Rescue

Kevin unknowingly rescues his former high school girlfriend.

 

Rescue

 

 

 

         "Stations 1 and 3 stand by for emergency dispatch."

"1 copy", Reggie replied over the intercom.

"3 copy", Station 3 replied.

"1 and 3, motor vehicle accident, Highway 288  main slab, south bound lanes are blocked. Approach opposite traffic at 17-mile marker. North bound lanes are blocked for emergency entrance at exit 12. Fire and Rescue enroute. Traffic Code 3. Acknowledge."    

"Station 1 enroute, 11-A-1 and 11-A-4."

"Station 3 enroute, 31-A-8 and 31-A-9."

"Engine 1209 enroute"

"Rescue 510 enroute"

Once all units were enroute, the dispatcher repeated all the previous dispatch information for clarity. The dispatcher then called for Kevin's unit directly.

 "Dispatch 700 to 11-A-1."

   "11-A-1, go ahead 700."

   "Be advised, chain reaction accident, several vehicles involved. Do you want Life Flight on stand-by?"

   "Stand-by Life Flight and Life Guard. Get our flight doctor on line for orders, please."

   "700's 10-4 on Life Flight and Flight-Med. Dr. Kinslow is on line 5 for reports and has given standing trauma protocol orders."

    "11-A-1 clear, thank-you 700"

    "I love it when everything falls together like this", Reggie said.

    "It's not quite together yet, so let’s hold off on predictions. This is our exit up ahead."

    "Check right", Reggie yelled over the siren.

     "Clear right", Kevin responded and they pulled into the right side off ramp and began to run north on the southbound lane of traffic. Troopers had blocked the highway and all vehicles on the roadway had pulled off to allow the emergency vehicles clear passage.   

 "Wish I could read them mile markers. Danged old odometer on this truck doesn’t work."

 "We should be seeing some lights after the next overpass.”

 "Jesus!" Reggie yelled. It was more like a prayer than a curse.  "I'll caution back up and get the birds in the air!"

 "Gotcha! I’m in." Kevin yelled as the ambulance came to a sudden but controlled halt. “700 Medic 11A-1 on the scene.”

    The scene in front of them was incredible. The pungent Texas air was made even more so by the smell of diesel fuel leaking from the ruptured tanks of two tractor-trailer rigs.

     "288 command established at marker 19. All responding units meet 288 command on Med Tac 3", Kevin said into his mike.

     "Fire 1 to 288 Command, direct. What have you got?"

     "288 Command to Fire 1, we have multiple rigs and passenger vehicles involved. Fuel is on the ground. We need wash down immediately!"

     "Fire 1 copy. All responding fire units approach upwind for fuel spill."

     "Kevin, we've got one vehicle upside down on the other side", Reggie called. "Trooper reports a DOS and needs someone to confirm it."    

   "On my way! Set up triage while I check this one out."

    Kevin went to the station wagon in the northbound lane. From all of his experiences Kevin knew that the occupants had to be dead.

    Amanda had heard the voice of someone say he had one dead in the station wagon. She tried to scream out let them know she was alive, but she could not get enough air into her lungs to scream. Using all the strength she could, she drew in a breath and tried to call out. All that came from her tortured efforts was a weak whimper.

     As Kevin approached the overturned car, he thought he could hear a child crying.   The car was on top of a person’s head and from all of his training and experience, Kevin could not imagine this person would still be alive. All he could think was that this body was on top of a child in this car and would have to be moved before he could start working on whoever was still trapped inside this twisted mass of steel. He quickly felt for a pulse at the exposed wrist on the ground and felt a strong pulse. His heart went into his throat.

     "Is she alone?”

     "Yeah, she's the only occupant."

     “Get rescue here now” Kevin ordered. “She’s still alive!” Kevin took control of the woman’s cervical spine by placing a hand on either side of her head and holding her head firmly in his hands. His next words were to his patient. "Don't worry", he told the young woman. "We're here and we're going to get you out of here. I'm going to be right here with you. Relax and focus on taking some long slow breaths."

 As Kevin studied the situation more closely, he could see a large pool of blood clotted and was blocking his patient’s airway. He braced Amanda’s head against the side of the car with one hand as he pushed aside some of the clotted blood with the other hand to get her some breathing room.

     "Can't hold on", she gasped. It was the first words she had been able to speak since the accident and the one least found in her vocabulary.

     "Hang in there and try. It may take us some time, but we will get you out of here. Breathe very slow and very deep."

     Amanda struggled to breathe again, but the blood blocked her mouth and nose again. She coughed as the blood entered the back of her throat. "Blood", she managed to say.

