Theres a program on sky called life in the e.r. its about life in the accident and emergency dept in hospitals in america…anyway i watched it last night and they flew this guy in by heliciopter…turns out he was a trucker a genuine 18 wheeler driver…swerved out of the way of an electric pylon and ended up in a ditch. well the load shifted and trapped him for between 6 to 8 hours before anyone came to his rescue…both his legs were mangled so much that one had to be amputated straight away…the second a few days later…but what a character…a fighter…and looking at him…it seemed that he wasnt long for retirement…well he is certainly retired now…but it made me think how it would affect different people after a life of open highways and freedom that so many of us enjoy…how many could live a life in a wheelchair…dependent on our families to help us to do everyday chores which we take for granted now…his name is Bill and i salute him for his courage…and wonder how on earth he stayed in a ditch for all that time without anyone stopping to see what was what, i certainly would be curious…and maybe his legs could have been saved.
have a nice day.
I don’t think its a matter of ‘if’ anybody could live with it. Nobody’s given the choice… it just happens to them. When I did my ER rotation in my nurses training, you wouldn’t believe some of the things that happened to people, some of its hard to see.
Just one question… was it 6-8 hours before anyone found him, or 6-8 hours before they could get him out of the truck? I’ve seen people who have been trapped in their car for up to 6-7 hours because the emergency crews had to cut the car away from them before they could safely remove them. If he had an entire load trapping him in, it must have taken a long time to get him out. These emergency crews do the best they can.
It’s a good reminder for you guys to be extremely careful when driving… can’t always avoid everything, but the more alert ya are, the more likely you are to avoid these kinds of accidents… drive safely.
I’m completely with Kate on this one, having been a Nurse and Army Medic.
It is absolutely amazing what punishment the human body can take and survive, yet the most minor thing can finish you off.
One of the most pleasureable things about nursing, is when you see this mangled heap of a body being brought into A&E, then sometime later, to see them walking out of hospital with a big grin on their faces.
I also was a member of the St John Ambulance and provided medical cover at all sorts of events, from garden fetes to m/cycle or car racing to drag racing and stock cars and football matches.
The human body is an amazing piece of work, you only get one in this life, look after it.