Stuck Pig

Holy shit, I thought. This lady should be pretty bad. There was blood squirted across the walls of the bathroom. “Hi ma’am. My name is Keith. I’m an EMT with the fire department are you ok?” “Oh, I am fine.” She said in a thick German accent. “But it looks like someone slaughtered a pig in there.” She laughed And it did. There was blood everywhere in her bathroom. “Where are you bleeding from?” “Just a little spot right here.” She points to her ankle. “It’s stopped now.” “Is it ok if I check your pulse and blood pressure?” “I am ok, but sure.” I checked her pulse and blood pressure. Both were normal. “Do you want to go to the hospital to get checked out?” “Oh no, I am fine.” “Ok.” Pretty different from my first varicose vein encounter. We were called to a residence at 4 am, down a long dirt road. Marty and I entered the residence and called out with no response. Marty looked in the bathroom “in here!” he shouted. Inside a woman lay in the bathtub, full of bloody water. I ran out to the medic to get a trauma pad, came back in handed Marty the trauma pad and left him. I was afraid of what I would see. He yelled for help, and I reentered the bathroom. The woman was beyond pale, and not responsive. We pulled her out of the tub and laid her on the bathroom floor. We started to wipe her down to try to find where the blood was coming from. It was a varicose vein on her lower right leg that was ruptured. We put direct pressure on it, then wrapped it tight with kling, put her on the stretcher and rushed her to the ambulance. She was in decompensated volume shock. She lost so much blood it was affecting her brain function. Marty started 2 large bore ivs and ran them wide open to replace fluid. I drove to the hospital. When we arrived and I opened the back doors, the woman who was pale, white and unresponsive on scene was sitting up, pink and talking. It was 5 am, the sun was just coming up, and I couldn’t think of a better way to start the day than knowing I played a role in saving this woman’s life, even if I initially was too cowardly to jump right in, I was ready to charge in first next time, and deal with it, which is just what I did tonight.