Many would think, medical professionals included, that it would be difficult for anyone to survive when faced with a list of injuries that I was forced to endure. The paramedic that attended the near fatal car collision, with the van that was on the wrong side of the road that I was desperately trying to avoid, commented at the time when I was being cut out of what remained of my vehicle, that I had a 5% chance of survival.
Such a slim glimmer of hope for continuing life faced me on a daily basis from that fateful moment in 2010. Thinking back on it now, I am astounded that I was able to survive at all. One of my orthopaedic trauma surgeon professors stated that with one, just one, of my particular injuries that I sustained, I had a 50% chance of survival without any other trauma. Only 50% reduced to 5%. I like to think of it as a 20 sided dice and your survival depended on it landing on the correct side, every other side results in death. In my case, the dice was rolled and I was incredibly lucky.
"During that life pausing moment, I suffered many traumatic fractures .."
Trying to put everything into a timescale to establish some sort of perspective, the impact (collision) occurred at 17:45pm. During that life pausing moment, I suffered many traumatic fractures, my lungs had collapsed under my fractured sternum and I began to bleed profusely. The ambulance and paramedics arrived on scene at 18:05pm. I have little idea at the time of the ambulance crew arrival but let us assume they attended at the same time.
Cutting me out of my twisted wreck of a car could have conservatively taken anywhere between 5 to 10 minutes. During this time I know that the Air Ambulance was called as it landed in a nearby field. It must now be approximately 18:15pm. Whether or not the paramedic was able to access my ragdoll body during this to help ascertain my immediate life-threatening injuries, stabilise me for transport and stem some of my pooling blood is also a mystery. Transferal via a stretcher to the helicopter would have been somewhere in the region of 2 to 4 minutes including strapping me in to limit excessive motion turbulence.
Transferal to the hospital emergency landing pad from the collision site, direct flight time, would have been in the region of 15 to 20 minutes. I was told that I had, overall, lost 8 pints of blood from the moment of collision to emergency operating theatre which doesn't include the IV transfusions that must have taken place during my transport. So, in all, with life threatening injuries, difficulties with breathing and loss of blood across the course of 45 minutes ... how did I survive?
My apologies if I appear to ramble on, let me resume my story. The following list of trauma that I had to persevere after the van collided with my car did nothing but shock and dismay me:
1) Loss of 8 pints
2) Fractured skull as my head hit the dashboard
3) Hairline fracture to one of my spine vertebrae as I was viciously twisted from the impact
4) Fractured sternum, as I collided with the steering column when I sheared it from its mounting, and;
5) Broken ribs numbers 1, 2 and 7 which resulted in;
6) Collapsed lungs
7) Bruised heart
8) Fractured left collarbone
9) Lacerated spleen
10) Lacerated kidney
11) Torn small intestine in several places
12) Smashed left elbow
13) Left arm radial nerve damage due to impact
14) Broken left femur when the impact wrenched me in my seat
15) Smashed left patella (knee)
16) Fractured right tibula
17) Fractured right fibula in two places
18) Fractured ankle
After I was told the complete list, despite the fact I could not speak, I found it incredulous.
However, I digress. My wife then began to tell me the back story from the collision moment to that point as the drug induced coma I was under for a month and a half had, for that time, blocked my memory. I will try to convey it as best I can.
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