Please excuse the ramblings in this post, I am not that good of a writer and putting thought to paper is new to me.
So I am a medic on a drilling rig right now. I have been a medic for going onto 20 years this year, been a fire-fighter for 4 before my triple by pass surgery ended that. Been a air/safety hand for the gas and oil patch for 5 years, and both a emergency (911) and oilfield dispatcher for 8 years total. Been thru things that are best not remembered or thought of both on the phone with a patient/loved one and in person on scene. I have gotten a couple rewards for some of the things I have done. Things people have said I was brave to do (but in my mind after the fact it was dumb to do which put my own life at risk, but I would still do in a heartbeat). Now that I have given a bit of a back ground here is what is really on my mind:
About a couple of weeks ago I was driving along a major highway up here in Canada, it was snowing a bit and blowing (typical for the area this time of year) and the roads were icy. A small car came speeding up behind me then passed in the passing lane. I was doing 110km/hr (the speed limit for said highway) and the car was doing 120-130. Again typical for this area. Anyways the car hit a black ice patch and proceeded to roll. Must have flipped over 5 or 6 times before resting on its wheels in the ditch. I had immediately called 911 to report a single vehicle roll over at such and such location and I did not know how many pts or conditions as I was just arriving on scene. Police / Fire / EMS was dispatched with a eta of 15 - 25 mins to scene. I got out of my vehicle after pulling over, putting on the 4 ways, putting on my hi-vis vest (I always carry one in my personal vehicle along with a EMS jump kit, and road flares with flashlights for traffic control) grabbed the jump kit and rushed to the driver side of the vehicle putting on my medical gloves. Sitting there looking very dazed (and that is normal for as many rolls she did) was a young lady behind the wheel crying. As I opened the door (with some force to open it) I identified myself. She turned to me, and when she did her neck started bleeding profusely. Realizing that she had cut her carotid artery, the only thing that I could think of was what an instructor told me about 19 years ago: "you have to grab the ends of the artery and squeeze tightly to stop the bleeding, if you dont do this your pt will bleed out within mins"
Honesty I dont remember a hell of a lot after digging my fingers into her neck and grabbing and squeezing with all my strength to save this girls life. Thinking back on it now, it seems like time slowed down until emergency services got there. When the Advance Life Support unit got there, talking between myself and the lead Paramedic, it was deteremed that since my hands were cramped into position and hold the bleeding back pretty well, that I would be transported with the pt to the nearest hospital where a Dr can do emergency surgery to stabilize the pt more. So off the the nearest hospital I went to and we rushed into surgery, where the ER Dr temporarily sealed off the ends of the artery so the pt would not bleed out.
I got a ride back to the scene of the accident from the police, to where my vehicle was at. I had let the police know I did not want my name released or anything like that to the news. Been doing this work for 20 years. I did what I did to save a life. I did my "job" I was lucky my training kicked in when I needed it the most.
I heard the young lady is going to make it with just a big scar to show for it. I am glad. She has a long life to live. Me? I think I am about 1/2 thru mine.
Hawkeye Pierce from MASH once in an episode described every-time he goes into the operating room and works on a pt, its a battle vs Death. When I was younger, hell even when I started out in Emergency Services, I never really thought or understood what he meant. I do now. Every-time I work on a pt, its a fight with Death. Im lucky that I win some, and unlucky that I lose some. A good personal friend of mine, when I told her this story, she wrote a huge thank you on her Facebook saying how proud she was of me. She did name me at first, but after telling her how embarrassed I was she edited it right away and modified it a bit so I could not be recognized by our mutual friends. I dont want rewards, or be put in a spot light. My reward is knowing that person I worked on as a pt, is going to keep on living. That to me, is more than enough reward. Maybe this one victory will help diminish the defeats and dim the crys that haunt me at night of those I did lose.