quote: | I am an EMT, so not a doctor or nurse.. but this story makes even my ER surgeon friends nauseous.
A few years back I got a call over my radio saying that there was a trapped woman in her home who needed medical assistance.
I was the first responder, so I go into the house with my bag and immediately am hit by a wall of stench. Now, this odor is not just the, "Oh god, you need to air this place out." odor. It's the "Sweet mother of god, I can taste it, it's in my eyes, I have to burn the clothes I'm wearing." odor. Obviously this woman was some kind of hoarder. There were cats EVERYWHERE. They were just sitting on top of shit that had piled up in the house. There was cat shit on the walls, the floor. I saw families of cockroaches skittering around. Disgusting.
So I called out to identify myself as a Paramedic and I hear this woman calling me from down the hallway. As I pick my way through the house the odor just gets worse. It was like someone shit, covered themselves in baby vomit, and then rolled around in a field of rotting flesh. I come to an open door and low and behold there is the woman.
Or should I say whale.
This woman had to weigh at least 450 lbs. She was naked, covered in shit, and wedged between her toilet and her bathtub. I nearly lost my god damn mind. The desire to vomit was so intense. I asked her what happened, donned my gloves, as well as a mask, and started to think of how the fuck I was going to get this woman out. I'm not small, 5'8, 155 lb woman. But damn I'm not Hercules.
It's about this time that more EMTs start arriving, as well as a few cops. This rookie cop comes racing in, sees this woman covered in shit, and vomits right onto her. This sets off a chain reaction. The woman begins to vomit, more EMTs and cops come in, and everyone is fucking vomiting. I'm standing in an inch of vomit juices that is now mingling with shit, and am just trying to figure out what to do.
Turns out we had to call the fire department, get the jaws of life, and rip the toilet out. We didn't have a stretcher that could support this woman's weight, so we had to improvise.
When we got to the ER the doctors and nurses looked so incredibly disgusted. Now, keep in mind we're covered in shit and vomit, with that horrible odor of the house clinging to us. We had to go into a decontamination room to get cleaned.
Worst. Day. Ever.
TLDR: Some grossly obese woman got wedged between her toilet and tub. She was stuck there for several days, had explosive diarrhea, and I was the first responder. Cops and other EMTs started vomiting everywhere. I was covered in shit and vomit by the time I was done. |
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