The Risk of Life

A little girl comes in from being shot by a rifle at the playground, we get her into the room. 

The bullet didn’t go through luckily or else she would have died.
She's bleeding out we need to act fast

We tell the parents about the risk of anesthesia for surgery

If we don't use it, it's a 50/50 on her survival

If we do she could go into a coma and never wake up 

They tell me to make the choice 

I take the risk and say no anesthesia 

We get started.

We hook her up to the heart monitor and give her an iv.

    Beep, pause, pause, beep, pause, pause, pause, beep.

I’m losing her, take a breath, and do your job I repeat over and over in my head. 

    Pause, pause, pause, beep, pause, pause, pause, pause,

No heartbeat, the noise of the heart monitor flat lining blares in everyone's ears, 

her body starts shaking and then it stops.

    Pause, pause, pause, pause, pause, pause, pause, beep

She's back we have her back, I continue pulling out bullet fragments

She’s groaning and is being held down by her parents

    Pause, beep, pause, beep, pause, beep, pause, beep, pause, beep 

Her heart rate is getting up to speed.

One more bullet fragment, this one is deep.

Shes screaming my tweezers are deep in her torso trying to grab it.

   Beep, pause pause, beep, pause pause, beep

I get the fragment and stitch up her wound.

We saved another one 

Beep, pause pause, beep, pause pause, beep