Chapter 201: Electrocution is painful
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
What was pulmonary resuscitation? To explain simply, you would need to establish a cycle and restart the heart which had temporarily stopped so that blood could be delivered to the entire body again. The vital organs, especially the heart and kidney, would be highly sensitive to lack of blood and oxygen. If an effective cycle couldn’t be established fast enough, even if the patient’s life was saved, there would be many severe aftereffects.
“Shao Hua, hurry and find the person who’s in charge here. Have them think of a method to contact the hospital,” Zhang Fan told Shao Hua when she ran over to his side. Although this was winter, Zhang Fan was already beginning to sweat all over from his physical exertion in the ice and snow.
“Alright.” Shao Hua then immediately started running off towards the crowd of people which was beginning to rush over. “Hurry and contact the hospital! Your employee was electrocuted!” Shao Hua shouted towards the people who were rushing over.
“Bayan!” The employees of this ski place were all from the same tribe. Many of them were relatives with each other. That was why many of them started gathering here.
“Don’t get too close. Please spread out. We’re currently in the process of saving him,” Li Liang hurriedly told the people who were surrounding them.
The group of people kept talking about all sorts of things. “This is bad! Bayan won’t make it! We can’t let the boss run away!”
“We should immediately notify Bayan’s father!”
The boss of the ski place was also running over here in the distance. He was so scared by the sight of Bayan on the ground and Bayan’s wife who was crying next to him that his face went incredibly pale. Even his words were almost a stutter. “What! What happened here?”
“He was electrocuted. You should immediately call for an ambulance,” Shao Hua hurriedly explained.
“There’s no cell phone signal here. We’ll have to get off the mountain first,” the boss said with a bitter taste in his mouth. Back when he had established this ski place, he had intentionally chosen this remote location with no cell phone signal in order to avoid government inspections. However, there had been no such incident so far. The boss really regretted things so much that he wanted to smash his own chest!
“Find a car! Find a truck and place the patient in the truck bed. We’ll work on saving him while taking him to the hospital. Wang Yanan, you take my car first and drive down the mountain. Immediately contact the hospital as soon as you have a cell phone signal. Do you think you can handle driving my car?” Zhang Fan asked Wang Yanan.
“Rest assured, it’s no problem,” Wang Yanan confirmed.
When the boss heard this, he hurriedly had his employees drive over the large truck belonging to the ski place. The chest compressions absolutely couldn’t be stopped during the entire process. Everyone worked together to place the patient on a wooden board and lift him up onto the truck bed. Zhang Fan, Li Liang, and several muscular men took turns giving the patient chest compressions in the truck bed.
For emergency treatment, how would you determine the chest compressions? This would be quite simple. First, you needed to check whether the patient still had a heartbeat or not. This could be done by touching the major arteries to sense for a pulse. If you didn’t know where the major arteries were, then the simplest way would be to lift up the patient’s shirt and place your ear against the patient’s heart to listen if there was a heartbeat or not.
You would also need to ensure that the respiratory tract was kept clear. The best place to press on would be along the sternum. As for the specific location if you didn’t know what the sternum was? For men, press in between the breasts, slightly to the left. This would be the fastest way of finding the correct location if you didn’t have professional knowledge.
The most effective chest compressions would require force that made the breastbones sink four to five centimeters. The best speed would need to reach 100 times per minute. Additionally, the patient would require constant artificial respiration while receiving chest compressions.
What counted as the chest compressions being effective? Touch the patient’s arteries and try sensing for a pulse. If the chest compressions were effective, the pulse would be restored.
The winter wind was frigid in the border province. It would be quite easy for the temperature to reach below -30 degrees Celsius here. At such a temperature, even the water particles in the air would be frozen. The wind would be especially dry and cold. Due to the speed of the truck, the winter wind felt like knives cutting across Zhang Fan and the other men’s faces and hands. In just a few minutes, the parts of their skin which didn’t have any covering no longer felt like their own.
Luckily, there were many people around to help out. Zhang Fan directed them on the proper way to perform chest compressions as they all took tuns. Bayan was covered warmly all over. In such an environment, not ensuring the patient’s warmth would often cause frostbite in a short time. The patient’s body would already be in bad condition due to the electrocution. If severe frostbite also occurred, the patient would likely then require amputation of several limbs.
Bayan’s wife kneeled in the corner of the truck bed. She seemed just like a lost lamb. She was anxious, afraid, and worried as she looked at her husband. Her tears constantly flowed down her face. She was afraid, incredibly afraid. She bit her sleeve, not daring to cry out loud. Their child was only three years old. If her husband Bayan really passed away here, she didn’t even dare to imagine what she would do in the future.
