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GLOSSARY
35 X-Ray's post was down the block from the charred hulk of the old Naragansett Brewery. Within reasonable reach were the bodega, which opened at 6, a pawn shop, a newspaper stand, a trash can, the fire hydrant, and a host of empty store-fronts. Within questionable distance were a market and a check-cashing place. Police precinct 20's station house was available for a water fountain and burnt coffee if you expanded the idea of a corner to include a three block radius. 35 X-Ray often did, especially on Tour One, when everything else was closed. Further, the street in front of Precinct 20 was lit, so you could see people before they knocked on your window.
"Do you know where the subway is?" a young woman yelled through the window glass.
"Just down the block." Erin yelled back, pointing toward the monstrous steel structure that stretched over the street. "How'd you get mandated for Tour One, " she asked Ian, "Don't you usually work Tour Two?"
"I swapped with Frain for Tour Three last night. Then I got mandated."
"Are you on today?"
"No. Two days off," he crossed off another clue on his crossword puzzle. "Five letter word for sharp?"
"Quick?" Erin said after a moment's thought.
Ian pencilled the word in. Sara's brother is in town, we're going to see a movie."
"Why are you doing that? You can see a movie anywhere."
"He wants to see that ambulance movie, Taking Care of the Dead, or something like that, so he's taking us out."
"That's nice of him."
"He says he wants to see it with a 'real-life ambulance driver.'"
"Ick."
"Yeah, well.... Five letter word for bouyant?"
"Float?"
"Third letter is a p."
Happy, it turned out. As Ian slowly worked his way through the puzzle, the conversation turned to family, anniversaries, When Harry Met Sally, the staggering price of movie tickets (Ten dollars!), and, just as the MDT beeped for a diff breather, back to Sara's brother.
"Sara's worried about him, I guess he isn't doing to well so she invited him up. You're clear on the right after this green car. Means no sex for me, though."
"Sara won't when he's around?"
"As if he doesn't know. He's an eighteen year old boy, of course he knows."
"She's his sister."
"She's my girlfriend." Ian knew he had no enforceable rights per se, but if he was going to lose in practice he was damned if he was going to lose in theory, too. Besides, he knew he was right. If only he could convince Erin.
"Why are you trying to convince me?" Erin asked as she switched off the siren and brought the ambulance to a halt. Outside of the ambulance, as they grabbed their bags, she said, "I think I know this lady. She's very nice but she's got Alzheimer's or something. She keeps forgetting her meds."
That wasn't all she'd forgotten. The smell of burned metal greeted them as a bent old woman in a nightgown answered the door. Its source was a burning kettle, boiled dry and now starting to warp, Ian discovered when he tracked the smell to the kitchen. He turned off the stove and moved the kettle to another burner.
"Oh, I must have, forgotten that," the woman said. "Silly old me." She broke into a paroxysm of coughing.
"Mrs Leonardowitz, how are you doing today?" Erin asked.
"I, have this cough. The boy down the hall, called you for me, I couldn't, he, I couldn't find my glasses, for the phone."
After a quick history and a physical exam, remarkable for wheezy lungs and the usual signs of mild respiratory distress, they assembled a nebulizer and filled it with albuterol. Once they hooked it up to oxygen, medicated vapor started to drift from its tubelike reservoir. "You remember the peace pipe, right, Mrs Leonardowitz?" Erin asked.
"Oh, yes," said the patient, accepting the nebulizer from Ian and placing it in her mouth
"Good. Breathe it in. Have you been taking your prednisone? Your breathing medication?"
"Prednisone? I don't have any prednisone."
But in the bathroom, Ian found a full bottle of 30 prednisone tablets, dated two weeks ago. A half-empty bottle stood beside it. He also found an over-the-counter epinephrine inhaler, which was empty.
"Mrs Leonardowitz, you shouldn't use that inhaler. It's bad for your heart. You have a prescription inhaler, remember?" Erin said. "Your lungs sound better, but I think you should come to the hospital with us. Do you have a coat and hat?"
She did. Finding them took several minutes as she stepped into first one room, then another in search of it. Ian glanced at Erin and saw sadness, or perhaps just weariness etched into her face for a moment before she caught his gaze and weakly smiled.
Mrs Leonardowitz found her coat. They sat her on the stair chair and buckled her in to carry her down stairs to the ambulance. "Where are you taking me?" she asked. Where, indeed.
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GLOSSARY
Friday, February 27, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Glossary
This is a work in progress. If something's missing, leave me a comment - B
AGLET: the plastic or metal tip of a shoelace.
AC: AnteCubital fossa - the inside corner of the elbow, where several veins are close to the surface and, hence, a common place to take blood or insert an IV line.
BAR: (Nautical) a shallow area across part or all of the mouth of a harbor, estuary, etc.
BINNACLE: a stand for a ship’s or other vessel’s compass, located on the quarterdeck, and often provided with a light.
BLUE FLAG: (Railroad): A blue flag attached to a locomotive, rail car, or similar, indicating that the locomotive, etc, is not to be moved or coupled to. Blue flags are typically applied to equipment that is being serviced, where moving or coupling to the equipment could result in injury or death to a worker, or damage to the equipment. For safety reasons, once a blue flag is applied, it may only be removed by the person who applied it. To blue flag a piece of equipment is to apply such a flag.
BLUE PETER: (Nautical): a square blue flag with a white square at its center, indicating the letter p. Used alone, the blue peter is the symbol of imminent departure, used to recall members of the crew prior to sailing.
BOARDING AXE: a flat-topped axe with a spike (or pick) protruding from the back of its head.
BOLT ROPE (also, boltrope): a rope that is sewn into the edge of a sail, to provide strength to the sail. (added 7 April 2015)
BREECH
* the buttocks. (added 6 Feb 2010)
* the closed end of a gun, opposite the muzzle. (added 6 Feb 2010)
BUS: an unofficial term for an ambulance, only considered acceptable in some regions, such as the New York City and New Gotham areas.
CARRONADE: essentially a cannon with a shorter barrel. The short barrel meant that the carronade was lighter than a cannon firing the same size shot, and could therefore be handled by fewer sailors. Alternately, larger caliber carronades could be used. On the downside, the shorter barrel meant that the carronade was less accurate (and less precise) than a cannon. The short barrel also meant that fire leaving the carronade's muzzle was close to the hull, creating a potential fire hazard.
In practice, a vessel could be equipped with cannon, enabling it to accurately fire smaller shot from a distance; carronades, enabling it to fire larger, more powerful shot, but only at short range; or a combination of the two.
CHASER: (Nautical) a cannon or other large gun mounted to fire forward or backward. A stern chaser is mounted in the stern, and fires behind the ship, while a bow chaser is mounted in the bow to fire forward. The curvature of the bow and the presence of the bowsprit forced bow chasers to fire slightly to port or starboard, rather than exactly straight ahead.(added 25 Feb 2010)
COUNTER: the rear face of a ship's or other vessel’s stern.
