|
He's the scenerio.....
40 something year old male trapped under his car for 3 hrs. Car is sitting on his hand, no one responds to his calls for help. He needs his medications (he has multiple medical problems) and knows he needs to get free soon or he could develop serious problems and likely die. Takes out his pocket knife and self amputates his hand, snaps the bones by standing up quickly, walks back to his house (~500-700 yrds), calls 911 and is brought to us.....awake, alert, 'dealing with the pain. Was very glad he keeps his knife sharp...I have to find out what knife it was.
He is a retired marine (some special unit he won't talk about)...retired due to arm disability from a GSW to the shoulder that destroyed nerves to the arm....self applied a tourniquet, held direct pressure on the wound, covered in a cloth.
Says he did it to survive, that it hurt more than he expected but that didn't stop him, he knew he had to get free so his wife wouldn't find him dead...not the way he wanted to "go out".
Brave?, Crazy? Ballsy? Insane? or just someone taught the survival instinct that is so honed that he used his skills, physically and mentally to survive.
__________________
'Revel in action, translate perceptions into instant judgements, and these into actions that are irrevocable, monumentous and dreadful - all this with lightning speed, in conditions of great stress and in an environment of high tension:what is expected of "us" is the impossible, yet we deliver just that.
(adapted from: Sherwin B. Nuland, MD, surgeon and author: The Wisdom of the Body, 1997 )
Education is the anti-ignorance we all need to better treat our patients. ss, 2008.
The blade is so sharp that the incision is perfect. They don't realize they've been cut until they're out of the fight: A Surgeon Warrior. I use a knife to defend life and to save it. ss (aka traumadoc)
|
Hybrid Mode
