An Early Morning Call

It was 2:00 o'clock in the morning, I was on-call, and our phone rang.   The voice on the other line calmly told me that I should make my way to the hospital.  I thought I heard something about "transito," which would indicate a motor vehicle accident (I barely catch a word of Spanish when it's spoken over the phone).  Whenever I get called, I just head to the hospital to find out what's going on.

Upon arriving at the ER, I found that we were dealing with a major trauma victim.  Several sites where broken and bleeding.  We're always taught to go through the ABC's--Airway, Breathing, and Circulation.  For the time being, he didn't seem to be having any trouble with the A or B, but his ability to circulate blood effectively was definitely compromised by his many injuries.   His heart rate had climbed into the 150s.  The long bone in each leg was visibly broken, and the toes on his right foot where extremely pale.  An injury to his head was bleeding fairly rapidly, and his level of consciousness was depressed.  We had lots of help that night from the residents and medical students who were working.  I quickly called in our surgeon, Dr. Graham.  It didn't take long before he was there, along with one of our anesthesiologists, Dr. Suarez, and an orthopedic surgeon from a neighboring community who has been helping us out while Dr. Wolff is in Haiti.  I didn't even know who had called everyone, but I was just thankful to have them all there!  Our medical students maintained traction (pulled) on his legs to reduce the broken legs back into their usual positions.  This maneuver thankfully made the color return to his right foot.  Apparently a major artery in his leg was being compressed by the fractured bone.

In the midst of our efforts to stabilize the patient, we brought him over to the x-ray department to get some films and we all had a few moments to reflect on what was going on.  During these moments, we decided that this gentlemen needed to be transferred to a place with a neurosurgeon and a CT scanner.  A glance at the patient's father, who had been staying by the patient's side during the entire process, also made me reflect on the fact that we were dealing with a precious soul--what if that were my son Caleb laying on the table?  More prayers were said in my head.

As he was prepared for transfer, his fractures reduced and his head laceration repaired, we placed an endotracheal tube using our GlideScope (thank you Verathon) to ensure that the "A" of the ABC's wouldn't be lost during the long drive.  The delivery from our blood bank arrived, and our patient began to receive red blood cells as fast as his IVs could deliver them.  We sent him on his way, and we were thankful to find out that he had safely arrived at his destination.  In a situation like this one, what a privilege it was to have such a great team of people working together, and an amazing God intervening in all of our lives.  My limitations will constantly be stretched during my work at our hospital here in Shell, but it's so comforting to know that I'm not on my own.