COURSE a square sail on, or meant to be hoisted on, a lower MAST. Courses were further named based on the mast they belonged to, with the fore course on the fore mast, the main course on the main mast, etc. (added 25 Feb 2010)
CYLINDER-TOP DESK: similar to the roll-top desk (which it predates), the cylinder-top desk features a writing surface backed by a series of pigeon holes or drawers. A curved panel can be rotated down from the top of the desk to conceal the writing surface and pigeon holes/drawers.
DARK LANTERN: (19th Century) a lantern designed to shine in a single direction, with a shutter to regulate the amount of light shed. With the shutter entirely closed, the lantern sheds no light whatsoever.
DEFIBRILLATE/DEFIBRILLATOR: pending - for the moment I'm going to defer to Wikipedia on this one.
DONKEY: short form of DONKEY ENGINE
DONKEY ENGINE: a stationary engine used for lifting or pulling loads, but not for propulsion.
ENDOTRACHEAL TUBE: a tube inserted through the mouth, into the throat, and through the vocal cords to provide an airway for a patient. An inflatable cuff at the far end holds the tube in place and prevents anything from sliding past the tube (e.g. prevents saliva from entering the lungs).
ET TUBE: an ENDOTRACHEAL TUBE.
FIREBOX (also, fire box): (Steam power): the part of the boiler in which the fire burns. (added 26 Feb 2010)
FIRE ENGINE: a piece of fire apparatus equipped to pull water from a hydrant, lake, or other source, and pump it into hoses for use in fire suppression: a pumper. Sometimes shortened to engine. Compare FIRE TRUCK
FIREMAN:
* Naval Artillery, 19th Cent.: a sailor whose job is to put out any fire arising from the guns use, as from errant sparks lighting in the rigging.
* Steam power: someone whose job is to feed fuel to a boiler, and (for wood and coal) to make sure that the fuel is properly distributed in the FIREBOX. Also known as a stoker. (added 26 Feb 2010)
FIRE TRUCK: a piece of fire apparatus equipped to raise fire fighters to an elevated position, such as a ladder truck, TOWER LADDER, or SNORKEL TRUCK. Sometimes shortened to truck. Compare FIRE ENGINE
FISH: (Nautical): (verb) to apply reinforcing splints to a damaged mast. (noun) such as splint. A mast that had been reinforced in this manner was said to be fished, and was unlikely to be as good as new.
FREEBOARD: the distance between a ship's waterline and the deck. Water rising above the freeboard can spill into the ship, unless the deck has been sealed. In any event, water rising above the freeboard will wash over the deck.
GALLERY: (Nautical) a series of windows spanning the stern of a vessel. Also stern gallery.
GLASS
* Steam engineering: a sight glass: a glass tube that shows the water level in a boiler.
* Hydraulics, and Refrigeration: a sight glass enabling one to view the color, condition, etc of a liquid. (added 7 April 2015) * Nautical: a telescope, sand glass (e.g. hour glass) or barometer.
GUDGEON (typically pl: gudgeons): of the hinge that supports a ship's rudder and allow it to pivot, the part that is attached to the ship's stern. The gudgeon consists of a socket to accept the pintle, which is the part of the hinge connected to the rudder, and a bracket to connect the gudgeon to the ship.
GUNPOWDER (added 16 Jan 2016): Gunpowder in the age of sail was what is now known as black powder, a mix of charcoal, saltpetre, and sulphur. Originally, the components were ground and then mixed, then stored in kegs bound with copper (i.e. non-sparking) hoops. This gunpowder, which came to be known as serpentine powder, had a tendency to separate out into its components if jostled, as it undoubtedly would be in the magazine of a ship at sea. Serpentine powder was also hygroscopic, absorbing water from the environment, and the varying size of its components limited the ability of air to circulate and participate in combustion.
These tendencies were solved by wetting down the mixed powder to hold the components together, and then passing it through a series of screens to divide it by grain size. Smaller-grained powder was used in smaller fire-arms. This powder proved more reliable and more powerful than the serpentine powder it replaced. After the development of cylinder powder (see below), this corned powder came to be marked with blue lettering on its kegs.
Later still, it was discovered that preparing the charcoal in a (cylindrical) oven rather than the traditional kiln made it more uniform, which in turn yielded more powerful gunpowder. This cylinder powder was marked in red. The final type of gunpowder was recycled, which was less powerful than the cylinder powder (my source offers no direct comparison between recycled and corned powder), and was marked in white. JOHNSON BAR: on a steam engine, the Johnson bar regulates the valve timing. Varying the timing trades power for speed, and also determines the direction that the engine (and vehicle) runs. This makes running a steam engine different than running an internal combustion engine, since there is no transmission; power output is controled by varying the speed and direction of the engine. A result of this is that a steam-powered locomotive can run just as fast backwards as it can forwards (steam-powered ships cannot, since the shape of the hull allows faster movement when traveling forward).
LARYNGOSCOPE: a tool for looking into the larynx (in the throat), for the purposes of inserting an ENDOTRACHEAL TUBE, or to locate and remove an object that a patient is choking on. (added 5 Apr 2010)
LUNAR WHITE: a bluish-white color, named for its resemblance to the moon. See also WHITE SIGNAL.
MAST: a SPAR, standing vertically. Masts were designed to support YARDS, but also found use supporting elevated crew positions, such as for a lookout, or to allow sharpshooters to fire down on an enemy. Masts further served as attachment points for flags, lights, lightning rods, radio and radar antennas (once developed), and the like.
In larger vessels, masts consisted of several spars. The lowest portion was the lower mast (also sometimes known as the mast, confusingly), and sat on the vessel's keel. Above this came the topmast, and then the topgallant. Naval (military) vessels might carry royal masts above the topgallants, as might merchentmen belonging to the East India Company. Using multiple spars enabled the masts to be shortened in heavy weather, so as to reduce the amount of TOPHAMPER and so reduce the strain on masts and hull.
MOLE:
* Chemistry a unit, similar to the word dozen, but whereas dozen indicates 12 of something, mole indicates 6.02 x 10^23 of something. (added 2 Apr 2010)
* Espionage: an undercover agent, apparently working for one government (or group), but secretly working for another. (added 2 Apr 2010)
* Nautical: a stone, masonry, or earthen pier or breakwater, or connection between two places separated by water. (added 2 Apr 2010)
MONITOR:
* Medicine (20th, 21st century): a heart monitor, or a combination heart monitor and DEFIBRILLATOR. A heart monitor is a device that depicts the heart's electrical activity as a moving line on a screen.
