Extreme Medical Services: Medical Care On The Fringes Of Humanity (21 page)

   
Gibbie nodded, biting his quivering lower lip. Then he quietly asked, “Can’t you just pull it out, Brynne?”

   
“There’s no way of knowing what additional damage that would do, Gibbie,” she replied. “So here’s what we’re gonna do. I’m going to sit here with you and hold this very still while Dean goes out to the truck and gets the tool box from the driver’s side bin on the ambulance.” She looked at Dean. “Got it, partner?”

   
“Got it,” Dean said. He went back out to through the pool room to the rig. The young cop he and Brynne had passed on the way in was standing outside waiting when he came out.

   
“That’s super weird, ain’t it?” The cop said. “He’s sitting up and talking and all with that pool cue sticking right through him. All he would tell us over and over again was that we had to find his girlfriend and that it was all a misunderstanding. We’re looking for her, but I don’t think he should be the one to talk to her when we find her. She must’ve been really pissed to do that to him.”

   
“I think he has that effect on people,” Dean said. He went around to the driver’s side of the ambulance, opened the compartment door behind the driver’s seat and pulled out the toolbox. It was kind of heavy, and he wished Brynne had told him what specific tool she needed. He came back around the back of the ambulance, and the cop was waiting.

   
“Is he gonna live?” he asked. “I can’t believe he’s just sitting there talking like that.”
 

   
“We’re going to do what we can for him,” Dean said. “If we can help it, we’re not going to let him die,” or whatever you called it when a vampire left this life.

   
Dean went back through the pool hall and into the cramped office where the two police officers stood there and watched dumbfounded as Brynne stabilized the impaled pool cue in Gibbie’s chest. Dean set the toolbox down next to the heart monitor and popped the lid open.
 

   
“What next, Boss?” Dean asked.

   
“Under the top tray is a small folding hacksaw,” Brynne said. “While I hold this pool cue really still, you’re going to cut the end off just past my hands so we can maneuver him more easily in this room. You get that ready to go. Before you start cutting, I want to alert ECMC about what we have so Doc Spirelli can get the trauma team squared away. He’s got to pull in a few favors to get the right people in the hospital this late without anyone freaking out about what they’ll see. Dial the portable radio to patch us through to the Elk City Medical Center ED and hold it up where I can talk.”

   
Dean had already gotten the folding hacksaw out and assembled it to its open position. He put the tool down and pulled out the portable radio from its clip on his belt. He keyed the mic button and held it up to Brynne’s face. “This is Ambulance U-191 calling ECMC with a trauma alert. Can I please speak to the Station U doc on call?”

   
“Received One-Nine-One. We’re getting the doctor now,” The nurse on the hospital radio said. “Stand by.”

   
“Standing by,” Brynne replied.

   
She looked at the cops. “We’ve got this if you want to go out and do some crowd control. When we bring him out, we’re going to be in a hurry. The two officers looked relieved and hurried from the room.

   
“U-One-Nine-One go ahead,” the radio squawked. “This is Doc Andrews.”

   
Dean keyed the mic for Brynne again. “Doc, this is paramedic Garvey. Pick up the handset and go to private mode, please.” She waited a moment, heard a click, and then continued. “We have an apparent 52-year-old male vampire with a wooden pool cue impaled in his chest just medial to the mid-clavicular line. He is conscious, alert and oriented. I have the object stabilized by hand at this time. We have him on the monitor, and it shows V-fib with occasional runs of normal sinus rhythm. The pool cue is too long to move safely, so we’re going to cut off some of the length before we transport. We’ll call in before we leave the scene to alert you that we’re en route. Do you request any additional information?”

   
“No additional information needed at this time. Use extreme caution when cutting the object, Brynne. The runs of normal sinus mean it is already in contact with the heart. Consider IV fluid bolus for blood loss.”

   
“Understood, Doc,” she said. “We’ll be careful and will have fluids ready to flow. We’ll call when we’re on the way. U-191 clear.” Dean lowered the radio and reattached it to his belt.

