I was happy Joe got to experience Death Valley. I had been there twice before, but not seen nearly as much of it as Joe and I saw. We headed out towards Vegas, eager to start our trip home as we have missed our home and our animals, and family. Shortly after leaving the park, I told Joe to look behind him. He looked and said what am I looking at? I told him that is your two weeks of vacation coming to an end. He looked again and saw a cop with his lights flashing behind us. We were thinking we just drove 2,250 miles and now we are going to get a ticket? But, the cop flew right by us at about 90 miles an hour. Now, when you are in the desert with nothing around, you know he can only be heading toward a car wreck of some sort! Yet when we drove a few more minutes with no sight of him, I figured he turned off on one of the few roads to no where off the highway we were on. So, I started reading my book again.
Sure enough, after a few more minutes, we came upon the cop car stopped on the side of the road with a small four door car sitting on the desert floor some 8 feet below the road with no visible damage to the car! I had Joe stop and I rolled my window down and asked if he needed help, that I am a nurse. He's like sure come on over! I said what is going on. He's like well got a guy down there not responsive and not breathing! Geeze! I hate when that happens!
I go sliding down the gravelly bank with my flip flops and there were these three people standing around the car. There was an unopened orange medic bag sitting there on the ground. The woman said she was an EMT (who happened upon the accident) but was not legally allowed to touch the guy. Not sure why she would say that. Anyway, I look in the car and there is a large adult male laying across the front seat with his head propped on the passenger side door bent at a bad, bent sideways angle. About a dozen prescription bottles laid on the floor of the passenger front seat of his car. (Heart and diabetes meds to name a few.) Sure enough, he was not breathing. No one there had started any kind of treatment. I was like, well we need to get this guy an airway! I had the "EMT" stabilize the head while the cop and I opened the door. The guy seemed pretty dead to me. I opened his eyes and didn't like the looks of them! He didn't respond to my voice or corneal stimulation. A very bad sign. I said we need to get this guy out of the car and onto the ground so I can work on him. Everyone was like what, how are we going to do that? I'm like just do it! Joe held the car door open, the cop grabs the guy by the belt, and I was at the arms. He must have weighed 250! His legs got caught on the steering wheel, but we kept pulling and pulling. Apparently, he had two prosthetic legs and they got caught! Later I was wondering how do you drive with no legs. Any way, got him to the ground, still no breathing. I had a stethoscope. I did hear a faint heart beat. I had a pocket mask, so I gave him some breaths and he spontaneously started breathing again. I yelled for someone to get a blanket and give us some shade!
Gave him a good sternal rub and another corneal swipe, no response to pain. I just kept assessing him. The medical helicopter was called and was six minutes out. I made sure there were no passengers who might have been thrown from the car. After a bit, I could no longer hear a heartbeat. Couldn't feel a carotid pulse. I hate when that happens too. Now I have to start compressions! CPR at 105 degrees! And, I skipped the short hikes in Death Valley b/c I didn't want to get sweaty! After what seemed like forever, the cop tells us the helicopter will be landing any second. Indeed they did and they landed right next to us. You could only imagine the dirt and rocks that thing spit on us! Certainly the worst conditions I have ever done CPR in before! They got the guy intubated, the heart started and stopped a few times. They couldn't get an IV in him and were going to put one in the bones of his legs till someone told the paramedic there were no legs!
At any rate, I continued to hang around and lending a hand to the ambulance crew and the ambulance crew setting up the head blocks, switching O2 tanks, etc. just like the old days. They were on the ground with him for what seemed like forever. Because he was so big, it took six people to carry him up the steep, rocky bank to the waiting chopper. I deferred from lifting for several reasons. Joe was at the head (he was great through all of this.) The guy at the end says to me, can you come to the end and watch his legs don't fall off. Now you should know that when it was discussed that the guy had two fake legs, I was busy with other things, so I missed that part! So, I thinking, ok, this is weird, where does he think the legs will go? The guy is strapped to a backboard. Whatever, so with six guys ahead of me spitting rocks out from there shoes I trudge behind with my flip flops on hanging on to the guys to feet. I noticed his sneakers looked rather small and his legs were at a weird position. And, when I grabbed him around the ankles, I notice they are all stiff, and I'm thinking rigors! What is up with that. How could it be rigors?? When Joe told me after about the fake legs I just had to laugh! I said to Joe, how can some one drive with no legs, well maybe not so good after all. Joe made a bad joke about the guy didn't have a leg to stand on!
So, he was loaded onto the helicopter, and Joe got cool video of the chopper taking off and a few moment of me in it which he will post to this blog later!
This man had no obvious injuries other than a scrape on his left elbow. Given all the meds, I feel he had a medical episode while driving before he left the road. The sheriff called me later in the day to update me on his condition. His mother said he had been depressed and his new bottle of xanax was empty. Likely a suicide attempt. He had an arrest record that we saw online. As of last night he was in a coma and had brain damage. He also wanted to tell me the flight crew wanted to thank me for my help. It was a good feeling, I'll say that much. Joe was a great help!
Strangely, just a few minutes before we saw the cop fly by us, I was daydreaming about going back to school for my paramedic license!
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