leg, But an EMT Student Saved My Life

Disclaimer: No, a paramedic did NOT really try to break my leg. It just made for a more interesting title. And I don't know if the EMT student actually saved my life, but he DID save me from a broken leg! Just read the story to understand...

Lots of talk around camp utilizes EMT jargon. We've come up with our own catchphrases and even vocabulary to help us remember important things, and just because it's fun. Studying with others often becomes more of a comedy hour.

The rest of the class has fun with the material as well. Just yesterday, we were learning OB, which included practicing assisting with the birth of plastic babies. Now that I am the only female in the class, this was pretty interesting. Those who have had children expressed how hard the labor process was on them, and the ones who have yet to have kids admitted that they were definitely not looking forward to their girl going through labor. Their complaining didn't seem right; I was the only one out of all of them who had the possibility of ever having to actually experience labor! Funny things were said that day about placentas, umbilical cords, and the fact that our birthing mannequin had stumps for legs.

Thursday evening after class, Jon came over to us and asked us to watch his kids while he and his wife had to go to a last-minute trip to Omaha. The three of us interns had a blast with Alyssa and Dominick. We played Gaga Ball and Hockey until it got dark outside, then we went inside and had the craziest dinner ever (I had planned for it to be pizza rolls and burritos, but we ended up stuffing tortillas with lots of things like cream cheese, mangonaro, bacon spray cheese, beef, cheddar cheese, club crackers, pizza rolls, and lettuce.) Then the kids taught us how to play Pictureka, which was actually a really fun game, and it became even more fun with all the "I'm Sorry" dances, Dominick going crazy, tickle fights, and Alyssa, Dominick, Eli and I shouting to try to distract the other players. Eventually, things got so out-of-control that we never actually finished the game. We somehow made our way to their basement to watch an episode of Gomer Pyle, just in time for their parents to come home. Then, since Eli, Jon and I are taking the EMT class, we started making jokes about "close calls" we could have gotten that evening while watching Jon's kids, and ended up practically having a study session because, of course, we talked about class and used our EMT jargon.

But even though we joked about "close calls" that could have resulted from tickling, piggyback rides, and Gaga ball, they weren't close calls at all compared to what happened today.

Today started  out pretty relaxed. It was colder today, which was fine since we spent most of the day cleaning our living space and rearranging a couple of the rooms. Then, for the last hour of work, Jeff asked us to help him push logs. The problem with the logs was that they were right next to a trail, and there was a ditch real close to them that they could have easily gone in. It was a slightly dangerous task, since it involved walking on unstable logs and throwing them into a deep ravine. I figured if any injuries were to happen today, it would be from someone falling into the ravine. We pushed the logs in that we were able to move with our own manpower, and Jeff came with the tractor so that we could move the really big ones to the paintball course to serve as barricades. One of the large logs was being brady (oops, our made-up EMT jargon right there!) and had challenges getting into the tractor bucket, even though Jordan, Eli and I were all pushing. We had gotten to a point where it was on the bucket, but would obviously fall if we let it go. I was holding it up in the middle, and Eli made sure I was able to hold up his portion before he went to talk to Jeff in the tractor about how we should do this. I knew we couldn't keep it in the bucket, but I was just waiting for us to all let it down together. Next thing I knew, Jordan was letting go of his end. I couldn't keep it up on my own, so I let go too. Since I was in the middle of the log, I went backwards to avoid it falling on me. Unfortunately, there was a stump not too far behind me, and the falling log rolled towards me and pinned my right leg against the stump. I felt terrible pain, I couldn't roll the humongous log off of my leg, and I couldn't find any other way to get out. Without so much as yelling, screaming or crying, I just said "Ow. Get it off. Get it off of me." I could see Eli next to me trying to push the large log with me, but when he realized that wouldn't work, he managed to move the stump behind me that I was pinned to so that my leg could escape.

It really was a miracle. I didn't try to do anything "right", I just reacted naturally. If I had struggled, panicked, or tried to wriggle my leg out from the log, I probably would have a fracture or crush injury right now. If I had been there much longer, things could have gotten worse as well. (To me, it seemed like I was stuck for a minute. For Eli, it seemed like three seconds. I'm guessing the actually time was somewhere in between since I was in pain and he had an adrenaline rush. I guess Jordan or Jeff would have a more accurate time estimate.) Since Jeff is one of our EMT instructors, he used this as an educational opportunity for Eli and me to examine my leg. Of course it was nothing serious, since I was still walking around on it, but he advised me to ice it after work and be careful. I continued moving the logs just fine, although my leg started to get tingly and more painful.

After work and a few minutes of icing my leg, Jordan, Eli and I went out to town. I came up with this awesome idea to numb some of the pain while we were out: Wear my leather boots, put a small bag of ice in my right boot, and wear a long skirt my boot didn't look weird. It worked out pretty well, until we got to Wal-Mart. Since snowy weather is expected late tonight, the place looked like a Shopocalypse. All the ice melted while standing in the customer service line. But the pain was temporarily forgotten when we went to an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet afterwards. Now that I'm back at camp and have to look forward to a boring weekend (our group cancelled on us due to the predicted bad weather), I'm stuck sitting down and looking at this all night:

As an EMT student, here is how I'd describe my leg:

Firm and swollen lower right extremity, with contusions of various shapes and sizes all around, extra tenderness on the posterior side. Sore and especially painful under pressure, but no signs of tibial or fibular fractures. Interventions taken: ice packs and no jumping, kicking, or other strenuous activity using the right leg.

We have been very excited to tell everyone about our near-emergency experience. I have a feeling this event will somehow make its way into a discussion topic in class soon!