Miracles We Have Seen by Harley Rotbart

Author:Harley Rotbart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: America’s;leading;physicians;share;stories;forget;miracles;miracle
Publisher: Health Communications, Inc.
Published: 2016-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

Date of Event: Labor Day 2011

Shredded

Valerie Pruitt, MD

It was Labor Day weekend and a perfect day for enjoying the lakes of the Midwest. At the time, BobbieJo was a ten-year-old girl riding on a pontoon boat with her sister, dad, and uncle. Wearing her life vest, she was watching the water at the front of the boat when the boat decelerated and she was thrown overboard. She went under the boat and was ensnared in the boat propeller. Reacting quickly, her father immediately shut off the engine and raised the propeller, but his little girl was still submerged and he knew every second counted. He got his knife and cut her clothing loose from the propeller blades and dragged her back into the boat. They called 911 from the boat, and then sped to the nearest dock where they met the ambulance. She was transported to a local hospital where she was put on a breathing machine, because of a significant lung injury, and given a blood transfusion. Arrangements were then made to urgently airlift her to our facility, the nearest one with trauma care.

I was the trauma surgeon on call that evening and quickly examined her in the trauma bay of the emergency room. Her injuries were devastating. She was literally shredded, with multiple deep cuts from the propeller on her chest, chin, arm and leg. The worst slices were on her chest, where eight ribs were cut in half and her lung was protruding out of her chest. Her lung had collapsed, and we detected bleeding in her liver and a small cut on her diaphragm (the breathing muscle between the chest and the abdomen). It was evident that if she was to have any chance at all, she needed to go to the operating room immediately. In this first of what would ultimately be many surgeries, I put her lung back into her chest and repaired her ribs. I determined her liver and diaphragm would heal on their own and not require repair. I cleansed the cuts and tears as carefully as I could, but I remained very concerned that the potential for infection from the dirty lake water and propeller blades was very high.

After coming out of the operating room, I went to update her family, who had all arrived by that time. Her mother had not been on the boat but had been summoned from a leisurely Saturday to get to the hospital. She was overwhelmed with worry and fear for her daughter’s life. Her father was still shaking from the tragic events of the accident. I carefully, and as gently as I could, explained BobbieJo’s many injuries, what I had done in the operating room, and the upcoming need for many more surgeries. I tried to realistically assess for them BobbieJo’s chances for survival and recovery. The picture was not rosy, no matter how much I tried to leave them with hope.

I am a general trauma surgeon trained to provide acute and urgent care for children and adults, but the hospital we were in was not a pediatric hospital.

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