My Grossest Call

Being an EMT in South LA, I have seen some gross things. Active vaginal hemorrhage. Facial trauma with missing teeth. Cut off nose, etc.  

My tolerance is pretty good. I’ve seen scenes that belong in a horror movie. Despite my tolerance,  I’ve got nothing on Nurses. Nurses will talk about things that make my stomach turn, …while they eat.

To date, my grossest call came during my training. We got a call to the third floor of a hotel in Inglewood. Not the worst place, but not where you’d want to stay. My partner and I were first on scene and, as we busted in the room, we found a man in his forties lying on the bed. He had been tripping out on heroine for 3 DAYS. He was altered, but alive.

Because he was lying on the bed for three days and hadn’t moved, he was lying in his own filth. Days of incontinence and, as a result, HE WAS COVERED WITH ANTS. Ants were feeding on his flesh and were in his eyes.

We immediately brushed off what we could, but we had to quickly pick him up and put him on the gurney to get him out of there. That’s when I heard my veteran partner say, “I got the legs”.

Being the new guy I of course got the short end of the stick and had to get behind this guy’s chest to pick him up with his head against me. Gross.

He was given an IV and taken to the hospital. He made it, but it was one of the worst examples of drug abuse I’ve ever seen.

At the hospital, all the nurses would talk amongst themselves saying, “Have you seen Ant Man”? When ER nurses are grossed out and tell each other the story, you know it’s bad.

And for the rest of the day, I was picking ants off me. They were in my ear.

…Yeah.