End Of Stage & What's Next

Well, my stage is completely over. For school it ended on August 20th but I kept going in for fun and extra experience. I'm not really able to describe my experience, but it's definitely one I'll never forget. I got to see a lot of calls, the people at the hospital and CETAM were very nice to me, the police were nice as well. The last few days my Maitres de stage were leaving me alone with the patient, leaving me alone to give my reports and fill out the paperwork. They said they have no doubt in my mind that I'll be an excellent Paramedic, and I'm ready to go out and work on my own, they said I was the ideal stagiare and they were lucky to have me. They were so nice to me, and taught me so much, throughout my career I'll never forget them. My last night of stage we got a sweet call:

The call comes in as a priority 1 possible stroke. We we bolt lights and siren to the house. When we pull up we see a large older man lying on the grass with all his family around him. I'm thinking, "oh no he's in cardiac arrest" so I hurry towards him, I turn on the monitor I tell his daughter to move and make me some space, I squeeze his trapeziums muscles to wake him up, he makes a face but doesn't wake up, I tilt his head back, listen for breathing, he's breathing fine, I check his carotid pulse, it's strong but irregular, his family tells me he's known for arrhythmia's (irregular heart beats) so I don't think much of it, I rip his shirt open, put on the pas for defibrillation in case his heart stops we can shock him right way. On the monitor I see an irregular sinus rhythm. I check his radial pulse its strong but irregular as well, his family mentions that he had ten beers, I take it into consideration, but based on the size of the man I don't think this is just an intox. Then his family mentions he's diabetic. A light goes of in all our heads, he's hypoglycemic (low sugar) Alcohol can lower ones sugar level so this was a clear case. as I monitor the patient and ask the family questions my parent checks his blood sugar level it's a 2.0, (normal between 4-6) so we prepare a drug called glucagon, my partner prepares the needle, and injects it in his arm. Two minutes later the man wakes up, still out of it, not talking and not aware of where he is. He put him on the stretcher, I ask the family if he complained of any chest pain before he fell down to make sure this is just a case of hypoglycemia because diabetics have heart attacks too, they say so, so we hop in the Ambulance and take off. I watch as he slowly regains consciousness, when we get to the hospital, his eyes are fully opened, he's being combative and aggressive (normal behavior in a case like this) so we have to hold him down on the stretcher, so the nurse can get an I.V in, he was very strong. Once he starts to settle down we pack up our stuff and leave.
We bring another patient about an hour later and the doctor says our diabetic patient is awake, and doing great, and that we did a good job. Pretty amazing stuff.

What's next: Well now that I'm done my stage I return to school on September 15th, for my final exams. Practice exams and written exams. Then on September 26th I should be graduated and a real Paramedic. Stay Tuned...