Hell of a night the other night. I was on duty on the labor and delivery floor here at Navy Hospital Bethesda putting epidurals in the laboring moms when I get a 911 page to home. Hysterical wife with screaming kid in the background. My wife tells me that the daughter (2.5 year old) had goten her hand caught in the door and had some fingers "allmost off"!?!?!?
Well, I tell her to wrap the hand in a towel, grab both kids and come in (considered telling her to call the ambulance, but that would have added some delay to the medivac).
They arrive in the ER shortly after I and pretty scarey sight to see in your own kid. She had somehow pinched her right hand in one of the outside doors as my wife was unloading kids and packages. (I've been messing with the door all morning and I've yet to figure out exactly how!) Her right hand got caught (I know her SHOOTING hand!) and she evulsed digets # 4 & 5 with an 80% partial amputation of #5. The ER docs took one look and immediately called for the hand specialist who was already there as I'd called him earlier (friend of mine). Long story short she gets out of surgery at 0200 with a decent repair. Looks like all fingers were salvageable except for the very tip of #5 wich has a pretty good chance of taking. Cast #1 will be taken off and we'll know then.
Well, we finally get home and the place looks like the last scene from "Carrie." Blood drops all over the carpet. Bloody handprints all over the walls. Blood on the phone. I'm not looking forward to cleanup. Something disturbing about having to deal with your own kid's blood in such amounts. Any ideas on materiels/techniques for cleaning?
Also a few thoughts on the experience:
1). Very hard not to be a Doctor and reliquish that role to my friends no matter how qualified they are. I've put hundreds of 2 year old to sleep, but it was pretty upsetting to watch my own going under. I didn't/couldn't stay for the operation, just the induction of anesthesia. It was hard to stay in the waiting room doing NOTHING!
2). Kids are very resilient. Syd has a plaster cast from hand to armpit and has adapted very well to doing everything one handed. Amazing. Hasn't slowed her down one bit and still gets into the same amount of mischif.
3). Need to train wife in basic first aid.
4). Need not to have white carpet or walls until kids are, oh, say 25 or so.
5). Need a new gun (always need a new gun).
6). Need sleep. On another 24 hr duty tomorrow.
Semper Fi; Zack

Best wishes for a full recovery for your daughter!

Maybe a professional steam cleaning company for the carpet?  I don't know on the walls...  you can paint over, I guess.

I know that there are companies that specialize in cleaning bodily fluid contamination, but I doubt they're cheap....

Alex

Zack, prayers for the kiddie, you and the wife!

Kids are great and recover fast, I had to dig a splinter out of my 6 yo daughters foot last night, and she hardly even whimpered, I was so proud....

OXY clean would probably work, or another enzyme type cleaner. Check with the housekeeping staff at the hospital.

give your girl another hug[:D]

Ask O.J....he should know.

Sgtar15

[url]http://www.crimescenecleaners.com/[/url]



I hope the kids OK!

No clue on the blood.

But best wishes to your daughter on her full recovery.

-Z

I don't know if you want to spend money or DIY , but in the DC area , "ServiceMaster" will do this type of cleanup. Look in the yellow pages

"5). Need a new gun (always need a new gun)."

Always thinking.  I like that.

Best wishes for your little girl.  And good luck on the cleanup.

Call a pro, you will NOT be able to adequately do it yourself.  Seriously, the coroner should know who they use for this type of stuff.  maybe even your insurance company.

I hope your daughter has a full recovery.

Ed

if you can't find oxiclean, just try hydrogen peroxide, you probasbly have some under your bathroom sink. work wonders

Yep. That's what the FD used on our white carpet after my wife had an accident. Works like a charm.

Maybe you need to buy a new gun for "Her" when she is older to remember the occasion. Of course, you will keep it and use it till you are ready to give it to her.

Crikey! What a story! Sure do hope your little one recovers well. I suspect that Mrs. NavyDoc will seek some first aid training of her own accord after this. I remember about 20 years ago one of my nephews fell and hit his head on the front porch step at my sister's house. He was bleeding profusely from the scalp. I was the only one there that had enough sense to put direct pressure on the wound, not remove the blood-soaked dressing and call 911. My sister nad mother just ran around in a panic, "Oh my God! Oh my God!" After the event, my sister took a basic first aid class. By the way, my nephew is now a Corpsman, greenside.