* Nautical: a type of steam powered, ironclad warship, named for the U.S.S. Monitor (1862), having one or two rotating cylindrical turrets, each typically housing a pair of heavy guns. Monitors were typically on the small side and had a low FREEBOARD, the idea being that they would present as small a target to the enemy as possible. Their low freeboard made monitors unfit for ocean travel (the Monitor, indeed, almost sank at sea as she hurried south to meet the Virginia/Merrimack, and later did sink at sea as she traveled between ports) and the ships were generally restricted to rivers and shore patrol. (edited 2 Apr 2010)
POINT:
* Nautical: 1/32nd of a circle, or a little more than eleven degrees, generally used as a direction. The points of the compass are the 32 cardinal directions, i.e. north, north by east, north-northeast, northeast by north, northeast, northeast by east, east-northeast, east by north, east, east by south, east-southeast, southeast by east, southeast, southeast by south, south-southeast, south by east, south, south by west, south-southwest, southwest by south, southwest, southwest by west, west-southwest, west by south, west, west by north, west-northwest, northwest by west, northwest, northwest by north, north-northwest, north by west, north. (Film aficionados may note that there is no "North by Northwest". (added 2 Feb 2010)
* Railroad: one of the two moving rails in a railroad switch. (added 2 Feb 2010)
POST HOC, ERGO PROMPTER HOC: Latin: "it follows this, therefore it was caused by this". The fallacious idea that if one event follows an earlier event, then it must have been prompted by or caused by that earlier event. (added 2 Feb 2010)
POUCH OF REDA: REDA'S POUCH (added 2 Apr 2010)
POWDER: GUNPOWDER (added 16 Jan 2016)
PREMATURE VENTRICULAR CONTRACTION: a type of abnormal electrical activity in the heart, where the VENTRICLEs contract out of sequence (prematurely). PVCs may perfuse (pump blood, and thus produce a pulse) or they may be nonperfusing. PVCs are indicate that the heart is having difficulty, and may slip into a heart rhythm that cannot support life, such as V-TACH (which is essentially a string of uninterrupted PVCs) or V-FIB. (added 6 Apr 2010)
PVC: a PREMATURE VENTRICULAR CONTRACTION. (added 6 Apr 2010)
RAKE: (Nautical) (1) to fire SHOT along the long axis of a ship, etc (i.e. from BOW to STERN or from STERN to BOW) so that the shot travel along the full length of the ship, allowing them to do maximum damage. (2) the angle of a MAST from vertical. Most masts were raked AFT a few degrees, rather than pointing straight up at 90 degrees from the deck. (added 7 April 2015)
REDA'S POUCH: the compartment created by the interface between the uterus and the urinary bladder. Also known as the pouch of Reda. (added 2 Apr 2010)
SAIL: a sailing vessel.
SAMPLE: acronym for Signs and symptoms, Allergies, Medications, (pertinent) Past medical history, Last oral intake (last food or drink), Events leading up to injury or illness. SAMPLE, coupled with a physical exam, comprises the necessary parts of an EMT's or paramedic's evaluation of a patient. (added 2 Apr 2010)
SCHWA: the upside-down e used in phonetic descriptions to indicate some unstressed vowels.
SHIP: (Naval, 19th Century): a three-masted sailing vessel, with each MAST square-rigged and in three parts, i.e. lower mast, topmast, and topgallant. A ship might also carry royal masts above the topgallants.
SHROUD: (Naval) rigging designed to prevent a MAST from falling to the side. The shrouds, along with the ratlines running horizontally between them, also formed a ladder to enable sailors to climb up into the masts and YARDs.
SINUS: (Anatomy) broadly, a pocket, such as one of the empty spaces in the skull facial bones. Also refers to the part of the heart in which the electrical signal for the heartbeat normally originates. A sinus rhythm is one that starts at this location, as opposed to some other place in the heart. (added 5 Apr 2010)
SMOKE BOX: (also, smokebox) the portion of a boiler in which smoke and combustion gasses collect after heating the water. The (smoke) stack emerges from the smoke box. On a steam locomotive, the smokebox is found at the front, and is sometimes painted in a different color than the rest of the locomotive. (added 2 Feb 2010)
SNORKEL TRUCK: a FIRE TRUCK fitted with a large bucket at the end of an articulated boom, for a fire fighter to stand in while working. A fire fighter stands in the bucket and is lifted into the air to allow access to a fire from an elevated position: a cherry picker. Sometimes shortened to snorkel.
SNOW: a sailing vessel equipped with two square-rigged masts, plus a snowmast (also known as a trysail mast) placed very closely behind the mainmast. The snowmast is rigged for fore-and-aft sails. Snows were generally used as merchant vessels, though a few saw military service.
SPAR: a piece of wood (later, similarly-shaped iron or steel) designed to serve as a MAST or a YARD.
SPLINTER NETTING: rope netting spread above the WEATHER DECK to protect the crew from falling debris, as during a battle. (added 1 Sept 2014)
STOKER: (Steam power): a FIREMAN. (added 26 Feb 2010)
SUPERHEATER: in a steam engine, a fire in the FIREBOX generates combustion gasses, which heat water in a boiler, creating steam. This steam can be used directly, or it can be heated further in a superheater, which pipes the steam back though the combustion gasses. Steam that has been through a superheater is said to be superheated, and delivers more power than non-superheated steam. (added 26 Feb 2010)
TOWER LADDER: a ladder truck fitted with a bucket at the end of its ladder, for a fire fighter to stand in while working. A cross between a ladder truck and a SNORKEL TRUCK. Sometimes shortened to tower.
TOP: (Naval): a platform at the top of a lower MAST, designed for spreading the SHROUDs of the topmast. In battle, sharphooters might stand in the top and fire down on the enemy's deck.
TOPHAMPER: The portion of a sailing vessel designed to support the sails, such as the MASTs, rigging, TOPs, etc.
TOUCH HOLE: the hole near the BREECH of a gun by which fire is applied to the gunpowder, firing the weapon. (added 6 Feb 2010)
TRUNNION: one of two horizontal posts on the opposite sides of a cannon, etc, used for attaching the gun to its carriage. (added 6 Feb 2010, edited 7 July 2011)
TUMBLEHOME: an inward slope of a ship's or other vessel's side as it rises from the water.
VENTRICLE: an anatomical chamber. In the heart, the ventricles are the main pumping chambers. (added 6 Apr 2010, edited 7 July 2011)
V-FIB: ventricular fibrillation. An abnormal heart rhythm where the VENTRICLEs beat in a disorganized fashion that cannot produce a pulse. V-fib is one of two heart rhythms that can be DEFIBRILLATED. (added 6 Apr 2010)
V-TACH: ventricular tachycardia. A type of tachycardia (abnormally fast heart rate) where the VENTRICLEs beat without being signaled to do so. V-tach may produce a pulse, or it may be pulseless. Pulseless v-tach is one of two heart rhythms that can be DEFIBRILLATED; v-tach with a pulse requires a more sophisticated type of electrical therapy known as synchronized cardioversion. (added 6 Apr 2010)
WARD M: a slang term for the hospital morgue.
WEATHER DECK: * Nautical: The deck exposed to the weather, by virtue of having no deck above it, or only a partial deck above it. (added 1 Sept 2014) * Space: a deck or space from which a spacecraft can be exited; an antechamber to an airlock. (added 1 Sept 2014)
WHITE SIGNAL: (Railroad): early colored-light railroad signals used white light to indicate 'go'. Red signals indicated 'stop,', and yellow indicated 'approach' (proceed to the next signal but be prepared to stop there) or 'stop, then approach." Green later replaced white. SPOILER (highlight text to read): The problem with white was that a lost or broken red (or yellow) lens would reveal a white light, tricking the engineer into proceeding when he should not. In the early twentieth century, some railroads used a lunar white signal for restricting - allowing a train to slowly enter a track on which another train was known to be already present, with the understanding the the engineer would have to be able to quickly bring his train to a halt. Modern signals may be much more complex, using a multitude of colored and/or white lights at the same time.
