# Tigerlilly's Reports **URL:** \ **Category:** Women's Journals\ **Created:** [March 2, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/tigerlillys-reports/26666 "2009-03-02T19:48:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 96
**Author:** ![Tigerlilly](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/tigerlilly/32/2257_2.png) [@Tigerlilly](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Tigerlilly)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/tigerlillys-reports/26666/96 "2009-04-16T19:11:45Z")
Had an … eventful Saturday - I was going out hiking, and on the drive up, the car in front of my spun out and flipped over, ejecting the driver thru the windshield and down into a 300 ft canyon. I am a medic, so I was a bit of a ricky rescue and climbed down into the canyon to treat him. Serious lacerations and major bleeding, though it was starting to clot. He had already bled out all over the canyon floor, at least 2-3 liters. Pulse rapid and weak, respirations wild and erratic. The weather was horrible - 35 degrees, snowy, stormy. Cap refill was meaningless and skin signs were poor. He was holding his head and screaming. Eyes fixed and midpoint. A&O x 2. Good airway though. Rapid trauma showed no apparent signs of major fractures or internal injuries. I was shocked. SAMPLE history negative on all pertinent questions. The crevice was a perfect reverse trendelenberg, so I maneuvered him into position and kept him in neutral cervical alignment. Tried to warm him up as best as I could with my little fleece jacket and body heat. Was watching for signs of ICP - didn’t see it though. I had no BP or stethoscope, but his pulse and respirations were not indicative of ICP. Still trying to share body heat with him, I jackknifed his legs into the air to try and shunt the blood back to his core. When people dump off into decompensated shock, it happens quick. I didn’t have an appreciation for that before. I lost the radial pulse, then his resp rate dumped. He stopped breathing. I still could feel a weak carotid pulse, so I started rescue breathing. I went 4 breaths before he started breathing on his own again. I was able to talk another driver through the climb down and over to where I was. He brought more blankets and bandages. He couldn’t get up into the crevice with me, but the other guy was able to elevate the legs while I kept working on the shock. The driver was now entirely unresponsive. I did what I could with what I had. Kept him warm, kept tracking vitals. The SAR team was on it’s way, but it had already been an hour, and they weren’t going to get there for another hour at least. We were buried in the wilderness. It was very, very hairy for 20 minutes. I thought it would end up being a recovery mission, as opposed to a rescue. But, his vitals started getting stronger. I got a radial pulse back, and his resp rate was climbing. However, now we had a whole new set of problems. His radial pulse climbed up to 114 by the time the SAR team arrived, an hour later. His resp rate was 15 bpm. He was experiencing waves of pain emanating from his neck. He was reacting to the pain and communicating with me again, though was generally in a stupor. Eyes fixed and midpoint still. On deep inhalation, he was now sputtering and coughing. His arms had moved into decorticate posturing, but still had movement and sensation in his extremities. The flight medics rappelled in from the rescue helicopter while the ground team rappelled down the other canyon wall. The weather had turned ugly, so they couldn’t get a visual fix on us and were navigating blind. One rescuer was able to get an O2 bag to me before going back to guide the rest of the team in. Put him on O2 as the rest of the team got in position around me. The lead medic took my report then handed me a bp cuff and ears. Did another set of vitals while the medic set up his portable EKG and pulse ox. Pulse 120, Resp 15, BP 180/110, A&O x1, Lungs rales, eyes fixed and midpoint. It was cold - 35 degrees, so skin signs were meaningless. Pulse ox said 92. I wanted to cry. EKG said Sinustachy. We started a high flow IV drip, saline. They were all clipped in and clambering around the canyon wall, so they could move into position for the spinal. I held the head up at the top while we did the C-collar and rolled, then parked him on a Miller Board. Spinal sucks in a crevice. You never get to do it in a comfy, cushy classroom. Then we swing the rescue litter in from the feet, and strapped all 90 bazillion clips and webbing together for the helicopter lift. Unfortunately, the weather was even worse now, so the chopper veered off and couldn’t get to us. We had to rappel the victim down the canyon, across the ravine, and up the other canyon wall ourselves. They got the other civilian out of there earlier, so it was me and the SAR team. I became right side belay, and another female was left side belay. The big, beefy, hunky flight medics and SAR dudes were carrying the litter. We were tethered to the litter for when the guys slipped. The vertical descent was easy. Going through the ravine was rough. It might as well have been the ice-capedes, what with them slipping on all the shale. We reset the belay points three times. Another team had set up rappel points and a climbing winch on the other side of the canyon, in case the chopper couldn’t get in, so we were all set to ascend once we got through the rough bits. Victim was unresponsive when we finally loaded him into the ambulance. The whole process took 5 hours. I was on scene with him alone for two hours, then the rescue and evacuation took another 2.5. It took half an hour to ascend the canyon. It sucked. --- _[View the full topic](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/tigerlillys-reports/26666)._