Quick Trip Home

I finished Arrowhead almost a week ago now. The last day was pretty interesting. I spent 4-5 hours sewing up a dozen or so lacerations on a guy who jumped out of second story window (a little Meth-induced paranoia). A couple of the lacs could have actually used skin grafts and one almost took off the end of his pinky. But perseverance and some reinforcing vertical mattress ties and his was closed up - if not pretty.

After I was done with his knee and arms (about 8 Prolene sutures later) a maxofacial surgical resident took over on his face. The resident also took some time on four big lacs across the patient's nose and forehead, but when he was done the result looked much nicer. Now my wounds were much dirtier, so I had leave them more open even after irrigation. But I have to remember that the knots should all be pulled to the same side so you have a nice clean looking finished product.

We also had a trauma where I successfully performed the CPR to get the gunshot victim resuscitated. He had two bullets in his chest and had been pulseless for about 25 minutes when we got him into our trauma bay. About 10 people including nurses, emergency docs and surgeons surrounded him but I squeezed my way in to relieve the paramedic from doing CPR. We were about to call the time of death when the ultrasound showed a weak heartbeat. I felt for the carotid pulse and it strong! His radial pulse was very weak but the surgeons immediately decided his only chance emergent surgery (he had already had 5 units of blood after we removed 2L from a hemothorax).

I learned later that they had removed one bullet in the OR, but his blood gases showed a pH of 6.6! Being that acidic is NOT compatible with life. So I'm sure if he's with us today. If he is, what brain function remains, not to mention kidneys, etc., is questionable.

The rest of the 12-hour shift went fast with small procedures and lots of patients to see. Then I loaded up on caffeine and drove a little over fours to get home in Phoenix around 11:30pm. The boys were pleasantly excited to see me even at 6am. We played for a bit, them Becky and I took long 3-hour naps. The four of us had a leisurely afternoon and went to a movie together. The evening was also relaxing. We just had a great time hanging out together. I made sure to touch, tickle and cuddle them as much as possible. After everyone went to bed, I spent 1-2 hours packing for the long 2-month trip.

While it was sad to hear, I was happy too that Connor told Becky, after she returned from the airport; "One day just isn't enough mom. You just end up missing him more when he's gone."