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pix1234 · 24 days

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The Golden Hour Part: 1

POV story about a teacher, who has been critically injured after being hit by a car outside of the school he works at.

At the end of the day…

2:59pm

The students were restless in their seats as they awaited the final bell to signify the end of the school day. I fixed my tie, put on a reflective vest, grabbed the hand held ‘STOP’ sign from the bottom drawer of my desk and let the students go 1 minute before the bell rang so that I could get outside quickly to complete my monthly obligation as cross-guard. Once dismissed, the relieved students rushed out of the classroom, I calmly walked out behind them, through the school hallway and out the front doors taking my place at the corner of Brock Road. and Union Street, a busy intersection where a student had been hit by a vehicle years earlier, thus instituting the role of cross-guard to the school.

The sun sat low in the sky, it was a very bright but windy day. I put on my sun glasses on as I stood in the middle of the crosswalk with cold ears, ‘STOP’ sign in hand. I was wearing formal attire, white dress shirt and royal blue tie with grey pants and a belt, I remember thinking, “I should have put my jacket on”, I didn’t expect it to be so windy outside.

3:05pm

When I hit the ground, I blinked my eyes and my first thought was “I’m alive”. I understood right away that I just got hit by a car. I didn’t know who’s fault it was, I didn’t care, I was just trying to comprehend how badly I was hurt.

On my back, I tried to sit up and collect myself but as I jerked my body up I realized I was injured too badly stand.

3:06pm

Stacy, a student from the school emerged from the passenger side door of the car that hit me, her mother from the drivers side. Both were immediately hysterical and ran to my side to check if I was okay. Their energy was frantic, Stacy’s mother said the low sun blinded her as she was making the turn. I didn’t care about any of that in the moment. I started to feel intense pressure in my chest right away, I tried to speak to the woman who had just hit me but had great difficulty getting the words out, I knew something was seriously wrong. All I could say was “call 911” as I choked on my words in the middle of the road.

3:07pm

I laid there disoriented, Steven (another teacher) and Colleen (the Principal) kneeled by my side and tried to talk to me. They were asking me where I was hurt, I knew my chest hurt badly right away but I was starting to feel pain in other areas as well. I was able to tell Steven “my chest hurts a lot”.

I was feeling more panicked with each passing second, tears started coming from my eyes. I did everything I could to hold them back but I couldn’t, I started to cry as I waited for paramedics to arrive.

3:08pm

It was hurting my chest to cry but I still couldn’t stop. The woman who had hit me and her daughter were in hysterics as well, my anxiety and terror were escalating with every passing moment. I could hear the sirens in the distance getting louder and louder. I felt some relief knowing that help was close. I stared up at Steven and Colleen “the ambulance is here buddy, it’s going to be okay” Colleen reassured me as the blaring sirens stopped. I could hear the ambulance doors open and shut, the footsteps of the paramedics approaching.

3:09pm

“Can someone tell me what’s happened here?” a paramedic asked as she approached the scene.

“The car took his legs out and he went into the windshield” my boss, Colleen replied.

“Did you see it?” The paramedic asked as she kneeled by my head.

“I saw it from a few feet away, he didn’t see the car coming” Colleen answered, “he hit the windshield hard, then he hit the road hard.”

“He’s been complaining about his chest” Steven added as a 2nd paramedic arrived on scene and crouched down beside me.

“Sir, my name is Robert, I’m a paramedic, this is my partner Isabelle” the 2nd medic spoke, “can you tell me your name?”

“It’s John” I was replied with a very laboured voice.

“Can you tell me where it hurts?” Asked Robert as Isabelle shined a pen light into my eyes, checking pupils.

“Everywhere, my chest, my stomach,” I answered “it’s hard to breathe”

3:10pm

“We’re going to get your neck and spine secured, John” Isabelle explained, she warned me not to move my head an inch as I could paralyze myself if I had a neck or spinal injury. She held my head still while Steve cut my tie off with scissors and put a neck brace on me.

“We’re going to try to get you out of here as quickly as we can” Steve reassured me.

The neck brace was very tight, it instantly made breathing more difficult but I knew I was in a very dangerous situation and did everything in my power to obey orders and lay still while the medics worked. I tried to maintain my composure.

3:11pm

The students were crowded around, watching on as the paramedics worked to stabilize me on the road. I was normally in such control at the school and now had no control over anything. Robert used scissors to cut up the middle of my shirt, exposing my chest and abdomen, Isabelle used her stethoscope to listen to my heart and lungs and quickly realized there was a serious issue. “Really weak breath sounds on both sides” she explained to her partner. Hearing the paramedics begin to discuss my injuries and condition was making me feel even more panicked. I had no medical knowledge but I could feel that things were critical as breathing became harder and harder.

