Hey guys! Hope all of my fellow U.S readers had a great 4th of July and I hope that the rest of you had a great Saturday!:) Also, thank you for all the reviews and follows.
A new week means a new chapter! There is quite a bit of medical/firefighting jargon and techniques used in this chapter but I tried to explain or put in detail what was going on. Enjoy!
"Alright, Capp I want you to stabilize the car. Cruz, grab the halligan and try to get the driver side door open. Tony grab a fire extinguisher and spray it under the hood, also disconnect the battery. Everyone else prepare the Jaws, and get sand on the leaking fluids. Truck is taking care of the other car. Let's move!" Lieutenant Kelly Severide instructed as Rescue Squad Company three arrived to the scene.
Each firefighter quickly jumped out of the truck as it came to a stop at the scene and began doing as instructed. "Hey Severide!' Cruz yelled from the side of the car 'The door won't budge, were gonna have to use the Jaws!" he yelled to his commanding officer.
"Rescue three to Main, I need a chopper on stand-by for my location." Severide spoke into his radio.
"Main to Rescue three, all choppers are currently grounded due to weather in the area, advise transport patient via med unit at this time." The dispatcher instructed.
"Hey, the other guy is fine, a few minor cuts and bruises, another ambo is transporting him just in case, says this car ran the red light and apparently his car clipped this one just right, causing it to roll somewhere around five times. What do you need from us?" asked Truck Lieutenant Matt Casey as he ran over to his comrade.
"Someone can help Cruz on the Jaws, but first I need someone to bust-out the windshield so we can cover the victim, once that's done we will work together on extraction."
"All right, Dawson, I want you to pop the windshield and get in there, tell us and Brett what we are dealing with. Once that is done, I want me and Hermann on the left, Otis and Severide on the right, everyone else helping as we get the roof off. Lets move!"
Truck member Gabriella Dawson quickly moved towards the car, jumping on the mangled hood, breaking the rest of the glass and pulling it out in chunks. Gabby made her way into the car, and to the patient who was located in the back of the car, stabilizing her with a cervical collar and slowly moving her way down from head to toe assessing for more injuries.
"What we looking at Dawson?" Paramedic Sylvie Brett asked from outside the vehicle.
"Caucasian female. Late 20s-Early 30s. Was not restrained and is currently at a 145 degree angle in the back floor board. She is lethargic, responding to painful sternal stimuli. I have stabilized her neck. Left pupil is blown and dilated, the right is fixed and dilated. Possible depressed skull fracture to the parietal lobe. Pink fluid is present in the auditory canal. Glasgow is three. I need gauze for the Right Posterior Tibial Artery, it is exposed and bleeding profusely. Probable broken right Radius. Probable Hemopneumothorax. Abdomen is ridged. Hold for Vitals."
As Jay drove up towards the chaotic scene, he seen his future slowly deteriorating before him as he seen the state of her car. At first he was unable to believe that it was her, the only thing that told him that it was, was the license plate staring back at him. He quickly threw the drive stick into park and jumped out of the car, parking beside Truck 81.
"Erin? Oh my god! Is she ok? Is she alive? Why are you not getting her out?!" he said as he ran up to what remained of the mangled car, his heart dropped, thinking the worse.
"Halstead? You sure it's Lindsay in there?" Casey asked the distraught Detective, pushing him in the shoulder, backing him away from the accident.
"Yes! I was on the phone with her when I heard the crash so I called dispatch and got a twenty on the most recent accident. I heard your sirens on the phone in the background which confirmed that it was a M.V.A so I got down here as fast as I could." The Detective told the Lieutenant.
"Ok.. Ok. Well Dawson is in the vehicle so let me make contact with her; candidate report on the victim?" he asked as he spoke into the radio coming over his shoulder.
"Just got ringers lactate started, but she is currently unconscious and stable for now." Dawson reported, with a hint of urgency in her voice.
"See? We have her out in no time. Now, I need you to stay back here and let me do my job, ok?"
Jay nodded his head as he took a deep breath in and leaned back up against a fire truck, closing his eyes and resting his head. And with that the Lieutenant ran back over to the organized chaos.
"Alright, how's it looking?" he asked no one in particular over the sound of the Jaws of Life crushing metal, as he threw his gloves back on.
"We need to get her out, it's likely she has a head injury and probable internal bleeding, also her vitals are dangerously low." Brett reported.
"We have gotten five of the six beams of the roof broken, as soon as we cut the last one we are good to go. Are we sure it's Erin in there?" Severide asked.
"99% sure. Her boyfri- partner just arrived on scene, explained, implied, and confirmed."
"Lets get this moving a little faster!" Kelly yelled over the commotion.
"Severide, I know that you and Erin have a past, but that's that, the past. Now is definitely not the time to have a pissing match to show who is the better man with the bigger set of balls."
"I know, I just-"
"Alright! Severide, Casey, we're good to go!" Cruz yelled as he shut the lifesaving machinery off.
"Alright men, let's move!"
They all went to the sides where they were directed to earlier, and proceeded to lift the roof off the car, placing it on the ground.