     "I know, I’m trying to keep it away from your mouth and nose", Kevin replied as he once again cleared a small patch of blood from his patient’s face. This gave her more free space in which to breathe without being strangled by the blood flowing from her face. Amanda felt the rush of oxygen enter her lungs, but the rush was did not last. Her cramped position in the wrecked car did not allow her chest to expand and fill her lungs with air. The shoulder harness was also tightening its grip on her chest. She felt as if a boa constrictor was slowly squeezing the life from her lungs.

 "We've got some equipment here to get you out of this mess, but you've got to hang tough for us. It's going to take a moment or two, but we're going to get you out."

     "Please", she whispered. "Please hurry."

     Rescue arrived almost as if cued by a Hollywood director. Kevin could not remember ever being so glad to see that gaudy fire yellow truck in all his life.

     "Air bags", Kevin yelled to the crew. 

     "Jesus! The car is on her head," one of their crew yelled.

     With those words, Amanda realized that she was in very deep trouble. She began to panic and tried to scream for release from her metal prison, but Kevin’s firm but caring voice calmed her once again. His hands present on the side of her head offered comfort. She was cold, even though the outside temperature was already 95 degrees. The smell of gasoline and blood filled her nostrils.  She began to wish she had hugged her girls more tightly this morning before she left them. 

     The rescue crews placed the airbags under the wrecked station wagon and began to slowly lift the vehicle off the pavement, which released the pressure on Amanda's head. Amanda felt a release of the pressure from her head and felt a rush of fresh air enter her lungs. She excitedly drew in several quick breaths and was cautioned by Kevin not to breathe too fast. 

     "I can breathe!"

     "Good!” Kevin encouraged her. "You need to slow down and breathe slower. We still have some work to do to get you out of here. Take it easy and bear with us now, okay?"

     "I’m really tired." She was surprised that she was feeling so tired already. She knew it was just morning, but she had to fight sleep.     Kevin saw a nametag fall to the ground as the airbags finished lifting the car. He read the name from the badge and noticed his patient was a registered nurse. His heart began to rise again as he tried to talk to his patient.

     "Listen, a name tag just fell out of the car. Is your name Amanda?"

     "Yes, I’m Amanda. How about my girls? Are Hillary and Valerie alright?"

     "I think so. I’ll have to have someone check on that for us.”

     There were no children in the car upon the trooper's arrival and witnesses had not seen anyone in her car but her before the accident. Still, Kevin had some reasonable doubt as to whether her children had been in the car during the accident or not. There were so many children’s books scattered over the highway, it looked as if Dr. Seuss had been holding a reading class.

                  “How old are your girls?” Kevin was trying to make conversation to help his patient stay awake and keep her mind off the predicament she was in.    

               “10 & 13. I haven’t heard them say anything. Are they okay?”

 “The troopers tell us you were alone when this happened. Did you drop your girls off somewhere, at daycare or a relative’s house? They weren’t with you when this happened. It sounds like your girls and mine are pretty close to the same age. Maybe they will see each other in school.”

 “We home school.” She began to drift into a soft sleep once again as the sounds around her began to fade.

 "Amanda, you have to stay awake. You're going to hear a lot of noise as we cut the door away to get you out of here. Don't be afraid, okay?"    

   "Okay", she said as she struggled back to full consciousness. 

   Amanda had seen something on the other side and she wanted to find out what it was. She really wanted to go back and see everything, but the voice of her rescuer kept bringing her back to her car and the pain.

"Amanda, they're starting to cut the door now. Tell me if anything starts to hurt you, understand?"

“Okay, I will. How bad is my face? I feel like it’s been run through a meat grinder.”

"Cut and scraped some. You'll need some stitches here and there. I can't really see much from where I am right now. Let’s not worry too much about that. Let’s get you out of here first.”

 As the rescue attempts wore on, Amanda became more agitated and restless. This worried Kevin, but at least she was able to talk and make sense of what was happening around her. Kevin kept talking to her in his calmest voice, trying to keep her faith in their attempts to rescue her. As the other ambulance crews completed their assigned tasks at the scene, other crewmembers began to show up and assist in the rescue. Word had gotten around about Kevin's situation on the freeway and other Life-Force ambulances had arrived on the scene to assist him.

 “Push the seat back and she will be free” Kevin told the crew.

 “It won't work", one of the rescuers protested. "That seat is holding the car up."

"The airbags have most of the weight. We just need a little more lift, so brace with your other spreaders, crib it up as you lift and you have all the support you need", Kevin explained. "It will be safer for her and she'll be out of there in seconds."

          "Try it!” Kevin ordered. "She can't take this position much longer."

          The rescuers followed Kevin’s instructions and Amanda was freed from the wreckage of her car in seconds as Kevin had promised. She felt hands lift and move her to a hard surface. Then, for a very brief moment, everything was quiet and black. Amanda felt herself drift into unconsciousness and a very deep calm.

