They all warned me about how fast it could happen. How in one moment just when you thought you were all caught up on drawing labs, flushing lines, taking temperatures, doing assessments and charting it all, that anything and anyone could come barging through the double doors and chaos could erupt.
trauma waits for no one.
trauma waits for no one.
I don't remember the whirlwind of events that unfolded in those two hours that literally felt like a blink of an eye. All I know is one moment I was standing in the center of an empty hospital room preparing for the arrival of a patient and the next I was shoved into a corner and jammed between an IV pole and a med cart. I was trying to take it all in, while reminding myself to breathe as to not end up passed out on the floor.
They said it was a car accident. A bad one. So bad that others had been declared dead on the scene. There was blood. There was shouting. There was lots of movement. 20-some people rushed a stretcher into the room where I was standing. The girl lying on it couldn't have been any older than 12. Everything was being done to ensure her fate wasn't the same as the others.
IVs were started, meds were drawn, pupils were checked, total body assessments were done. I couldn't do much of anything. "What's her name?" I called out. No one heard me. "What's her name?" I said a little louder. I immediately regretted my decision as one of the doc's shot me a nasty look as if to say, "stupid extern". "We don't know her name", someone finally shouted out among the sea of attendings, residents, nurses, x-ray techs, and respiratory therapists that buzzed around the room.
The girl was clearly out of it, but moaned and moved slightly from side to side. I wanted to tell her it was going to be okay. I wanted to be the one voice among many that called out to her and gave her comfort. I wanted to call her by name. But I couldn't. Because no one knew who this girl was. And the only people who did, were no longer alive.
They said it was a car accident. A bad one. So bad that others had been declared dead on the scene. There was blood. There was shouting. There was lots of movement. 20-some people rushed a stretcher into the room where I was standing. The girl lying on it couldn't have been any older than 12. Everything was being done to ensure her fate wasn't the same as the others.
IVs were started, meds were drawn, pupils were checked, total body assessments were done. I couldn't do much of anything. "What's her name?" I called out. No one heard me. "What's her name?" I said a little louder. I immediately regretted my decision as one of the doc's shot me a nasty look as if to say, "stupid extern". "We don't know her name", someone finally shouted out among the sea of attendings, residents, nurses, x-ray techs, and respiratory therapists that buzzed around the room.
The girl was clearly out of it, but moaned and moved slightly from side to side. I wanted to tell her it was going to be okay. I wanted to be the one voice among many that called out to her and gave her comfort. I wanted to call her by name. But I couldn't. Because no one knew who this girl was. And the only people who did, were no longer alive.
It was a whirlwind. It was many things, but a whirlwind for sure. Raw, real, unpredictable, heart pumping-adrenaline-rushing, whirlwind trauma. It waits for no one.
On my drive home I couldn't help but to think about the girl with no name. I can't imagine how scared she must have been. How lonely she must have felt. If I could have only held her hand and whispered in her ear, calling her by name, assuring her it would be okay.
"I call her by name" said the Lord. "I was there calling her by name" He assured me. "Not only do I know her name, but I know everything about her, for I created her. She is my daughter and I call her by name."
A wave of emotions swept over me. How easily I forget that there is One greater than I. One so great, He knows that which is unknown to us. One so great, He calls each and every one of us by name.
The girl with no name has a name. I don't know what it is, but I do know she is the Lords.
And He calls her His own.
"Never again will you be called 'The Forsaken City' or 'The Desolate Land.' Your new name will be 'The City of God's Delight' and 'The Bride of God,' for the LORD delights in you and will claim you as his bride."
Isaiah 62:4
