It was a beautiful day, all warm and sunny, and I finally got to put on my tank top and shorts and hopefully synthesize some vitamin D along the way. The shop was gorgeous, with all kinds of beautiful handmade decor. I ADORE the music boxes, with all the beautiful details, moving figurines and the soft, tinkering music playing in the background. Some of them even light up and change colour. Something about watching the music boxes in motion made me feel much at peace. Too bad I couldn't get any of them, not when I am constantly on the move and am yet to have a permanent home here! Argh...But I eventually got myself a little snow globe with a carousel pony in it. Look at the little beauty!
 |
You would think that on a beautiful day like this everything's sunshine and roses, but unfortunately life always has a way to remind you that bad things are just around the corner. On the way back, we turned a corner and drove into the scene of one horrible MVA. It happened just at a great bend in the road, between a hatchback and a pickup truck, possibly a head-on collision. It might have just happened not long before we arrived at the scene, and we could make out the outline of a man and a woman lying by the roadside, amongst the wreckage; as well as the driver of the pickup truck stuck in the smashed-in driver seat. Another car (two guys) had come to their aid and presumable the ambulance had been called. There was me and another final year med-student-turned-doctor in the car, and we looked at each other for a split second, wondering if we were in any position yet to offer some help, and then decided to bound off towards the trauma victims.
I went to check on the lady and my friend went to check on the man, who was pale and trying get off the ground, rather unsteadily. (Guy from other car was tending to the pick-up truck driver, who appeared to be GCS 15 and pretty stable). My lady was moaning in pain, and drifting in and out of consciousness. She was moving her neck fine but complained of back, chest and abdo pain. As I could not clear her C-spine and did not have any equipment, there wasn't much to be done apart from reassurance, keeping her talking and awake, as well as monitoring her vitals (which were pretty much stable, albeit some tachypnoea). We waited for approximately 20 minutes before the ambulances came. In the meantime some other cars stopped by to offer some aid; an asian nurse who had a first aid kit, a paramedic from NSW, and then the voluntary emergency service team from Triabunna consisting of two nurses and a paramedic student, as well as the local police. Talk about restoring faith in humanity! =)
What surprised me was that there was a helicopter sent to the scene too (it almost felt surreal looking up at the helicopter circling above us, it was just like in the movies)! Paramedics from the two ambulances came and took over from us after a brief handover. Apparently my lady was suspected to have a ?pneumothorax when they auscultated reduced breath sounds on her R lung. After some triage work, they decided to transport the lady via helicopter as she was of a higher CAT than the rest; whereas the man (her husband) was to be transported via one of the ambulance. At the same time, the emergency services people were busy extracting the driver from the pickup truck who would be transported to the hospital in the second ambulance.
My friend and I decided that our job is done and we haven't got much more to offer, hence we bade brief goodbyes to the teams and headed back to our car, where our other friends were waiting anxiously... silently thankful for our safe journey thus far and praying hard for a safe journey back home for everyone, as well as for the accident victims.
****************
It was indeed an experience like no other. I have seen plenty of MVAs over the years (some worst than this). But this was definitely the first one I had actually stopped to help out. In the past years I had not; as there were already plenty of people to help out at those scenes; and also as I wasn't anymore than a junior med student, I was not at all confident that I could offer anything much in terms of medical assistance. But now, I am a doctor (though yet to get my registrations) and I am bound by oath to save lives. Every little thing we do, might actually make a difference. It is a lot of new responsibility, to think of it. And boy am I nervous!
As we go through medical school, there is always this standard answer we give everyone who ask us why'd we want to be a doctor - to save lives! But I never truly knew the meaning/significance of that and what comes with it... until now.
And so every day from now, I pray that I could do my part better than I did before. To stand up to the challenges of the job; to take on the duties and responsibilities with greater courage and wisdom.
To BE a doctor.
On a side note: I'd better get a first aid kit when I get my car.
No comments:
Post a Comment