            The sounds all faded away and she began to feel very light. She could see the hands helping her and she could hear the voices become more muffled as the scenery began to change. It was nothing she could explain, nothing she would dare repeat to a soul, lest they think her to be insane. She could actually hear the music and she could hear voices calling her name. But one voice sternly placed her back into reality, the voice of her rescuer, who had not given up on saving her life. She had to go back, to be with her children, and to restore the hope in one more soul. With peace, she regained consciousness and returned to her body and the reality of her condition.

“Amanda! Amanda! Stay with us Amanda! Reg, get the bag-valve mask. She’s not breathing! Come on Amanda! You fought too hard for too long! Don’t give up now!” as he placed the mask on her face and forced two slow breathes into her lungs.

             Amanda drew in a sharp, quick breath and exhaled slowly. She was too tired to try to answer them, and the place she had just left been too wonderful to describe.

            “Amanda, don’t you dare scare us like that again, okay?”

            She managed a weak smile as they got her ready for transport.

            "Okay, we need to fly her out of here. Do we have Life Flight available?”

             "Our bird is the only one still available", Reggie said. “We saved it for her."

             "Let's do it", Kevin said.

             "Bird's all set. Two IV's are hanging, monitor's ready and oxygen is on. Joyce set the bird up and she's ready to go."    

            “That’s good. Are there any other patients left here?"   

             "Just bodies", Randy said. "We've got three confirmed dead and five critical we have sent on to Galveston and Houston."    

              "Please", Amanda said, bringing the full attention of the crew back to her. "Don't send me out of here alone." She was surprised at the amount of strength it took for her to utter those words.    

           "I'm flying in with you", Kevin said in a calm voice. "I won't leave you until I'm sure you're going to be okay."

            They loaded Amanda into the helicopter. Kevin and Joyce went to work starting the IV's evaluating their patient more closely.   

          "B/P 80/30, Pulse 136, weak; respirations 24, shallow and clear", Joyce said.     

            "Let’s elevate her legs. I want her bottom pressure up. Run both lines wide open and put the pressure to them.   What's the monitor showing?"

          "Sinus tach with no ectopics. Her heart looks great, just the blood pressure is a little on the low side. Oxygen saturation is 98%.”

          "Get us in the air", Kevin told the pilot. "Priority 2, Level One Trauma, Surgical Stat."

           "All clear!   We’re coming up to speed. Flight-Med control, LifeGuard II in the air, five souls on board. Destination, Houston Trauma. Requesting direct patch with telemetry."

          While the pilot set about his job of getting them to the trauma center safely, Kevin and Joyce continued to work on Amanda. They started two IV's of Normal Saline and were pumping them in with pressure cuffs. Amanda was beginning to respond to their questions more appropriately and the oxymeter showed them they were doing all they could do to keep her oxygen level normal.

         "Amanda, we’re airborne and we’ll be at the TraumaCenter in Houston in a few minutes.  I want you to try to squeeze my hands. Don't worry about hurting me. I won't let you do that."

          She squeezed as hard as she could, but her right arm would not cooperate with her. She began to panic as she tried to get her hand to work.

“Don’t worry, Amanda. That’s okay. Your arm is weak because of the position you were in. You may have bruised a nerve or your arm may return to normal once your circulation improves

"Are my children okay? I can't remember if they were with me or not"

            "They were not with you when the wreck happened. Can you tell me anything about what happened?"  

         "I don't remember much. I just remember a voice telling me that they were here to take care of me. I thought I was dead until then."

          "You are a very lucky person", Joyce said.

          "We all thought you were dead. A Trooper called me from triage to check you out. You are extremely lucky."    

          "Two minutes out!” the pilot advised. "Send it or tell it later."     The pilot was referring to the direct patch into the TraumaCenter. They could radio all of the information they had on the patient directly into the hospital computer and the necessary tests for diagnosis would be ordered before the patient could be wheeled into the trauma room.

         "I've got it", Joyce said. She turned to the console and typed the information into the computer and sent it to Houston Trauma. As she watched the screen, she saw the confirmation come over the screen and a room assignment came up on the computer terminal.

           "We’ve got a Level 1 Trauma room.”

            "Open the line” Kevin requested. “Lifeguard II to Houston Trauma.”

             "Houston Trauma, go ahead Lifeguard II.”

            "Copy HT. Inbound with an approximately thirty year old white female, extensive facial trauma with airway compromise, also neuro-deficit right arm. Vitals all stable at this point. No degrade in condition. Request CT and MRI standby. Labs are drawn.”

         "What's the problem? We've sent them enough information over the computer link to get an automatic Level I room."   

