Hippopotamus strikes: A dream come true

Another lazy Sunday no surgery’s unless they are urgent. Just a lot of cleaning and gaze folding. 3 o’clock on the dot and I’m ready to walk out the door. When Alexi wheels in man with a trail of blood behind him.

“Alexi I just cleaned that floor.”

“Oh, sorry”

“What is wrong with him?”

The man in the chair doesn’t look in pain but he blurts out little shout about every 30 seconds. BAOW!

“Hippopotamus.”

“WHAT!!!!!”

I’ve been waiting to see a hippopotamus bite since the day I got here. My dreams are coming true. I throw my bag back on the rack and run to the maternity ward where Danae and Rollin are. I shout through the window as I’m jumping up and down with a huge smile on my face. “We got a hippo bite. We got a hippo bite.” And I sprint back to the bloc.

With all the excitement I’ve neglected my duties as the nurse. As reality sets in and I come to my senses that this is an urgent matter I start racing around.

Vitals. Clothes off. IV in. Fluids going. Antibiotics given. Spinal in. Patient positioned. Site prepped and ready for surgery.

Dang when I’m good, I’m good.

The hippo ripped apart the back of his thigh but surprisingly he isn’t bleeding to much. There are two large wounds. As Danae sutures up one side Rollin takes the other. And in about an hour his leg is back to its original form. Luckily no bones were broken. The tendon and muscle was torn but minor injuries compared to the life he could have lost.

Ending to a good day. Now we just need to keep the site clean and monitor for infection. Probably the hardest part of working in such a dirty hospital.