As far as the "Carrie" scene, I agree that the specialists in trauma scene restoration are the ones to contact. Servicemaster cleaned and repaired my Mom's house after a chimney fire, and did a great job. They even came back at no additional charge a couple weeks after the original repairs and restoration to re-do some work that didn't quite match.

Good luck and again, best wishes for a speedy and full recovery of your little girl. I have two young daughters (hellions) myself, and PITA as they may be sometimes, I sure wouldn't want to go through what you did.

Time to call The Wolf.

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Call the Wolf. Winston Wolf.

I wish your daughter a speedy recovery. Wow, what a night. I would recommend scrubbing the blood w/ a basic soap and water mix. I find it gets most of the blood out after afew aplications. Patience will be the key though. I am always able to get the blood out of my clothes after a few washings.

I'd recommend to either get someone who knows what they are doing, or else make certain to test a small area if doing it yourself.

You have to be carful with things like blood. Heat can actually cause changes to occur in the proteins which will make it even harder to remove.

Glad your daughter's OK.

Good luck.

hydrogen peroxide is the only thing i've ever needed. never had to do high volume with it though. cheap and nearly effortless.

Ditto.

Christ, Zack! Prayers inbound from your classmate. I can't imagine what seeing your little one that hurt can be like.

The good news is that kids tend to mend very well. "If the parts are in the same room, they'll heal" is an expression I've heard, but I suppose you know that, already.

Keep us posted, and give the little one lots of kisses and cake. Poor thing doesn't know what the hell is going on, but I guarantee she'll stay away from doorjambs from now on....

WOW HOPE SHE HEALS FAST!

The first thing I noticed was a thread regarding BLOOD,... and the person posting it was,... NavyDOC1...

Another vote for the H2O2.  Do not let it dry though as it gets progressively concentrated and will damage some carpet fibers.  It works on walls too.  

I wish your daughter the best, she's been through a lot.  

Jeesh, some story. Having worked ambulancs service, and later cardio-pulmonary tech on E/R call, I know blood! [:D]  I never hadta clean it up when dry though. Perhaps the hospital maintenence crew could help you out with reccommendations.

Also Doc, just curious here. Do you think you could have done a good job, (within your professional qualifications), on your own daughter, if you had been permitted to???

Hope she's ok, and being spoiled!![snoopy]

Give her a hug for me too!!! (Got a pic??)

Take a pic of her holding up her hand, and post it here for her to see!!!

Thanks for the support. I think I'll give the hydrogen peroxide a try first. Dilute or use straight from the bottle?
I could have given her anesthetic, no problem from the technical aspect, put hundreds of kids under. Emotionally, I wouldn't want to. I can't imagine intubating my own little girl. I'd do it in a pinch, of course. As for the hours long surgery...It really was a case for a specialist. Superficial wounds..no prob. Appendix? Sure, they're easy (wouldn't be pretty, haven't done once since internship ;-) )But this hand needed a orthopoedist with hand specialisation for best chance at functionality. I'm pleased so far with the results. I'll whip out the digital later on and send pics. I'm sure she'll want a momento or to years from now.   Zack

Full strength, doc. Pour it on...

Straight.

Did you tell her NOT to salute the Midshipman Candidates from NAPS? [;)]

Ok...here's some pics:
Syd shows off her cast:
[IMG]http://images.snapfish.com/3378762%3B23232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2324%3D3%3B8%3D96%3B%3Dxroqdf%3E23233%3A6%3C794%3B8ot1lsi[/IMG]
But her foot works fine!
[IMG]http://images.snapfish.com/3378762%3B23232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2324%3D3%3B8%3D96%3B%3Dxroqdf%3E23233%3A6%3C7933%3Aot1lsi[/IMG]
Syd demonstrates how the blood got on daddy's wall:
[IMG]http://images.snapfish.com/3378762%3B23232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot%3E2324%3D3%3B8%3D96%3B%3Dxroqdf%3E23233%3A6%3C79334ot1lsi[/IMG]

edited to add: the date is wrong on the camera, can't get that damned thing FMC!

