Only by the grace of God

Yesterday was a busy day in the trauma bay. We had four between 7 and 12 alone. There was one trauma that really stood out to me more than all the others. The patch we received said that it was a 19 y/o female involved in a motor vehicle accident, tractor trailer vs Mitsubishi galant. They said she was merging into traffic and merged directly under the trailer of a truck!! We did not receive much information about the status of the patient except that she was self extricated. She came into the trauma bay in the usual way, on a stretcher on a spine board with a c-collar on so you couldn't really tell how serious her injuries were at first look. Once we got her unloaded and began examining her it became apparent that her only injury was a laceration on her forehead and another on her chin. We took her to CT where it was confirmed that she had ZERO injuries!! While she was being CT'd one of the paramedics on scene showed me the pictures of the accident. The front drivers side of the car was completely caved in. There was no cab anymore. The picture I uploaded in an actual picture from the scene. It doesn't really do it justice though. The pictures the paramedic had looked a lot worse because he was right up on the other side of the truck. According to the driver of the truck the car became stuck under the trailer and was drug a mile before he was able to completely stop. The car had caught on fire as well. Too look at the accident you would never think anyone would come out of that alive let alone unscathed. We were talking to the girl later and found that she was not belted and there were no air bags deployed either. This story was becoming more and more unbelievable. She told us that she saw what was coming and dove over across the front seats trying to make herself as flat as possible. This move is what ended up saving her life. I've seen several car accident victims die in the last four weeks from accidents much more minor than this one. I'm sure she walked away from this with a new appreciation for life. I know I did. I guess it goes to show that it's not your time until it's your time. (Profound I know, haha)