I'm Addicted but I don't Take Them!

We were dispatched to a possible diabetic problem. On the way across town dispatch advises us the patient has been feeling dizzy for the past few days. We arrive to find an adult daughter at the door who directed us to her mother who was on the couch. The patient was alert with normal breathing. As we continued to asses the patient we found her blood glucose level was slightly high but not concerning, she had some slurred speech and she had a decreased reaction time. Her vital sighs were in normal range and her heart rhythm was regular and normal, she was assessed for a possible stroke with no apparent indicators. The patient stated she was only on one medication for her heart. As I interviewed the daughter I began looking around my immediate area and found a prescription medication bottle that was for a popular sleeping pill, prescribed and filled only 18 days ago with 30 pills and was now empty. The patent was questioned about the bottle and she said she was addicted to them before so she doesn't take them now and only flushes them down the toilet. OK. She was walked down the stairs like a drunk woman and packaged on the cot for transport to the hospital. An IV was established on the way to the hospital and the patient was delivered to the emergency room without any complications.
It's a sad commentary for a woman with an addiction to prescription drugs, we will probably transport her again. 

A Little Boy, his Mother and a Secret

A little boy doesn't want to see his mother die. A young single mother calls for help when she contemplates suicide. We arrive on scene after the police have made sure the scene is safe. You never know when someone is thinking about committing suicide if they want to take someone else with them. In this case, a young African American women wanted to drink bleach to end it all. As it usually happens, most people need some encouragement to go to the hospital even though they called 911 for help. As my partner tried to reason with the patient and talk her into going with us to the hospital for help, I entertained her three year old boy with a puzzle and did some observation, looking for clues. Three year old little boys can make a mess with very little effort and this apartment was clean and picked up except for the puzzle and a piece of chicken the young boy was nibbling on. After the boy left the piece on chicken on the carpet and seemed uninterested in eating it I used a tissue from the kitchen counter to pick it up. I went into the kitchen to find a trash can to dispose of it and found an empty trash container under the kitchen sink. The woman had child safety latches on the cabinets and it was spic and span under the sink. I started looking around and the whole apartment seemed immaculate, every thing in order and clean. It seemed a little odd to me, a single mother with a three year old living in an apartment that looked like a model house. It's not unheard of, just atypical. My partner was successful in his endeavor and we began making preparations to transport her to the hospital. It was cold outside so, the little boy was excited and directed me to the closet to find a coat for him. I carried him out to the ambulance and he was strapped into the car seat. His mother walked out and was seat belted on the bench for the ride to the hospital. On the way to the hospital the young mother started to open up and talk. As she did, she told of an incident that happened a week ago. Two men came to her door and said they had a package to deliver to her. She was expecting something from her family that live out of our country. One of the men went to get the package and never returned while the other man proceeded to rape her. She had told no one of the incident until now. She was not physically hurt but the mental toll was more than she could bare. She was severely wounded and until now it had not affected her little boy. He was asleep in another room when the rape occurred, but now the ambulance came to help mom and the young boy didn't understand why his mother had to go to the hospital. He didn't know how close he was to becoming an orphan. She felt filthy inside, the bleach is a cleaner and there is no doubt she had been cleaning her apartment thoroughly for the past week. His mother was going to be alright, she would get the help she needed so she could deal with the pain. The police now have enough information, they will find the perpetrator and he will pay a price for his dirty deed. Bleach will not clean his insides ether.