So, this guy came in, having cut an artery in his wrist. Not on purpose. He was intoxicated and punched a window. Then he tried to beat up the EMS team sent to help him. Then he tried to beat up the cops who came to help EMS. He had already beaten his partner for calling 911...
They brought him to me.
He is mean and mad and spurting blood at high velocity. He is thrashing and trying to pull his arm out of my grasp, and every time he does, I lose my grip on the artery and get shot with a thick jet of blood. Two cops, two security officers and 3 nurses are all holding him down.
"Sedate him..."
Already done. Five and two became ten-four. Add 100 of ketamine to the mix and he stops trying to bite me. Now we can see what we're dealing with. My colleague grips the artery above the gash, and I push gauze pads over the wound. Can we see the vessel?
"You bitch! I'm going to fucking kill you!"
Ah. He's awake.
"I'm going to sue you. You can't sedate me! I'll ruin your fucking life!"
He wrenches his arm back, pulling his chest up from the restraints on the bed and lunging at me with his head. Another jet of blood sprays me. I'm covered. Head to toe. My badge is dripping.
Another 100 of Ketamine. He's down again.
We isolate the artery. Gem pushes it flat, I run a suture over where I think the blood is coming from. Thread pulls taught, she lets go of the vessel.
Nope. Blood floods the site, and I lose my view.
Try again. Push, gauze, stitch. Stitch again. Again.
This time, it worked. The flow has stopped. My colleague has plastic surgery on the phone to figure out how to do a definitive repair. The patient is out cold.
At this point, I am covered in blood from the top of my scrub cap to the top of my shoes. My mask. My stethoscope. My neck.
The patient's friend, who has been in the room the whole time to help keep him calm, turns to me and says, "when is the doctor coming?"
Anyways. I'm taking a year off of work.