“Divine Buddha up in the heavens! I’m willing to exchange half of my lifespan in order to have Bayan recover!” The helpless wife could only pray like so as she watched the men constantly give her husband chest compressions.
Wang Yanan drove ahead of the big truck. Since she was driving Zhang Fan’s four-wheel drive SUV, her speed was much faster in the snow. Shao Hua and Jia Suyue rode with her and constantly tried their cell phones in the backseat.
“There’s a signal now!” Shao Hua said, delighted.
“We need an ambulance! We’re in Wumutai Village. There’s an electrocution patient here who needs saving. We’re almost out of the mountain district now!” Shao Hua hurriedly explained the situation.
“Give me your cell phone and let me explain things.” As Wang Yanan was a doctor, she had better professional knowledge on how to swiftly arrange things with the hospital. “I am Wang Yanan from the orthopedic surgery department of Chasu City Hospital. We’re almost about to reach the provincial highway. Have an ambulance wait for us at the provincial highway exit leading to Wumutai Village.”
Wang Yanan turned on the car’s flashers and led the way. The truck following after increased its speed.
Finally, everyone could see purple flashing sirens. The ambulance’s emergency treatment personnel were already waiting outside the ambulance. When seeing this, the emotional Jia Suyue immediately had tears begin to flow down from her eyes. “He can finally be saved! They’re here! They’re here!”
Wang Yanan parked the car and hurriedly jumped off to tell the emergency doctor Little Li, “Stretcher! Zhang Fan has constantly been giving chest compressions to the electrocution victim. The patient can probably still be saved.”
All of the muscular men were exhausted by now after taking turns giving chest compressions for more than 20 minutes. If it hadn’t been for the fact that there were many people to help out, along with a skilled doctor on the scene, the patient Bayan definitely would have died today.
“It’s effective!” Zhang Fan constantly checked the patient’s pulse. Everyone opened up the truck bed as the muscular men carried the wooden board with the patient. Zhang Fan still continued to give chest compressions. Although the patient had a pulse, chest compressions would still be necessary.
In the ambulance, Little Li took over and continued working on chest compressions. Zhang Fan’s hands were frozen numb, so he put his hands under his armpits to warm them. Back when he was fully tense, he hadn’t felt anything, but now that he was able to rest slightly, he suddenly felt how frozen and numb his hands and ears were.
The emergency treatment still didn’t count as a success quite yet. Although Zhang Fan was warming his hands, he still needed to move his mouth as he was the first doctor on the scene, which meant he would know best how to treat this patient. “Administer one mg of epinephrine and 40U vasopressin. Give him a simple respirator. Open up both sides’ vein channels and inject atropine, calcium chloride, and sodium bicarbonate.” Although it was rather narrow inside the ambulance, the emergency doctor and nurse were accustomed to having to treat patients in severe condition. Their movements were incredibly swift as they followed Zhang Fan’s commands.
Li Liang didn’t get on the ambulance with them, as there wasn’t enough space. Not to mention, he would no longer be needed. He got on Zhang Fan’s car. Shao Hua also burst into tears upon seeing Li Liang’s condition.
Over the past 20+ minutes of trying to save the patient, Li Liang had been subjected to such cold that his lips were turning purple. He had sweated a lot during the emergency treatment, but the cold wind only made him feel even colder through his soaked jacket. He kept trembling as he held on to a cup of hot water as he took off his shoes. He really wanted to stuff his feet into his mouth with how cold they were. Wang Yanan turned the heating in the car up to the maximum. A few minute later, water started pouring out from Li Liang’s ears. This was a sign that they had suffered a frost injury.
“It’s so cold! My hands and feet don’t feel like they belong to me anymore!” Li Liang said while shivering and sipping hot water.
Shao Hua knew that Zhang Fan was in the same condition as Li Liang. She felt really bad for Zhang Fan as she nervously squeezed her own hands, pressing her nails into her skin. Zhang Fan had to go save a patient even with himself in such a condition. This was responsibility. This was a doctor’s responsibility. Shao Hua felt like her heart was bleeding blood as she looked at the ambulance drive off in the distance. She regretted, really regretted having Zhang Fan come ski with her. She felt bad for her lover.
“Doctor Zhang, a self-sufficient cycle has been established! The blood pressure is also rising!” said the nurse on the ambulance.
Zhang Fan was finally able to heave a sigh of relief. “Directly take this patient to the ICU. The treatment afterwards will still be rather troublesome.” The patient’s life was no longer in danger. Zhang Fan finally felt the piercing pain in his ears, fingers, and toes. It felt like his extremities were burning!
However, his heart was absolutely delighted while celebrating warmly. He understood how important a young man would be to his family. Not only had Zhang Fan saved a person, he had saved the entire family! Zhang Fan didn’t regret a thing!