CHAPTER 1
EMERGENCY
When the plates were done, they did a wet reading. The only fractures were at the forearms and shin. That on the forearm was relatively simple. The ribs were intact. THere were no traces of bone splinters. And there was no fear of disrupted organs, only torn flesh and muscle tissues.
"Whai is his blood type?" Hay asked as they quicked wheeled the patient into the operating room from the ER.
"A.B." resonded the paramedic.
"Good. Anyone can be a donor then?" Jay was just trying to be positive. In the town, there was no blood bank. And blood was usually taken from the hospital's own reserve. The child's blood type meant that he could receive transfusion from persons other thank his own blood type and that meant less complication.
Since transfusion is not a simple process, doctors had to know the blood type of the individual because not all blood types are compatible with one another and the patient might end up dying if he were given the wrong type of blood during transfusion.
The boy's blood type was AB. It meant that he can receive unlimited amounts of blood from persons with all the other blood types - A, B, and O- without any adverse effects. And for this, Jay was glad. There were no possible complications and the operation would be relatively simple.
They were still tying to reach the head surgeon bu to no avail. Then the decision was made. Jay was to operate. She was tense. Chuck was there to give her moral support. He knew Jay very well. She was a blooming surgeon. Superb with her work and the bulk of the tension was due to the fact that she was operating without the head surgeon's blessing.
Once in the OR, everyone was set to work. First they had to deal with the compound fracture in the shin before they went to work on the fracture in the forearm. By now the boy was under a general anesthetic induced through inhalation. Chuck was monitoring the boy's blood pressure pulse and breathing. Before the introduction of the anesthetic, his pulse and breathing greatly improved. His blood pressure on the other hand was still the same - within normal levels.
When he was stabilized, Chuck gave the go signal for Jay to operate. In this situation, they didn't have any choice. Although Jay was specializing into General Surgery, she wasn't that experienced yet. But everyone in the hospital agreed - she was good. She had saved the life of a girl who was involved in a car crash once. Another time, she was able to see to it that a construction worker would get another chance at life. But all these operations were with the aid and guidance of the head surgeon.
This time she was helplessly alone. Just like the boy on the operating table. She took a deep breath, picked the scalpel from the hand of the nurse and made the incision on the leg. Spurts of blood sprayed on her and few drops landed on her gauze mask. Within a few minutes, the cut became a joyous crimson. Her objective was to make a large enough opening near the bones, manipulate these into place and secure them. She was glad there were no tiny bone splinters. If there were any these may get into the bloodstream and can cause damage to circulatory tissue. She was also to make sure the layers of pierced muscle were put back into their proper position or else there would be a muscle hernia.
She was careful as she was putting the bones into position. Her gloves were slippery due to fresh flow of blood. When she was able to put the tibia and fibula in place, she fixed the layers of muscle and made and made sure these were in their right insertions. Then she prepared to stitch the incision. After which she put a thin layer of gauze over the cut and started to put the cast.
When she was through with the leg, she proceeded to the forearm. As she was finishing off putting the cast Chuck called her attention.
"His breathing and pulse are changing." Then he paused slightly and looked at Jay with an unnamable look of expression. "blood pressure's dropping. His breathing's stopped." Chuck paused again for a short while before he gave the confirmation, "There's no heartbeat!" As Chuck said that, the distinct morose sound of the ECG went flat. The machine registered a flatline. The respirator was at this point no help to the boy's condition.
The Operating Room was plunged into deep panic as they tried to revive the boy using CPR. As Chuck was pushing down on the boy's chest, Jay got the defibrillator ready. When it was prepared, Chuck gave way to her. She put gel n the boy's chest and readied him for shock.
Jay tried to keep calm. She was terrified. She had been through this process before. But everytime it happened, she was tense. Chuck looked at her strenly. They exchanged glances. Holding the terminals, she called in a loud shaky voice, "CLEAR!"
She put the two terminals on the boy's chest and the shock's force lifted the now lifeless body.
"Whai is his blood type?" Hay asked as they quicked wheeled the patient into the operating room from the ER.
"A.B." resonded the paramedic.
"Good. Anyone can be a donor then?" Jay was just trying to be positive. In the town, there was no blood bank. And blood was usually taken from the hospital's own reserve. The child's blood type meant that he could receive transfusion from persons other thank his own blood type and that meant less complication.
Since transfusion is not a simple process, doctors had to know the blood type of the individual because not all blood types are compatible with one another and the patient might end up dying if he were given the wrong type of blood during transfusion.
The boy's blood type was AB. It meant that he can receive unlimited amounts of blood from persons with all the other blood types - A, B, and O- without any adverse effects. And for this, Jay was glad. There were no possible complications and the operation would be relatively simple.
They were still tying to reach the head surgeon bu to no avail. Then the decision was made. Jay was to operate. She was tense. Chuck was there to give her moral support. He knew Jay very well. She was a blooming surgeon. Superb with her work and the bulk of the tension was due to the fact that she was operating without the head surgeon's blessing.
Once in the OR, everyone was set to work. First they had to deal with the compound fracture in the shin before they went to work on the fracture in the forearm. By now the boy was under a general anesthetic induced through inhalation. Chuck was monitoring the boy's blood pressure pulse and breathing. Before the introduction of the anesthetic, his pulse and breathing greatly improved. His blood pressure on the other hand was still the same - within normal levels.
When he was stabilized, Chuck gave the go signal for Jay to operate. In this situation, they didn't have any choice. Although Jay was specializing into General Surgery, she wasn't that experienced yet. But everyone in the hospital agreed - she was good. She had saved the life of a girl who was involved in a car crash once. Another time, she was able to see to it that a construction worker would get another chance at life. But all these operations were with the aid and guidance of the head surgeon.
This time she was helplessly alone. Just like the boy on the operating table. She took a deep breath, picked the scalpel from the hand of the nurse and made the incision on the leg. Spurts of blood sprayed on her and few drops landed on her gauze mask. Within a few minutes, the cut became a joyous crimson. Her objective was to make a large enough opening near the bones, manipulate these into place and secure them. She was glad there were no tiny bone splinters. If there were any these may get into the bloodstream and can cause damage to circulatory tissue. She was also to make sure the layers of pierced muscle were put back into their proper position or else there would be a muscle hernia.
She was careful as she was putting the bones into position. Her gloves were slippery due to fresh flow of blood. When she was able to put the tibia and fibula in place, she fixed the layers of muscle and made and made sure these were in their right insertions. Then she prepared to stitch the incision. After which she put a thin layer of gauze over the cut and started to put the cast.
When she was through with the leg, she proceeded to the forearm. As she was finishing off putting the cast Chuck called her attention.
"His breathing and pulse are changing." Then he paused slightly and looked at Jay with an unnamable look of expression. "blood pressure's dropping. His breathing's stopped." Chuck paused again for a short while before he gave the confirmation, "There's no heartbeat!" As Chuck said that, the distinct morose sound of the ECG went flat. The machine registered a flatline. The respirator was at this point no help to the boy's condition.
The Operating Room was plunged into deep panic as they tried to revive the boy using CPR. As Chuck was pushing down on the boy's chest, Jay got the defibrillator ready. When it was prepared, Chuck gave way to her. She put gel n the boy's chest and readied him for shock.
Jay tried to keep calm. She was terrified. She had been through this process before. But everytime it happened, she was tense. Chuck looked at her strenly. They exchanged glances. Holding the terminals, she called in a loud shaky voice, "CLEAR!"
She put the two terminals on the boy's chest and the shock's force lifted the now lifeless body.
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