Chainsaw vs. Face

                One of my earliest shifts as a fully fledged, big boy, all grown up paramedic was a day shift in Mississippi. We started off the day with a priority 1 call for a man that was hit in the face with a chain saw! Now I know what you are thinking, and it wasn’t that bad. This poor guy was up with the sun working on his farm and was sawing some branches on a tree when the chain hit a knot in the wood and kicked back and hit this guy in the forehead, bounced from there and clipped the very tip of his nose. It left a gnarly gash and a Owen Wilson-esk nose. However, he was completely awake, lucid, and other than the gash in his forehead, Farmer Joe didn’t have too many complaints. His wife stated that he was always a bit stoic.

                My preceptor, a 20 year medic suggests that we just take him basic to the local ER as opposed to the closest trauma center. I agreed with him because we thought it was just some soft tissue damage and nothing more. So we bandage him up, take his vitals, and get his history. He never lost consciousness or had any type of deterioration with.

                So we drop him off at the ER and I give report to the RN who immediately tells me that the guy is in shock and that I was basically a bad person for not doing more. Thanks lady…I’m going to go finish my paperwork now. They send the patient off to the CT scanner and we clear our call to go sit at post and wait for our next call.

                One hour later we are sent priority 1 to the same hospital for a transfer to the closest trauma center for one needing an urgent neurosurgical consult. The collective thought it the truck was “Please don’t be our patient. Please don’t be our patient”. Upon our arrival there was a silent yet collective “Damn it!” that was probably very noticeable.

                As it turns out, our previous patient who was kissed by his chainsaw has an open skull fracture and is going to require surgery. So I start to gather the paperwork and remove the last of the egg that was on my face while I get report from the same nurse who was oh so very pleasant to me the first time around. Our patient was STILL alert, oriented, and only complained of slight headache. I’m sure the lights and sirens for his trip to the super hospital are going to be super comfortable for him. As we get him loaded up on the gurney, he asks if this is really necessary. Well sir, you have hole in your head that is not supposed to be there, generally that is a big deal for most people.

                Thankfully he did fine though out the transfer and really didn’t have any complaints or anything to say about the event. Well, he might get a new chainsaw when this is all said and done. Note to self, when using a chainsaw, don’t let it touch your face.