YARD: (Nautical) a long piece of wood, (later, iron or steel), held up by a MAST and carried horizontally, for the purpose of spreading and supporting a sail. In conjunction with their associated masts, yards also functioned as cranes for lifting cargo, boats, etc. Also, a facility for building or servicing ships, etc. (edited 5 Apr 2010)
Last update: 16 January 2016
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AGLET: the plastic or metal tip of a shoelace.
AC: AnteCubital fossa - the inside corner of the elbow, where several veins are close to the surface and, hence, a common place to take blood or insert an IV line.
BAR: (Nautical) a shallow area across part or all of the mouth of a harbor, estuary, etc.
BINNACLE: a stand for a ship’s or other vessel’s compass, located on the quarterdeck, and often provided with a light.
BLUE FLAG: (Railroad): A blue flag attached to a locomotive, rail car, or similar, indicating that the locomotive, etc, is not to be moved or coupled to. Blue flags are typically applied to equipment that is being serviced, where moving or coupling to the equipment could result in injury or death to a worker, or damage to the equipment. For safety reasons, once a blue flag is applied, it may only be removed by the person who applied it. To blue flag a piece of equipment is to apply such a flag.
BLUE PETER: (Nautical): a square blue flag with a white square at its center, indicating the letter p. Used alone, the blue peter is the symbol of imminent departure, used to recall members of the crew prior to sailing.
BOARDING AXE: a flat-topped axe with a spike (or pick) protruding from the back of its head.
BOLT ROPE (also, boltrope): a rope that is sewn into the edge of a sail, to provide strength to the sail. (added 7 April 2015)
BREECH
* the buttocks. (added 6 Feb 2010)
* the closed end of a gun, opposite the muzzle. (added 6 Feb 2010)
BUS: an unofficial term for an ambulance, only considered acceptable in some regions, such as the New York City and New Gotham areas.
CARRONADE: essentially a cannon with a shorter barrel. The short barrel meant that the carronade was lighter than a cannon firing the same size shot, and could therefore be handled by fewer sailors. Alternately, larger caliber carronades could be used. On the downside, the shorter barrel meant that the carronade was less accurate (and less precise) than a cannon. The short barrel also meant that fire leaving the carronade's muzzle was close to the hull, creating a potential fire hazard.
In practice, a vessel could be equipped with cannon, enabling it to accurately fire smaller shot from a distance; carronades, enabling it to fire larger, more powerful shot, but only at short range; or a combination of the two.
CHASER: (Nautical) a cannon or other large gun mounted to fire forward or backward. A stern chaser is mounted in the stern, and fires behind the ship, while a bow chaser is mounted in the bow to fire forward. The curvature of the bow and the presence of the bowsprit forced bow chasers to fire slightly to port or starboard, rather than exactly straight ahead.(added 25 Feb 2010)
COUNTER: the rear face of a ship's or other vessel’s stern.
COURSE a square sail on, or meant to be hoisted on, a lower MAST. Courses were further named based on the mast they belonged to, with the fore course on the fore mast, the main course on the main mast, etc. (added 25 Feb 2010)
CYLINDER-TOP DESK: similar to the roll-top desk (which it predates), the cylinder-top desk features a writing surface backed by a series of pigeon holes or drawers. A curved panel can be rotated down from the top of the desk to conceal the writing surface and pigeon holes/drawers.
DARK LANTERN: (19th Century) a lantern designed to shine in a single direction, with a shutter to regulate the amount of light shed. With the shutter entirely closed, the lantern sheds no light whatsoever.
DEFIBRILLATE/DEFIBRILLATOR: pending - for the moment I'm going to defer to Wikipedia on this one.
DONKEY: short form of DONKEY ENGINE
DONKEY ENGINE: a stationary engine used for lifting or pulling loads, but not for propulsion.
ENDOTRACHEAL TUBE: a tube inserted through the mouth, into the throat, and through the vocal cords to provide an airway for a patient. An inflatable cuff at the far end holds the tube in place and prevents anything from sliding past the tube (e.g. prevents saliva from entering the lungs).
ET TUBE: an ENDOTRACHEAL TUBE.
FIREBOX (also, fire box): (Steam power): the part of the boiler in which the fire burns. (added 26 Feb 2010)
FIRE ENGINE: a piece of fire apparatus equipped to pull water from a hydrant, lake, or other source, and pump it into hoses for use in fire suppression: a pumper. Sometimes shortened to engine. Compare FIRE TRUCK
FIREMAN:
* Naval Artillery, 19th Cent.: a sailor whose job is to put out any fire arising from the guns use, as from errant sparks lighting in the rigging.
* Steam power: someone whose job is to feed fuel to a boiler, and (for wood and coal) to make sure that the fuel is properly distributed in the FIREBOX. Also known as a stoker. (added 26 Feb 2010)
FIRE TRUCK: a piece of fire apparatus equipped to raise fire fighters to an elevated position, such as a ladder truck, TOWER LADDER, or SNORKEL TRUCK. Sometimes shortened to truck. Compare FIRE ENGINE
FISH: (Nautical): (verb) to apply reinforcing splints to a damaged mast. (noun) such as splint. A mast that had been reinforced in this manner was said to be fished, and was unlikely to be as good as new.
FREEBOARD: the distance between a ship's waterline and the deck. Water rising above the freeboard can spill into the ship, unless the deck has been sealed. In any event, water rising above the freeboard will wash over the deck.
GALLERY: (Nautical) a series of windows spanning the stern of a vessel. Also stern gallery.
GLASS
* Steam engineering: a sight glass: a glass tube that shows the water level in a boiler.
* Hydraulics, and Refrigeration: a sight glass enabling one to view the color, condition, etc of a liquid. (added 7 April 2015) * Nautical: a telescope, sand glass (e.g. hour glass) or barometer.
GUDGEON (typically pl: gudgeons): of the hinge that supports a ship's rudder and allow it to pivot, the part that is attached to the ship's stern. The gudgeon consists of a socket to accept the pintle, which is the part of the hinge connected to the rudder, and a bracket to connect the gudgeon to the ship.
GUNPOWDER (added 16 Jan 2016): Gunpowder in the age of sail was what is now known as black powder, a mix of charcoal, saltpetre, and sulphur. Originally, the components were ground and then mixed, then stored in kegs bound with copper (i.e. non-sparking) hoops. This gunpowder, which came to be known as serpentine powder, had a tendency to separate out into its components if jostled, as it undoubtedly would be in the magazine of a ship at sea. Serpentine powder was also hygroscopic, absorbing water from the environment, and the varying size of its components limited the ability of air to circulate and participate in combustion.