3:12pm

I could hear the voice of the woman who hit me ask, “is he going to live?” More words to add to my terror. Isabelle cut up the sleeves of my blazer and poked my forearm with a needle trying to insert an I.V line.

“Can I get you to hold this for me?” Isabelle called out to Colleen, holding out the I.V bag

“Of course” Colleen replied as she took the bag from paramedic

“Just hold it so the fluid flows downward, toward him”, instructed Isabelle

Colleen stood to my left, directly in my field of view as I looked skyward from the road. I was grateful that she cared enough to help but felt embarrassed to be in such a vulnerable position in front of her. She took control of the situation and encouraged the woman who hit me and her daughter to back up. “Let the paramedics help him” she requested.

3:13pm Robert examined my chest with his hands, pressing against my ribs and sternum, and listening with his stethoscope, “He’s got a tension pneumothorax on both sides”, he called out to Isabelle. I processed his words but didn’t understand what what they meant. He asked me to take a deep breath, that simple task had now become a challenge. I was suffocating slowly and going into shock.

He grabbed his scissors and rushed to cut my pants off, continuing to search my body for injuries. As someone who’s always been quite shy and introverted, it caused even more anxiety feeling myself being undressed in such a public environment. He cut up each pant leg, leaving me in just my boxer shorts.

3:14pm

Robert immediately began to examine my hips. The instant he pressed down on my bones, I felt extreme pain.

“Stop!” I cried out desperately, “Stop!”

“I think we’re dealing with pelvic trauma as well, should we get him into the ambulance?” Robert asked Isabelle

“No, I don’t want to risk moving him like this” she replied, “just get the rest of his clothes off, we have to work here”

He quickly cut off my underwear, then pulled off my shoes and socks leaving me totally naked on the pavement. Having always been very conservative, my first instinct was to put my hands over my crotch to hide myself from the bystanders. Even in the middle of a medical emergency, it was a shock to be undressed in the street so abruptly. Robert grabbed my wrists in protest, “You cannot move John, I know this isn’t comfortable, we’re all here to help you”. I reluctantly allowed him to place my hands by my sides and continue to examine my injured pelvis. I have never felt so helpless in my life, it was awful to not have a choice over anything that was happening to me and to make things worse, I was looking up at Colleen who was still standing above me, holding the I.V bag.

Sensing my discomfort and understanding the dynamic of the situation, Colleen looked away during the pelvic exam. “Can we put a blanket on him?” She asked Robert on my behalf.

“We need to stabilize him first m’am” Robert replied without interrupting his exam, “You need to help us help you right now John”

3:15pm

My breaths were becoming shallow and more rapid. It was tremendously painful as he performed the pelvic exam, “he’s got a lot of pelvic swelling, he could be bleeding internally as well” Robert reported to Isabelle.

With Robert tending to my pelvic trauma, Isabelle explained to me that there was air trapped in my chest cavity and they were going to have to insert 2 needles on either side of my chest to let the air exit before I stopped breathing entirely. I felt the panic grow in my stomach as I processed the information she was giving me, it was hard to be so submissive but understood this was my only chance at survival. I struggled to stay still on the cold road as Robert attached leads to my chest and started a heart monitor. Isabelle cleaned the sites on my chest where they were about to insert the needles with alcohol.

3:16pm

Tears trickled down the side of my face, I could hear the mixed sounds of heat monitor beeps and more sirens approaching as I felt the sharp pain of the first needle enter the left side of my chest, and seconds later, the same dagger like pain in the right side of my chest. I cried out in pain when they first inserted the needles but within seconds the pressure in my chest began to decrease, “The tension is being relieved” Robert said as he listened to my chest with his stethoscope, “I can hear the air exiting”.

The air was escaping, but there was still a lot of pressure, blood had built up in my chest and was putting stress on my heart and lungs.

3:17pm

“Do you want help with the patient or crowd control?” A loud voice said approaching.

“We need hands” Isabelle replied.

“We need help with the patient officer” Robert calmly called out to the police office who has just arrived

The police officer kneeled at my feet as Robert and Isabelle continued to assess the chest decompression.

“Pedestrian hit, we just decompressed his chest, lungs are collapsed on both sides. I’m concerned about his C-Spine, let’s make sure we don’t move him at all while we work” Robert explained to the officer.

With my chest decompressed, the medic turned their focus to my potential internal bleed. Isabelle pressed down on my abdomen, “does this hurt John?” She asked. “Yes, stop” I was able to respond. She continued pressing down, checking for internal injuries, she palpated down to my pelvis and didn’t even have to ask again, “please stop!” I cried out, “it hurts a lot”.