          "He always calls in a verbal report” the co-pilot explained over the communicator. 

           "Lifeguard II, this is HT.”

           "This is Lifeguard II, go ahead HT.”

           "Lifeguard II Upper Pad occupied with two units. Clearance for direct final to lower pad."

           "Thank you, HT. Lifeguard II on final approach to lower pad."

            The helicopter landed on the lower pad so smoothly you could barely detect the landing. The skilled crew was top notch, something Kevin had insisted upon before agreeing to fly MedEvac Missions at Life Star.

          "Amanda, we're back on the ground. It’s going to be a bit hot outside when we open the doors, but that’s probably going to feel really good right now. We're going to take you inside and let the doctor's here take care of you. Don't worry about anything, okay."

          "Promise me something?”

         "I'll do my best.”

           "Call my husband and tell him where I am. I don't want him to worry about me."

         "That, I can handle", Kevin promised.

Kevin gave the trauma team a rapid run down on his patient and assisted in getting her ready for x-ray. During the time they were continuing the examination, Kevin took time out to call Amanda's husband and let him know where she had been taken and a brief description of her condition. As he was talking to Amanda's husband, a nurse came up to Kevin and gave him a quick pinch on the rear.   Kevin turned to find another old face from his not too distant past.                

"Be with you in a second", he told her.

         "Be quick about it. I'm trying to save your butt. Head witch is out for a piece of you over that report."

          "Wait for me in the EMS office?”

          "Okay, but remember, this is for your own good."

           Kevin was able to finish his conversation with Amanda's husband and was on his way to the office when he overheard part of heated debate between Joyce and a nurse. He recognized the voice of the nurse and tried to make it to Joyce’s aid before things got out of hand.

          "This patient doesn't even need this facility!" she was practically screaming. Had this not been in the employee area of the emergency center, the situation would have worse.

           "If she doesn't need this care level, then you can transfer her out of here", Kevin broke in. "She was given up for dead at the scene until I found out she was alive. We don't know how long she was unconscious and she has exhibited repetitive questioning. On top of that, she had a two thousand pound car sitting on top of her head. Just the mechanism of her injury puts her in the slot for Trauma I. Until you are willing to get out of this sterile little world you've built for yourself, you'll never understand what emergency medicine is all about."

            A tense silence hung in the air while the triage nurse studied Kevin and Joyce. She knew that she had picked the wrong time to try to upstage this Paramedic, but she had to find some way to save face. Her dislike for Kevin was seated too deeply for her to give in just yet.

           "She's been stable ever since she arrived here", she replied coolly.

            “Then we did our job so you guys have something to work with so she’s your patient now.”

"There is no evidence of closed head injury and the tingling in her right arm is undoubtedly due to the IV infiltrating and irritating the radial nerve."

             "I'll place my license against yours that she has at least a minor intracranial bleed and there is some damage to her brachial plexus nerve. Besides that, she needs extensive reconstructive surgery on her face and Dr. Max is one of the best in the area."

            "You're terribly confident of yourself aren't you? If Dr. Max accepts her, she stays. Other than that, I'm shipping her out to County."

            "She's not going anywhere for at least another 24 hours", a voice interrupted. It was Dr. Robertson, the TraumaCenter's Chief Resident. "The MRI shows two small intracranial bleeds and a badly bruised brachial plexus nerve.”    He then turned to Kevin. "If I'm ever in an accident like hers, I want you there. This was one Helluva call."

            Brady turned four shades of red over this incident. If there was one thing she could not stand, it was for a doctor to take a medic’s side against hers. She was in charge of this ER, but the trauma side was out of her control. 

           "What took you so long? She was eating my a*s out over this call."

          "I was talking our patient’s husband. He was on patrol when this went down. I had to keep my promise to her."

            “Well, you could thank me for sending in the cavalry,” Brenda said. “I called Dr. Robertson’s attention to the “problem” with Brady and sent him in to handle her.”

          "You came in just in time", Joyce said. "I don't think I could have taken much more of that witch's mouth before I filled it with one of these." She held up a closed fist as she said that for emphasis.

          "You should have", Kevin said. "She deserves that and more."

           "What's the deal between you two anyway?" Joyce asked. "I don't mean to pry, but this is an obvious vendetta she has out for you and whoever is with you."

             "Long story", Kevin replied.

             "Well, we've got a long flight back to base and I'm a very good listener."

            “No need for that, honey,” Brenda interrupted. “She flunked ACLS last time and you know who was in charge of her Mega VF.”

            “Guilty, but it wasn’t as if she did not deserve to fail. You can’t ignore shocking your entire code team.”

            “Kevin, you old meanie.”

            “Besides,” Kevin said and changing the focus from this call to other matters. “You and I need to talk once we get back to base anyway.”