These tendencies were solved by wetting down the mixed powder to hold the components together, and then passing it through a series of screens to divide it by grain size. Smaller-grained powder was used in smaller fire-arms. This powder proved more reliable and more powerful than the serpentine powder it replaced. After the development of cylinder powder (see below), this corned powder came to be marked with blue lettering on its kegs.
Later still, it was discovered that preparing the charcoal in a (cylindrical) oven rather than the traditional kiln made it more uniform, which in turn yielded more powerful gunpowder. This cylinder powder was marked in red. The final type of gunpowder was recycled, which was less powerful than the cylinder powder (my source offers no direct comparison between recycled and corned powder), and was marked in white. JOHNSON BAR: on a steam engine, the Johnson bar regulates the valve timing. Varying the timing trades power for speed, and also determines the direction that the engine (and vehicle) runs. This makes running a steam engine different than running an internal combustion engine, since there is no transmission; power output is controled by varying the speed and direction of the engine. A result of this is that a steam-powered locomotive can run just as fast backwards as it can forwards (steam-powered ships cannot, since the shape of the hull allows faster movement when traveling forward).
LARYNGOSCOPE: a tool for looking into the larynx (in the throat), for the purposes of inserting an ENDOTRACHEAL TUBE, or to locate and remove an object that a patient is choking on. (added 5 Apr 2010)
LUNAR WHITE: a bluish-white color, named for its resemblance to the moon. See also WHITE SIGNAL.
MAST: a SPAR, standing vertically. Masts were designed to support YARDS, but also found use supporting elevated crew positions, such as for a lookout, or to allow sharpshooters to fire down on an enemy. Masts further served as attachment points for flags, lights, lightning rods, radio and radar antennas (once developed), and the like.
In larger vessels, masts consisted of several spars. The lowest portion was the lower mast (also sometimes known as the mast, confusingly), and sat on the vessel's keel. Above this came the topmast, and then the topgallant. Naval (military) vessels might carry royal masts above the topgallants, as might merchentmen belonging to the East India Company. Using multiple spars enabled the masts to be shortened in heavy weather, so as to reduce the amount of TOPHAMPER and so reduce the strain on masts and hull.
MOLE:
* Chemistry a unit, similar to the word dozen, but whereas dozen indicates 12 of something, mole indicates 6.02 x 10^23 of something. (added 2 Apr 2010)
* Espionage: an undercover agent, apparently working for one government (or group), but secretly working for another. (added 2 Apr 2010)
* Nautical: a stone, masonry, or earthen pier or breakwater, or connection between two places separated by water. (added 2 Apr 2010)
MONITOR:
* Medicine (20th, 21st century): a heart monitor, or a combination heart monitor and DEFIBRILLATOR. A heart monitor is a device that depicts the heart's electrical activity as a moving line on a screen.
* Nautical: a type of steam powered, ironclad warship, named for the U.S.S. Monitor (1862), having one or two rotating cylindrical turrets, each typically housing a pair of heavy guns. Monitors were typically on the small side and had a low FREEBOARD, the idea being that they would present as small a target to the enemy as possible. Their low freeboard made monitors unfit for ocean travel (the Monitor, indeed, almost sank at sea as she hurried south to meet the Virginia/Merrimack, and later did sink at sea as she traveled between ports) and the ships were generally restricted to rivers and shore patrol. (edited 2 Apr 2010)
POINT:
* Nautical: 1/32nd of a circle, or a little more than eleven degrees, generally used as a direction. The points of the compass are the 32 cardinal directions, i.e. north, north by east, north-northeast, northeast by north, northeast, northeast by east, east-northeast, east by north, east, east by south, east-southeast, southeast by east, southeast, southeast by south, south-southeast, south by east, south, south by west, south-southwest, southwest by south, southwest, southwest by west, west-southwest, west by south, west, west by north, west-northwest, northwest by west, northwest, northwest by north, north-northwest, north by west, north. (Film aficionados may note that there is no "North by Northwest". (added 2 Feb 2010)
* Railroad: one of the two moving rails in a railroad switch. (added 2 Feb 2010)
POST HOC, ERGO PROMPTER HOC: Latin: "it follows this, therefore it was caused by this". The fallacious idea that if one event follows an earlier event, then it must have been prompted by or caused by that earlier event. (added 2 Feb 2010)
POUCH OF REDA: REDA'S POUCH (added 2 Apr 2010)
POWDER: GUNPOWDER (added 16 Jan 2016)
PREMATURE VENTRICULAR CONTRACTION: a type of abnormal electrical activity in the heart, where the VENTRICLEs contract out of sequence (prematurely). PVCs may perfuse (pump blood, and thus produce a pulse) or they may be nonperfusing. PVCs are indicate that the heart is having difficulty, and may slip into a heart rhythm that cannot support life, such as V-TACH (which is essentially a string of uninterrupted PVCs) or V-FIB. (added 6 Apr 2010)
PVC: a PREMATURE VENTRICULAR CONTRACTION. (added 6 Apr 2010)
RAKE: (Nautical) (1) to fire SHOT along the long axis of a ship, etc (i.e. from BOW to STERN or from STERN to BOW) so that the shot travel along the full length of the ship, allowing them to do maximum damage. (2) the angle of a MAST from vertical. Most masts were raked AFT a few degrees, rather than pointing straight up at 90 degrees from the deck. (added 7 April 2015)
REDA'S POUCH: the compartment created by the interface between the uterus and the urinary bladder. Also known as the pouch of Reda. (added 2 Apr 2010)
SAIL: a sailing vessel.
SAMPLE: acronym for Signs and symptoms, Allergies, Medications, (pertinent) Past medical history, Last oral intake (last food or drink), Events leading up to injury or illness. SAMPLE, coupled with a physical exam, comprises the necessary parts of an EMT's or paramedic's evaluation of a patient. (added 2 Apr 2010)
SCHWA: the upside-down e used in phonetic descriptions to indicate some unstressed vowels.
SHIP: (Naval, 19th Century): a three-masted sailing vessel, with each MAST square-rigged and in three parts, i.e. lower mast, topmast, and topgallant. A ship might also carry royal masts above the topgallants.
SHROUD: (Naval) rigging designed to prevent a MAST from falling to the side. The shrouds, along with the ratlines running horizontally between them, also formed a ladder to enable sailors to climb up into the masts and YARDs.
SINUS: (Anatomy) broadly, a pocket, such as one of the empty spaces in the skull facial bones. Also refers to the part of the heart in which the electrical signal for the heartbeat normally originates. A sinus rhythm is one that starts at this location, as opposed to some other place in the heart. (added 5 Apr 2010)
SMOKE BOX: (also, smokebox) the portion of a boiler in which smoke and combustion gasses collect after heating the water. The (smoke) stack emerges from the smoke box. On a steam locomotive, the smokebox is found at the front, and is sometimes painted in a different color than the rest of the locomotive. (added 2 Feb 2010)
SNORKEL TRUCK: a FIRE TRUCK fitted with a large bucket at the end of an articulated boom, for a fire fighter to stand in while working. A fire fighter stands in the bucket and is lifted into the air to allow access to a fire from an elevated position: a cherry picker. Sometimes shortened to snorkel.