“John we’re going to put a pelvic binder around your waist” Isabelle explained to me “that’s going to help control any internal bleeding until we get to hospital”

“Cover my waist please?” I desperately requested, understanding that I was naked in front of everyone.

“That’s not important John,” she answered, “you’re very sick right now, no one is looking at that”

I don’t think she comprehended how much stress and anxiety being exposed added for me. I was naked as the day I was born while Robert and Isabelle worked together to apply the belt-like pelvic binder around my waist.

3:18pm

Isabelle tightened the pelvic binder while Robert continued his exam down my legs and feet, checking thoroughly for injuries. I was trying to stay still but it wasn’t easy, I was feeling more and more overwhelmed with each passing minute. “Can you wiggle your toes for me John?” He asked. I struggled to do as I was instructed as my heart rate continued to rise. I was able to wiggle the toes on my left foot but not my right foot. “Can you wiggle your toes on this right foot John?” Robert asked again. “I am” I struggled to respond. I thought I was moving both feet but in fact, I was moving just my left which increased the worry that I had a spinal injury.

“Let’s roll him, get a clear look at his spine and get a board under him” Robert then instructed Isabelle and the officer.

3:19pm

Robert, Isabelle and the police officer worked together to carefully roll me on my side without moving my neck or spine. Robert thoroughly examined down my spinal cord while Isabelle and the officer kept me in position on my side. Up until then, I had been looking up at the paramedics, when they rolled me on my side, it was the first time that I saw the crowd watching with my own eyes. I understood that people were there but I didn’t realize just how many and how close they were. The other police officer had stopped traffic at the intersection, there were students, their parents and colleagues of mine just several feet away curiously looking on as the paramedics frantically tried to stabilize me.

After inspecting my spine, the medics slid a hard spinal board underneath me and laid me down flat onto it. They quickly taped my head and neck still to the board, strapped my wrists by my sides and my ankles to the foot of the spinal board.

3:20pm

Now restrained on the board, I was cold and trembling, “His heart rate is over 200,” Isabelle notified the other rescuers, “I can hear that he has fluid in his chest” she explained as she listened again with the stethoscope.

“Hang in there John, slow, deep breaths” Robert said looking down at me.

“We need to move” Isabelle added as I shook more aggressively.

They medics fastened 2 more straps across my chest and abdomen, immobilizing me completely on the spinal board.

“Can we have someone to help lift him?” Robert asked Colleen. She called for Steven, who quickly stepped forward. Steve, Isabelle, Robert and the officer grabbed a corner of the spinal board each and lifted me onto a gurney with wheels. Colleen continued to hold the I.V bag as she stood alongside them.

3:23pm

I was trying to slow my breathing down but couldn’t, I was petrified as they began wheeling me towards the waiting ambulance. The paramedics managed to get the air out of my chest but the fluid that built up was still making breathing extremely difficult. I was in a neck brace with my head taped down to the spinal board, staring up at the blue sky not knowing if I would survive the drive to hospital. I could see the bystanders watching out of the corners of my eyes. Even in a true life or death moment, I felt mortified that I was completely naked in front of so many people. My natural instinct was to try to hide my genitals with my hands again but was unable to because my wrists were strapped to the board.

“Get away from the back of the ambulance” demanded the police officer as onlookers curiously crowded the path to the ambulance.

“Back up! Back up!” Colleen added as they approached the back of the truck with me on the gurney

3:24pm

I could hear the ambulance doors open behind me. On the count of 3, the medics lifted the gurney up and slid me in. As they loaded me into the ambulance, I caught another glimpse of the audience watching the rescue. Robert, Isabelle and the police officer jumped into the back with me. Colleen requested to join but was instructed to ride in the front of the ambulance with the driver. I was relieved when the ambulance doors finally closed and I was out of sight.

3:25pm

They turned the sirens on as we began the journey to the trauma center. Isabelle was sitting at my head, Robert was on my left and the police officer was at my feet. Isabelle removed the oxygen mask from my face and began helping me breathe with an ambubag, “let’s work together John, try to breathe at my my pace” she instructed.

Robert prepared the ultrasound. “John, I need you to try to be calm for me. We have a bit of a drive to hospital, we’re going to take a look at your chest and belly with an ultrasound.” He immediately squirted the ultrasound gel onto my sternum and began scanning for signs of trauma. “He definitely has fluid in his chest”. I didn’t know exactly what that meant but I knew I was in grave danger.

To be continued...

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