One single bullet

One thing that is impossible to do when blogging about past memories is to sort out those memories that have relevance. But clearly, there are some stories that stand out and tonights tale may just have shaped an entire career.
It was a very hot summer night and I was the night intern at a community hospital in Warren Mich. As an intern I did not make the big decisions. Iwas there to get patients through the night so their doctors could make decisions in the AM.
I was hanging in the ER after I finished another history and physical on what seemed like an endless stream of patient admissions. The double ER doors swung open and to our surprise two young men in there early twenty somethings were screaming--"she has been shot, she has been shot-HELP!! HELP!!" Well, now the adrenaline kicks in and we all run out to find the most beautiful young woman lying in the back of a car. She had a bright red blood spot showing through her clothing that was very stylish and otherwise consistent with party attire. She looked to be around 20 years old and had a beautiful gold cross around her neck. We rushed her into the trauma room and immediately started our work-up exam and resuscitation. The GSW(gun shot wound) routine was in full gear as I started to ask the patient historical questions. It was not long before we all noticed that this young woman was NOT doing well. Blood pressure was not holding with large volumes of fluid, heart rate kept increasing, and her abdomen under a single bullet entry wound was rapidly enlarging. This young women was bleeding to death.
The blood bank was notified to send blood, the surgical resident was called and came quickly, and the OR was notified as was the surgeon on call. The surgeon was on his way from his home about 30 minutes away. Our job was to keep giving blood and fluid until the surgeon got there to explore the abdomen and stop what was now obviously a major vascular injury. Easier said than done. The surgical residents and I were losing this battle and with each minute she got more and more pale and to make matters worse kept repeating to us " I am going to die--Please don't let me die " Just as we were whisking her to the OR her father shows up and wants to see his daughter and in his state of shock starts screaming " oh GOD don't let my baby girl die" and then we rush into the OR.
We got her on the OR table, prepped and draped the abdomen and then we waited for the surgeon. We waited and then we waited some more. The feeling of helplessness consumed our emotions to the point that we honestly thought of opening her abdomen ourselves but NONE OF US were adequately trained to fix the problem. We needed the surgeon. Oh God did we ever need a surgeon who could save this girl's life and we needed him NOW!!
The surgeon did come and he tried with all of our help and all the blood we could muster and all the skills he had to save that beautiful young Italian American women and she died that night right in front of us on the OR table from a single 22 caliber bullet directly through her splenic artery. That my friends was when I vowed to train and then train some more so that I would never stand helpless and watch somebodies baby die ever again. I have never been the same since that night. I haven't saved them all over the next 25 years , but it is heart warming to know that I mastered the skill sets to dive in and save more than my share and thank God I no longer have to go home with that helpless feeling I had that night so many years ago.