SNOW: a sailing vessel equipped with two square-rigged masts, plus a snowmast (also known as a trysail mast) placed very closely behind the mainmast. The snowmast is rigged for fore-and-aft sails. Snows were generally used as merchant vessels, though a few saw military service.
SPAR: a piece of wood (later, similarly-shaped iron or steel) designed to serve as a MAST or a YARD.
SPLINTER NETTING: rope netting spread above the WEATHER DECK to protect the crew from falling debris, as during a battle. (added 1 Sept 2014)
STOKER: (Steam power): a FIREMAN. (added 26 Feb 2010)
SUPERHEATER: in a steam engine, a fire in the FIREBOX generates combustion gasses, which heat water in a boiler, creating steam. This steam can be used directly, or it can be heated further in a superheater, which pipes the steam back though the combustion gasses. Steam that has been through a superheater is said to be superheated, and delivers more power than non-superheated steam. (added 26 Feb 2010)
TOWER LADDER: a ladder truck fitted with a bucket at the end of its ladder, for a fire fighter to stand in while working. A cross between a ladder truck and a SNORKEL TRUCK. Sometimes shortened to tower.
TOP: (Naval): a platform at the top of a lower MAST, designed for spreading the SHROUDs of the topmast. In battle, sharphooters might stand in the top and fire down on the enemy's deck.
TOPHAMPER: The portion of a sailing vessel designed to support the sails, such as the MASTs, rigging, TOPs, etc.
TOUCH HOLE: the hole near the BREECH of a gun by which fire is applied to the gunpowder, firing the weapon. (added 6 Feb 2010)
TRUNNION: one of two horizontal posts on the opposite sides of a cannon, etc, used for attaching the gun to its carriage. (added 6 Feb 2010, edited 7 July 2011)
TUMBLEHOME: an inward slope of a ship's or other vessel's side as it rises from the water.
VENTRICLE: an anatomical chamber. In the heart, the ventricles are the main pumping chambers. (added 6 Apr 2010, edited 7 July 2011)
V-FIB: ventricular fibrillation. An abnormal heart rhythm where the VENTRICLEs beat in a disorganized fashion that cannot produce a pulse. V-fib is one of two heart rhythms that can be DEFIBRILLATED. (added 6 Apr 2010)
V-TACH: ventricular tachycardia. A type of tachycardia (abnormally fast heart rate) where the VENTRICLEs beat without being signaled to do so. V-tach may produce a pulse, or it may be pulseless. Pulseless v-tach is one of two heart rhythms that can be DEFIBRILLATED; v-tach with a pulse requires a more sophisticated type of electrical therapy known as synchronized cardioversion. (added 6 Apr 2010)
WARD M: a slang term for the hospital morgue.
WEATHER DECK: * Nautical: The deck exposed to the weather, by virtue of having no deck above it, or only a partial deck above it. (added 1 Sept 2014) * Space: a deck or space from which a spacecraft can be exited; an antechamber to an airlock. (added 1 Sept 2014)
WHITE SIGNAL: (Railroad): early colored-light railroad signals used white light to indicate 'go'. Red signals indicated 'stop,', and yellow indicated 'approach' (proceed to the next signal but be prepared to stop there) or 'stop, then approach." Green later replaced white. SPOILER (highlight text to read): The problem with white was that a lost or broken red (or yellow) lens would reveal a white light, tricking the engineer into proceeding when he should not. In the early twentieth century, some railroads used a lunar white signal for restricting - allowing a train to slowly enter a track on which another train was known to be already present, with the understanding the the engineer would have to be able to quickly bring his train to a halt. Modern signals may be much more complex, using a multitude of colored and/or white lights at the same time.
YARD: (Nautical) a long piece of wood, (later, iron or steel), held up by a MAST and carried horizontally, for the purpose of spreading and supporting a sail. In conjunction with their associated masts, yards also functioned as cranes for lifting cargo, boats, etc. Also, a facility for building or servicing ships, etc. (edited 5 Apr 2010)
Last update: 16 January 2016
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X-ray Chapter 7, part 3
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GLOSSARY
Lieutenant Squadron glared at Frank, but only said, "well, then?"
"Where was I?"
"Jeopardy?"
"Yeah, Jeopardy. So he's only halfway through Jeopardy, and then he was in. I smoked him again but it didn't do anything."
"Smoked him?"
"Shocked him, Lieutenant," Ian explained.
Three five Charlie ("That's us," cried Jill. "He knows that." said Jim. Lieutenant Squadron merely glared again.) was on scene in two minutes. They recognized the smoke immediately. "No, it can't be," Jim said as he leaned in through the doorway.
"Oh, yeah it is. You two want to take over CPR? We've done our hard work for today. You have any trouble finding us back here?" Frank asked as Jim and Jill squeezed themselves into the closet.
"This very nice hysterical woman showed us the way in," Jill told him.
"Yeah, we met her, too. Don't step on the drug bag," Frank said as he wiped his brow on his uniform sleeve. "Man, it's warm in here."
"I hate CPR in cramped spaces."
"It could be worse."
"How?"
"I don't know. Ow - watch your elbow."
"He could be decapitated." Jill offered with a giggle.
"That just makes it easier." Ian offered. Jill had taken over the bag valve mask - now hooked up to the ET tube - and Ian opened the IV kit. "The person doing the chest compressions doesn't get in the way of the person doing the airway."
Jill giggled again, then suddenly stopped. "I don't get it."
"I'm over hear doing the compressions," said Jim, "while you're in the other corner doing the airway," Jim explained while Ian contorted himself into a corner to try for an IV.
"You get it, yet, " Frank asked after several moments
"No," Ian said. "Both of his ACs are trashed. Use the tube for now."
Frank frowned, but Jill disconnected the bag valve from the endotracheal tube. Frank injected the epinephrine into the tube and Jill reconnected the bag, giving several quick breaths to send the medication home. Jill suppressed a giggle.
"Charging 360." said Frank. "360 Joules, clear - clear!"
"How?" asked Jill. "Should I climb on top of Jim?"
"Yes. Please." said Jim. "I think we'll have to pull him into the other room."
Together, they dragged the patient out into the greenhouse, accidentally knocking over one of the plant-laden tables and sending its contents to the floor. One plant, unnoticed, fell into Three-five C's airway bag.
"Shocking," said Frank again. He pressed the button, then charged the defibrillator again. "Charging 360," he announced. "Wow," he said. "Even out here the smoke is strong."
Jill sniffed, strangled a laugh into more of a snort, and sniffed again, wiping her nose on the shoulder of her jacket. In the background the hysterical woman continued to run in circles.
"Oh, no, I did six," Jim suddenly said from his position at the patient's chest.
"What?"
"I did six compressions instead of five."
It's okay," Jill told him.
Frank sent a round of lidocaine down the ET tube, then followed it with Narcan, "just for kicks."
"I got it," Ian suddenly exclaimed. "I got it I- oh, damn. The line blew."