   
“Okay, Brynne,” Dean said, picking up the saw. “Are you ready for this?”

   
“Yep,” she said. She looked at her patient. “Gibbie, this is going to be uncomfortable. I need you to sit really still, okay?” The vampire nodded.

   
Dean set the saw blade on the pool cue about two inches beyond where Brynne’s hands gripped it, holding it steady. Using slow, smooth strokes, he began to draw the fine toothed blade back and forth, letting the tool do the work and trying not to put downward pressure on it. It took what seemed like for forever, but he made steady progress and eventually broke through the other side leaving him holding the thick end of the pool cue. Brynne gripped the remaining six-inch stump left protruding from Gibbie’s chest.

   
“Okay, now we can get ready to move you to the ambulance,” Brynne said. “Dean, you get some cling rolls and gauze pads out. There’s surprisingly little blood, but I think the cue’s smooth round side is sealing against the skin. Let’s pack some gauze around the wound then use the whole cling rolls to stabilize the object in place, wrapping around his torso to secure them. How’s that sound to you?”

   
“I think that will work,” Dean said. He unzipped the trauma bag and retrieved a ten pack of four by four gauze pads along with six four-inch wide cling gauze rolls. He opened the pack of gauze squares and handed them to Brynne, who folded them in half and began to layer them in a criss-cross pattern around the wound. She created a layered round gauze wall around the pool cue pressing them firmly up against the wood. Dean opened two more gauze cling rolls and began wrapping the strips of long gauze around and over the stabilizing packing and then around Gibby's back and torso until he was satisfied that the packing was secured.

   
“What do you think Brynne?” he asked, perusing his handiwork.

   
“I think that will do, Dean,” she responded. “Any other ideas before we move him?”

   
“I think we need to immobilize his whole torso,” Dean suggested. “I think the KED is probably the best option. Then we can move him and lay him down on the stretcher without bending or twisting his torso.”

   
“Good idea. Run and get it and the stretcher,” she said. “I’ll sit here with Gibbie.”

   
Dean ran out to the unit and opened the back to retrieve the stretcher. He rolled it around to the side and opened the long tall doors that held the backboards and KED, the Kendrick Extrication Device. He placed the green bag with the KED in it on the stretcher along with a long backboard and the bag of straps and clips used to secure a patient to the backboard. He rolled the stretcher back into the pool hall, parking it by the entrance to the office.

   
He picked up the bag with the KED and went inside. He noticed she’d taken the time to start an IV on him and was attaching the bag’s tubing to the catheter secured to the patient’s arm.
 

   
“Okay,” he said taking the device out of the container and unfolding it. It looked like an inverted capital T. It had wide wings at the base to wrap around the torso then an extension that went up behind the neck with two smaller wings that were intended to wrap and secure the head in place. The device was stiffened by metal rods. When properly secured, Gibbie should be able to be moved without twisting or bending his upper body at all, minimizing the risk of shifting the pool cue’s splintered end still inside him.

   
Dean had always liked the KED and thought it was a better option to move an injured patient than just using a long backboard. He placed the opened KED against Gibbie’s back and carefully lifted his arms while wrapping the wings around each side in turn. The wings didn’t fully wrap around him, just coming partially around to the front, which was good, since it would have pushed against the wooden stake if it had reached all the way around. He undid the three colored straps and applied them to immobilize the torso.

   
“That was good thinking, Dean,” Brynne said. “I’m not sure I would have thought of the KED for this application, but it works. Okay, Gibbie,” she said to their patient. “We’re going to help you stand up and move over to the stretcher. We’re going to do all of this slowly, without twisting you or moving you unnecessarily. You’re going to stay calm and help us, right?”

   
“Okay, Brynne, honey,” he said quietly. Dean thought he sounded frightened. “Whatever you say.”

   
“I brought a backboard but I think this will do by itself,” Dean said. “What do you think?”

