Fire Fighter

Occasionally some fire fighters came to the clinic for treatment. But today, there is a special one, this one was electrocuted almost to death. I have never seen a patient like this before. The incident is about 7 months ago, the high voltage electric shock went through his left arm to the bottom of his feet, and there are electric burn marks in his hands, abdomen and feet, mainly on his feet, he told me he saw sparks through his boots, he was conscious when he was shocked, he thought he is going to die.

I am listening to this 37 year old fire fighter quietly, I am letting him talk. He is very depressed, he is even scared to even look at a fire truck, he just finished his master degree and moving up in his career, then suddenly he fell to the bottom in his life. He is scared, hopeless, in pain, probably has to deal with the pain the rest of his life. He has nightmares every night. He burned all his firefighter books. He wanted to be a chief, and on his way to take the chief exam, now everything is falling apart.

"I am so sorry what had happened to you, is there anything I can help you with?" This is all I can offer, I referred him to psychologist, psychiatrist, neurologist, podiatrist, anything I can think of. I hope I have magic power to help this young guy. But I even can not ease his pain, tingling and numbness. He barely can walk at this point, it takes longer for the internal organ to heal.

I helped him take off his shoes and put on his shoes when I examine him, any slight touch will trigger the pain. He drove to clinic today by himself, he does not want to depend on anyone, but I saw him wobbling when he left the office.

I shared some of my patient's story with him, hopefully can give him some courage or hope, it will take long time for him to recover physically and mentally, or he might never recover from this. It is heartbreaking to see this. I am praying for him, hope miracle will happen.