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Paramedic Stories, Part VI: Critical! (By Johnny Eaglefeather, EMT) (~Part Two~) by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Rated "PG" by the Author.
*warning: very graphic photo of necrotizing fasciitis on leg*
A different view of M'buti's paramedic story, as seen by a second paramedic. At the time of this write, she was gravely ill with an unknown ailment (but later, it was found that she had flesh-eating disease, or necrotizing fasciitis).
I couldn't believe how sick the young woman lying on the floor was, but she was; and we knew we had to work fast and get her to a nearby hospital if she was to have any chance of surviving whatever was going on with her.
The woman was very tall and thin in build; and she was black. She was unconscious and was barely responding to our tests and examinations of her body. She had extremely low blood pressure, and she was diaphoretic and shocky in appearance. Her face was ashen in color, and she looked like hell, to put it mildly. She looked like she was going to crump on us and die; and so we had no choice BUT to get her to a hospital as fast as possible.
We monitored her breathing (which was being helped along by some supplimental oxygen) and her heart rate (by putting an EKG monitor on her), and we took her vitals every few minutes. She had a very high fever, and whatever was going on within her body was something major, that much we knew. But WHAT, we had no clue.
We placed M'buti Ayala Moore-Sormiento into the back of the ambulance, and we soon were high-tailing it towards NMH (Nashville Memorial Hospital), which was the closest hospital from the Sormiento residence at 118 Champlain Road. The Sormientos lived out in the country, at least 45 minutes from the city limits, so we had no choice but to buck ass and get the sick woman to Nashville Memorial as quickly as possible. Sure, it was Christmas morning, but Christmas was the very last thing on our minds at this time: we had a very ill woman to take care of, and she was possibly dying. We had to get her to a medical facility, and FAST.
Upon arrival to the hospital, M'buti was quickly taken to a cubicle in the emergency room, where she was then stripped of her clothing and was soon plugged up to all sorts of lines and monitoring devices. A tube was placed into her throat, and she was quickly hooked up to a ventilator, and doctors and nurses soon ascended onto her like moths to a flame. The air was filled with a sense of urgency and dread, and there was a distinct, foul smell permeating the air. It was coming from M'buti, and whatever was wrong was something out of the ordinary. That was when a nurse first spotted the ugly, blood-filled blisters adorning her leg like giant-sized leeches. In addition to the ugly blisters, her leg was extremely tender to the touch, and it was discolored: the skin around the blisters was an angry red/purple color, and it appeared as though the discolored area was spreading, even right in front of our eyes. The smell enamating from the leg was horrendous, and it caused several of the nurses to gag from the odor.
We had no idea as to whether M'buti would survive whatever was going on; but it was nothing like I had ever seen or witnessed before. She appeared to be suffering from a severe case of the flu, but it was no ordinary flu; that much was certain. She was shocky, was having problems breathing, was unconscious and barely responsive to our pokings and proddings, and she was burning up with a horribly high fever: thouching her hot, moist skin was akin to running your hand against a piece of live coal. Most puzzling of all was her abnnormally low blood pressure and also the blistery like things on her scarred up legs. That was when a doctor suspected NecFac, or necrotizing fasciitis, or flesh-eating disease. As a result, M'buti was immediately prepped and was then rushed to emergency surgery if she was to have any chance of surviving this rare and very deadly illness.
When we heard of the news of M'buti contracting necrotizing fasciitis we were all stunned; we couldn't believe it. But as we began to go over the case in our minds and began to piece the symptoms and how the young woman looked upon our arrival, it somehow began to make sense, and somehow, a particularly nasty bug managed to get into an opening in her leg, and the infection sort of went crazy and out of control; and as a result, she contracted necrotizing fasciitis.
If she were to survive, it would be nothing short of a Miracle; and it would be even more so if she didn't lose something to the necrotizing fasciitis. Only time (and a lot of prayers) would tell as to whether M'buti would make it through this.
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It turned out that M'buti DID survive. She did have some more major surgery done on her leg; but her leg was salvageable, and it took many long months for her to completely recover from the devastating effects of the NecFac. She still has some physical damage and some problems because of it nearly five years later, but compared to where she was when we first saw her on that frosty Christmas morning of December 1999, she has come a very long way, and she is, in every sense, a Miracle Survivor over the flssh-eating bacteria known as necrotizing fasciitis.
Suspenseful and close to home, Rain of Deception 2 will leave you in Tears. Much like Part 1, this will shocking sequel will keep you on the edge of your fingertips.
A page-turning novel about a relationship between best friends that is interrupted because of betrayal , deceit, sexual promiscuity and pregnancy happens!
I couldn't believe how sick the young woman lying on the floor was, but she was; and we knew we had to work fast and get her to a nearby hospital if she was to have any chance of surviving whatever was going on with her.