"Charging 360," Frank warned.
"Jill, toss me an 18 gauge?"
Jill handed the catheter over to Ian. "Shocking 360. Clear. Is anyone else's mouth dry?"
"Yeah."
"Uh huh."
"Yeah."
"Just wondering."
Out in Three-five Charlie's ambulance Ian sent Jill around to drive. "I can't," she giggled, "I have no peripheral vision!"
Ian vainly tried to suppress his own laughter as he shoved Jill into the back of the ambulance with his foot and yelled at Jim to go up front and drive.
Outside, the woman had followed them to the ambulance and was still crying and carrying on. "How is she still there?" asked Frank. "Aren't we moving yet?"
"I'm stuck," Jim's shuddering voice responded. For reasons known only to him he had not gone around the outside of the ambulance to get from the box to the driver's compartment. He had instead tried to climb through the interior window. His buttocks and legs still protruded through into the box.
"Will you - fix your partner?" Ian asked Jill, then turning to Frank, "You wanna try this IV?"
Frank did and got it on the first try. "Are we on drug or shock?" he asked.
"I don't know. Which do you like?"
"I want to use my IV."
How they made it to the hospital Ian never could remember. His next recollection was finding Jim clinging to the steering wheel post call. "Jim, what are you doing?" he asked.
"If I let go, I'll fall."
"You're sitting in a seat."
"You don't understand. I'll fall into the sky."
"Oh," Ian shut the door. "I'll just, yeah." Then he went off to find Frank and decide where they'd left their bus.
"So really," Frank concluded, "you should be thanking us."
"Thanking you? I could be busting you."
"For what. We found your bus. It wouldn't look very good for you to have to report the absence of a bus to Captain Pullings. I think we've got you over a barrel, Lieutenant. There's four of us and one of you. Watch your step with who you threaten." Frank would have gone on, but Jill burst out laughing. And Lieutenant Squadron still didn't understand what Jeopardy had to do with any of it.
First Post|Previous|Next
GLOSSARY
Edited for location, 10 Feb 2009
GLOSSARY
Lieutenant Squadron glared at Frank, but only said, "well, then?"
"Where was I?"
"Jeopardy?"
"Yeah, Jeopardy. So he's only halfway through Jeopardy, and then he was in. I smoked him again but it didn't do anything."
"Smoked him?"
"Shocked him, Lieutenant," Ian explained.
Three five Charlie ("That's us," cried Jill. "He knows that." said Jim. Lieutenant Squadron merely glared again.) was on scene in two minutes. They recognized the smoke immediately. "No, it can't be," Jim said as he leaned in through the doorway.
"Oh, yeah it is. You two want to take over CPR? We've done our hard work for today. You have any trouble finding us back here?" Frank asked as Jim and Jill squeezed themselves into the closet.
"This very nice hysterical woman showed us the way in," Jill told him.
"Yeah, we met her, too. Don't step on the drug bag," Frank said as he wiped his brow on his uniform sleeve. "Man, it's warm in here."
"I hate CPR in cramped spaces."
"It could be worse."
"How?"
"I don't know. Ow - watch your elbow."
"He could be decapitated." Jill offered with a giggle.
"That just makes it easier." Ian offered. Jill had taken over the bag valve mask - now hooked up to the ET tube - and Ian opened the IV kit. "The person doing the chest compressions doesn't get in the way of the person doing the airway."
Jill giggled again, then suddenly stopped. "I don't get it."
"I'm over hear doing the compressions," said Jim, "while you're in the other corner doing the airway," Jim explained while Ian contorted himself into a corner to try for an IV.
"You get it, yet, " Frank asked after several moments
"No," Ian said. "Both of his ACs are trashed. Use the tube for now."
Frank frowned, but Jill disconnected the bag valve from the endotracheal tube. Frank injected the epinephrine into the tube and Jill reconnected the bag, giving several quick breaths to send the medication home. Jill suppressed a giggle.
"Charging 360." said Frank. "360 Joules, clear - clear!"
"How?" asked Jill. "Should I climb on top of Jim?"
"Yes. Please." said Jim. "I think we'll have to pull him into the other room."
Together, they dragged the patient out into the greenhouse, accidentally knocking over one of the plant-laden tables and sending its contents to the floor. One plant, unnoticed, fell into Three-five C's airway bag.
"Shocking," said Frank again. He pressed the button, then charged the defibrillator again. "Charging 360," he announced. "Wow," he said. "Even out here the smoke is strong."
Jill sniffed, strangled a laugh into more of a snort, and sniffed again, wiping her nose on the shoulder of her jacket. In the background the hysterical woman continued to run in circles.
"Oh, no, I did six," Jim suddenly said from his position at the patient's chest.
"What?"
"I did six compressions instead of five."
It's okay," Jill told him.
Frank sent a round of lidocaine down the ET tube, then followed it with Narcan, "just for kicks."
"I got it," Ian suddenly exclaimed. "I got it I- oh, damn. The line blew."
"Charging 360," Frank warned.
"Jill, toss me an 18 gauge?"
Jill handed the catheter over to Ian. "Shocking 360. Clear. Is anyone else's mouth dry?"
"Yeah."
"Uh huh."
"Yeah."
"Just wondering."
Out in Three-five Charlie's ambulance Ian sent Jill around to drive. "I can't," she giggled, "I have no peripheral vision!"
Ian vainly tried to suppress his own laughter as he shoved Jill into the back of the ambulance with his foot and yelled at Jim to go up front and drive.
Outside, the woman had followed them to the ambulance and was still crying and carrying on. "How is she still there?" asked Frank. "Aren't we moving yet?"
"I'm stuck," Jim's shuddering voice responded. For reasons known only to him he had not gone around the outside of the ambulance to get from the box to the driver's compartment. He had instead tried to climb through the interior window. His buttocks and legs still protruded through into the box.
"Will you - fix your partner?" Ian asked Jill, then turning to Frank, "You wanna try this IV?"
Frank did and got it on the first try. "Are we on drug or shock?" he asked.
"I don't know. Which do you like?"
"I want to use my IV."
How they made it to the hospital Ian never could remember. His next recollection was finding Jim clinging to the steering wheel post call. "Jim, what are you doing?" he asked.
"If I let go, I'll fall."
"You're sitting in a seat."
"You don't understand. I'll fall into the sky."
"Oh," Ian shut the door. "I'll just, yeah." Then he went off to find Frank and decide where they'd left their bus.
"So really," Frank concluded, "you should be thanking us."
"Thanking you? I could be busting you."
"For what. We found your bus. It wouldn't look very good for you to have to report the absence of a bus to Captain Pullings. I think we've got you over a barrel, Lieutenant. There's four of us and one of you. Watch your step with who you threaten." Frank would have gone on, but Jill burst out laughing. And Lieutenant Squadron still didn't understand what Jeopardy had to do with any of it.
