I don't know why I started thinking of the famous short film, "Bambi Meets Godzilla" while on-call last night. I was just finishing up a couple of other consults in the Emergency Department when I was told by one of my colleagues that Mercy Flight was bringing in "deer vs motorcycle." It's usually not a good thing for either party involved. And the same held true for this unfortunate patient. He had a broken arm and a nearly amputated leg. The arm is fixable; the leg, not so much. He had to go straight to the OR last night for a completion amputation.
We get a lot of motorcycle vs. deer accidents. When I was in Minnesota I had a week on trauma call where it seemed we were seeing one to two a day. I was convinced there was a rampant herd of deer jumping out on unsuspecting motorcyclists at every turn. You know, kinda getting even for the hunting season.
Last night, though, as I held what was left of this gentleman's leg hoping against all practical hope that there was anything left to salvage of his lower leg, for some reason the short film came to mind. Maybe because of the humor behind the utter senselessness of how Bambi meets Godzilla. Maybe I needed that to help myself continue to help my patient as he went through a series of raw emotions after being told that he would be losing his leg. I don't know...
He was doing fine this morning. He went for his arm surgery today to try to put it back together again. I will find out tomorrow morning how he's doing. I guess I can say they do great things with prostheses these days. He'll actually do better functionally in the long run. I don't know if he'll ever ride a motorcycle again, but at least he's alive to ride again.
Here's the film... there was a subsequent, "Bambi's Revenge." Doesn't quite have the impact of the original, but still kinda funny.... I'm back in the hospital tonight. We'll see what tonight brings!