"Ok, I need the backboard and someone's help." Dawson directed to no one in particular, as they uncovered her and Erin from the fabric sheeting that was protecting them from the flying sparks as they cut the steel covering above them. Casey handed her the backboard as he jumped into the car. "Ok, Casey, I need you to keep her head stable, Severide,' she spoke to the man behind her "I need you to keep a hold on her feet, I will watch her abdomen as we move the board behind her, she may have a spinal injury due to MOI. Let's get her boarded and stabilized, we do not need to take any chances of causing more injuries. On three we will move." she finished as she handed the IV line and a bag of ringers and lidocaine to Capp. Dawson then counted to three, and they moved in sync to get her onto the backboard, strapping her in, and slowly moving her out of the car and onto the waiting stretcher. Brett and Chilly quickly unfolded the spider straps Sylvie had in her hands, placing and securing them over Erins body to prevent any other unknown injuries.
"Erin.." Jay said as he controlled his emotions, running over, lightly running his hand over her arm.
"We gotta get her to Chicago Med now Halstead, you can ride in the back of the ambo." Dawson told him as they began to wheel her away.
"Wait a second. What was her last set of vitals?" Brett asked as they brought the stretcher to a halt and she moved her stethoscope around Erins chest.
"BP: 80/40 Pulse: 60 and thready; Respiration: 7." Dawson spat out.
"I need a chest tube and O2, I am not getting any breath sounds in the right lung," she told her partner as they reached the waiting ambulance.
Chilly quickly jerked open her jump bag and handed off a ready chest kit.
She quickly cut the fabric of Erin's shirt, and dowsed her right side in antiseptic.
"What are you doing?" Jay asked concerned.
"I am having… to… insert this tube… into her chest… as it seems that we were right about the Hemopneumothorax.." Sylvie explained as she cut a slit just below her breast, before inserting the chest tube.
"What does that m-"
Before Jay could finish, the chest tube worked and was inserted properly, causing blood and air to come out of the small plastic tube, staining the pavement below.
"It means that her lung has collapsed and that there was blood as well as air in said lung." Dawson explained, as they loaded her into the ambulance and hooked her up to the EKG.
"I thought you said she was ok Gabby!?" Jay shouted in her face.
"Hey! Listen, we need to get going NOW." Brett said, grabbing their attention, breaking up the brewing argument.
Jay quickly understood, jumping into the back with Brett and shut the doors. Chilly and Dawson hopped into the cab.
They were making their way down the dark streets of Chicago, Brett reporting into the Chicago Med ER on their incoming trauma, Jay sitting next to Erin holding her bloodstain hand.
"Please don't die. I don't know what I would do without you." He told the unconscious woman before bringing her hand up to his lips, but just as fast as the romantic moment began it ended.
"Starting chest compressions! She's coding!" he heard the paramedic yell over the continuous beep ringing in his ears.
"We are a little over five away from Chicago!" Chilly yelled from the front. "Do I need to pull over?"
"NO! If you pull over. She won't make it." Brett instructed as she pressed her hands rhythmically against Erins lifeless chest. One Hundred compressions a minute.
Jay sat there, feeling helpless as he watched before his eyes the love of his life dying, a stray tear streaming down his cheek.
"Pull it together Detective!' he heard Brett yell at him 'I need your help."
"I… I don't know what I could do, if anything."
"You can and you will." She told him in confidence. At that moment, he could hear Erin's voice in the back of his head, busting his balls if she could see him right now. And with that he pulled it together, because he would do anything to hear that raspy voice and see those emerald green eyes again.
"What do you need from me?"
"I need you to do compressions while I get the AED and ventilate, got it?"
He quickly stood, taking over compressions. No more than thirty seconds later, the AED was charged and ready.
"Charged. Ready. Stop Compressions. Clear!" Brett commanded as the machine shocked Erin's body.
"No Change. Begin Compressions." She said pressing the button to recharge the device and began carefully inserting a ventilation tube down Erin's trachea, attaching a bag to the end, as the back doors flew open.
"Charged. Ready. Stop Compressions. Clear!" she commanded once more, as she clasped the bag, the oxygen filling Erin's lungs.
"No Change. Begin Compressions." She said again as she went out the side door, working her way around Jay, Chilly coming to take over bagging Erin.
"Jay stop compressions as we get her out, then hop onto the bar before beginning compressions again." She told the detective before her, as she unlocked the stretcher.
He did as he was told, and immediately began pressing against her chest as they were wheeled into the Emergency Room.
"Thirty year old female, non-restrained victim in a car accident. Car rolled approximately five time before coming to a stop on its wheels. Extrication took forty minutes. She was found at a 145 degree angle on the floor board. She was Lethargic, responding to Painful Sternal Stimuli. Left Pupil is blown and dilated, the right is fixed and dilated. Possible Depressed Skull Fracture to the Parietal Lobe. Pink fluid is present in the auditory canal. Glasgow was three. We applied pressure and gauze to the Right Posterior Tibial Artery, it was bleeding profusely. Probable broken Radius. Definite Hemopneumothorax we inserted a chest tube in the field, and cleared the obstruction. Abdomen is ridged. She has been coding for approximately five minutes, we bagged her on the way in." Brett told the people moving around them as they wheeled them into a trauma bay.
"Ok, lets get a crash cart in here!" Jay heard a familiar voice directing orders as the tool box with the lifesaving device on top was wheeled into the bay. "Ok, let's clear the area, charge to 300. Stop compressions. Clear!" he shouted as everyone removed their hands from Erin's body.
"We have a pulse!"