First Post|Previous|Next
GLOSSARY
Edited for location, 10 Feb 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
X-ray Chapter 7, part 2
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GLOSSARY
Two days later, Ian was back in the ambulance, once again working with Frank. Late in the day, they were called back to the station. There, in the garage, they met Three-Five Charlie, driving bus 408 and held late specifically to meet them, and a very unhappy Lieutenant Squadron. "Would one of you like to tell me," the Lieutenant began, "why there is pot in bus 408?"
"Oh, yeah," replied Frank. "There's a funny story about that."
Earlier that day he and Ian had been called to a crumbling row house for a woman acting strange. They met the anxious woman on the street. "He fell down," she told them, "He fell down he fell down. He was in the garden and he fell down and I can't wake him up and aren't you going to do something!?"
Ian looked at the building, the sidewalk, the street. Nowhere was there anything he'd call a garden, nor were there any fallen bodies. "Ma'am, ma'am, calm down," he said, "calm down. Where is he?"
"He's in the garden he's in the garden," she gestured into the house, pushing Ian inside and then squeezing past him to drag him through the house and up to a cramped apartmeent on the third floor. Frank gamely brought up the rear, struggling with bags, monitor and stairchair because Ian hadn't had a chance to grab anything before the woman had kidnapped him.
In the apartment, the woman dragged Ian through a small living room into what he could only describe as a greenhouse. Black trash bags covered over all of the windows, but bank after bank of flourescent lights shone down from the ceiling, making the room ofensibly bright. Beneath the lights grew a verdant blanket of potted plants, all of the same type.
Ian had little time for inspection, however, as the woman pulled him through the greenhouse to a small, smokey closet at the far end. Here, an older man in a white t-shirt and boxer shorts lay in a crumpled heap.
"He's not breathing. Boy he's sweaty. Did he fall?" he asked the woman as Frank worked his way past her to get into the room
"No, no fall. His heart, his pills. Do something!"
Ian quickly assembled the bag-valve mask, pulled the patient into a straighter position, and put two quick breaths into him. Then found some tubing and hooked the mask to their oxygen cylinder. Frank shook his head. "It's always the fat ones on the walk-ups," he said before he called for back-up and hooked up the heart monitor/defibrillator. Quicklook on the monitor showed an SVT, so Frank prepared to shock. "100 Joules, clear," Frank called, pressing the 'shock' button. While the monitor recharged he pulled out his IV kit.
"200 Joules, clear," Frank pressed the button again. "Do you smell that?" he sniffed at the smoke.
After a moment Ian recognised it, too. "That smells like- Jesus, can we get him out of here?"
Frank looked over the small closet, and then intot he greenhouse beyond. "No," he said. "Not really."
"V-fib," Ian broke in, his eyes attracted by the chaotic, irregular tracing that now took over the monitor's screen. "Am I tubing or are you?"
"I've got the monitor, you've got the airway." said Frank. "You tube. 300 Joules, clear."
Ian broke out the intubation kit, worked himself into a slightly better position, and thrust the assembled laryngoscope into the patient's throat, searching for the vocal cords.
"360 Joules, clear," said Frank, and when Ian didn't move fast enough, "I said clear!"
"One moment," said Ian, "I'm only half-way through the Jeopardy theme."
"What? Will you clear so I can smoke this guy?"
Ian didn't immediately respond, since he had found the cords and was advancing the tube down the patient's airway. "Jeopardy. You know, the TV show?"
"What the hell does Jeopardy have to do with contraband in Three-five Charlie's bus?" Lieutenant Squadron broke in on Frank's narrative.
"I'm getting to that," Frank said. "Don't get your panties in a bunch."
EDIT 10 Feb 2009: changed location to interior room.
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GLOSSARY
GLOSSARY
Two days later, Ian was back in the ambulance, once again working with Frank. Late in the day, they were called back to the station. There, in the garage, they met Three-Five Charlie, driving bus 408 and held late specifically to meet them, and a very unhappy Lieutenant Squadron. "Would one of you like to tell me," the Lieutenant began, "why there is pot in bus 408?"
"Oh, yeah," replied Frank. "There's a funny story about that."
Earlier that day he and Ian had been called to a crumbling row house for a woman acting strange. They met the anxious woman on the street. "He fell down," she told them, "He fell down he fell down. He was in the garden and he fell down and I can't wake him up and aren't you going to do something!?"
Ian looked at the building, the sidewalk, the street. Nowhere was there anything he'd call a garden, nor were there any fallen bodies. "Ma'am, ma'am, calm down," he said, "calm down. Where is he?"
"He's in the garden he's in the garden," she gestured into the house, pushing Ian inside and then squeezing past him to drag him through the house and up to a cramped apartmeent on the third floor. Frank gamely brought up the rear, struggling with bags, monitor and stairchair because Ian hadn't had a chance to grab anything before the woman had kidnapped him.
In the apartment, the woman dragged Ian through a small living room into what he could only describe as a greenhouse. Black trash bags covered over all of the windows, but bank after bank of flourescent lights shone down from the ceiling, making the room ofensibly bright. Beneath the lights grew a verdant blanket of potted plants, all of the same type.
Ian had little time for inspection, however, as the woman pulled him through the greenhouse to a small, smokey closet at the far end. Here, an older man in a white t-shirt and boxer shorts lay in a crumpled heap.
"He's not breathing. Boy he's sweaty. Did he fall?" he asked the woman as Frank worked his way past her to get into the room
"No, no fall. His heart, his pills. Do something!"
Ian quickly assembled the bag-valve mask, pulled the patient into a straighter position, and put two quick breaths into him. Then found some tubing and hooked the mask to their oxygen cylinder. Frank shook his head. "It's always the fat ones on the walk-ups," he said before he called for back-up and hooked up the heart monitor/defibrillator. Quicklook on the monitor showed an SVT, so Frank prepared to shock. "100 Joules, clear," Frank called, pressing the 'shock' button. While the monitor recharged he pulled out his IV kit.
"200 Joules, clear," Frank pressed the button again. "Do you smell that?" he sniffed at the smoke.
After a moment Ian recognised it, too. "That smells like- Jesus, can we get him out of here?"
Frank looked over the small closet, and then intot he greenhouse beyond. "No," he said. "Not really."
"V-fib," Ian broke in, his eyes attracted by the chaotic, irregular tracing that now took over the monitor's screen. "Am I tubing or are you?"
"I've got the monitor, you've got the airway." said Frank. "You tube. 300 Joules, clear."
Ian broke out the intubation kit, worked himself into a slightly better position, and thrust the assembled laryngoscope into the patient's throat, searching for the vocal cords.
"360 Joules, clear," said Frank, and when Ian didn't move fast enough, "I said clear!"
"One moment," said Ian, "I'm only half-way through the Jeopardy theme."
"What? Will you clear so I can smoke this guy?"
Ian didn't immediately respond, since he had found the cords and was advancing the tube down the patient's airway. "Jeopardy. You know, the TV show?"
"What the hell does Jeopardy have to do with contraband in Three-five Charlie's bus?" Lieutenant Squadron broke in on Frank's narrative.
"I'm getting to that," Frank said. "Don't get your panties in a bunch."
EDIT 10 Feb 2009: changed location to interior room.
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