   
“I agree,” she said, nodding. “Okay, Gibbie, we’re going to work together and move as a unit over to the stretcher. I’ll count to three, and I want you to slide slowly forward on the desk until your feet touch the floor. Dean and I will be on each side of you, holding your body still.” Dean stood on one side and grabbed the carrying straps on the KED on his side. Brynne did the same on hers. She glanced at the heart monitor, the wires still attached to Gibbie as she counted down. “Three, two, one, nice and easy,” she said helping him to slide to his feet and stand up. “Okay, hold it there for a sec.” She had seen a couple more runs of normal sinus rhythm on the monitor as they moved him, but the rhythm settled back into his “normal” of ventricular fibrillation once they stopped. The change made her nervous, but they had to get him to the trauma center. He needed surgery.

   
“Now for the next step,” she said standing next to Gibbie. “One step at a time. Make sure you stand up straight and move your legs only. The KED should help you keep your upper body still. We’ll be right here with you.” The paramedics began walking with their patient across the room and to the door where the stretcher waited for them. They turned him around, so his back was to the stretcher at the midway point, the mattress lowered to knee level and helped him sit straight down. Working together, they helped Gibbie swing his legs up onto the stretcher while they used the KED’s handles to turn him so he was sitting up on the stretcher with the back brought up to support him. Dean attached the straps securing Gibbie to the stretcher and put the side rails up. Then with him at the base and Brynne at the head, Dean pressed the button for the motor to raise the stretcher up to his waist height so they could comfortably roll him out to the ambulance.

   
They loaded Gibbie into the ambulance after rolling him outside without a problem. Dean climbed in back with his patient, while Brynne went back inside with a few of the cops to get the rest of their gear. Dean hooked the IV bag on a ceiling hook and put the heart monitor back in its locking cradle.

   
He picked up the mic from its hook on the wall next to the med radio and keyed the button. “U-191 to Elk City Medical Center Trauma, how do you read?” He waited for a moment for someone to pick up on the other end.

   
“We read you loud and clear,” came the nurse’s voice.

   
“Patient is extricated to the ambulance, and we will be en route momentarily,” Dean said. “Impaled object is secured in place and patient’s torso is immobilized to minimize internal movement. Our ETA to your facility is approximately 5 minutes.”

   
“Received, One-Nine-One. The trauma team is ready for you when you arrive. ECMC Trauma clear.”

   
“U-191 clear,” Dean said. “Alright Gibbie, I think the hardest part is over, now we just need to get you to the trauma surgeons to get that thing removed.”

   
“I hope so,” Gibbie said. “It’s weird, it doesn’t hurt all that much. I’m just worried about Brenda. She was so upset, and it is not like her to be so jealous.”

   
“Do you have any idea what caused her to freak out and ram a pool cue into you?” Dean felt the ambulance begin to move.

   
“I don’t know,” Gibbie said. He tried to shrug but winced, realizing he couldn't do it all trussed up the way he was. “She’s been so strange lately and doesn’t want me talking to other women. All I did tonight was laugh at the waitress’s joke when she brought our drinks to the table where we were playing pool. Brenda started shouting that she was tired of all my flirting and the next thing I knew I had this pool cue in my chest, and she was flailing at me with her fists. It took three people to haul her off me.”

   
“I won’t say I’m any kind of relationship expert,” Dean said, “but you need to find yourself a new girl, Gibbie. She’s doing nothing but getting you hurt, in more ways than one.”

   
“I know,” the vampire said, sighing. “But do you know how hard it is for a guy stuck in middle age to find a girl these days? It used to be that if you had some means, even if you looked like me, they’d be lining up. Now, heck, they want you to be rich and look good. It’s just not fair.”

   
“How old are you?” Dean asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

   
“I was originally born in Germany in a town called Lauenburg on the river Elbe in 1619. It’s near Hamburg. I was the son of a cobbler and entered the trade myself, taking over the business when my father died. I had a wife and son who died of a fever that struck the area in 1658. I started hanging out in beer halls to try and forget what I had lost and then I met a woman who seemed more alive than all the others I had known. For several weeks, she met me each night in the beer hall.”