TimJ. When is your niece starting medschool?

Get well, get well soon. We want you to get well....


[:D]

NavyDoc:

Your little girl looks generally none the worse for wear. Typical kid. Hope the recovery continues well.

You know...I really appreciate all the good vibes from all you people! This board is comprised of many good people. Thanx! It's hot here and the kid is going through some sort of phase where she hates clothes. Darned if I know how she can strip off all her clothes so fast with that damned cast on. It takes my 1/2 hour to get her dressed, especially getting shirts around the cast, I then turn around and a second later she is buck nekkid and grinning ear to ear. Don't mind the nekkid part so much, but she is still not fully potty trained yet! :-O

If the peroxide isn't working--I remember a line from a movie from WAAAAYYYYY back.


Lemon Juice.

[LOL]

Prayers sent for your daughters full recovery.

Hi, this is LS's wife-to-be.

I'm sorry this happened!  How scary.

Anyway, to answer your question, re: blood stains, I have to recommend Kaboom.  Yes, the "As seen on TV" stuff.  I was talking to a coworker earlier today who said her son poured red Gatorade all over the white carpet while she was out of town for three days, and when she returned, her husband had done nothing about it.  Kaboom completely removed a 2-day old Gatorade stain, without a trace.  I can't vouch for it myself, but it sounds like pretty effective stuff.

Good luck and best wishes to your daughter!

Best wishes for the kid.

If I ever have kids and something like that happens I don't know how the hell I'd react. I don't know what evulsed means but if its in the same sentence as amputation I bet it isn't good.

You seem to be taking it in a pretty good manner. Jeez, man I hope everything comes out okay.

Man........I'll bet she was more scared than anything, but still........

Glad she came out more or less ok, too! Looks like she's already forgotten what happened; I wish I could recover that fast.

last time i had to dispose of a body, i used bleach to clean up the mess

worked good

NavyDoc1, as a father I know how hard it is to see children suffer, especially your own. God bless the little one, she's an angel.[0:)]

Thanks for the concern you guys. "Evulsed" and amputated are VERY closely related. I'm able to deal with this in good spirits because the outcome is looking good so far. You should have seen me before and during her surgery. I was a wreck...very teary eyed. It looked horrible to say the least.
Redbeard...didn't bleach take the color out of everything?!

WOW! I just ran across this thread. I know EXACTLY how NavyDoc1 felt about seeing his own child hurt! My oldest son split his upper lip wide open on a cheap steel stool, split it all the way thru, and when we arrived at the ER they tried putting him in one of those back board things to hold him still. DIDNT work! He broke the damn thing and no-one else there could restrain him so I had to sit over his chest and hold him as still as possible for stitching! Talk about something hard to do!!!!!! I cried as much and as hard as he did! Needless to say that after we got home we BOTH had to take a nap! WHEW!! What an experience that was. I wish her a full and speedy recovery, and as for Dad, You did good doc! PS. smack that door and tell it that it was a bad door for your daughter. She will enjoy that!
Mark

I would say Hydrogen Peroxide. That how I get blood off of my lab coat.

Won't Hydrogen Peroxide bleach out the color in a carpet?

--LS

What color? that carpet is white (unless im wrong, and there are white dyes on carpets).

also... Try oxyclean (i'm serious. The crap has so far never failed me on cleaning any cloth like materials, with the exception of permanent marker, but theres a reason why its called permanent), The stuff is pretty cheap, too.

Who cares its not my carpet.

Call your Security Chief and ask him confidentially, "Hypothetically, how would you get a lot of blood off the carpet?"  

I'ld call the cleaning outfit first.  

Housekeeping doesn't worry too much about the colorfast aspect, they just want to get things looking better and sterile.  If the floor or walls are miscolored, they just repaint, the floors are probably lino aren't they? and the hospital walls are probably a industrial strength paint.