Bloody Good Show

Bloody Good Show

4/30/13

There are many parts of the body that we can live without and it still makes me stand in awe when I think about how God created our bodies to function when certain areas do not work correctly.  However, blood is not one of these organs and parts that we cannot live without.  Blood is vital to our sustainability and if our blood levels diminish too much our entire body feels the effects of this loss.  If an organ is this important for the complete functioning of our bodies then you know that it must be important in God’s eyes as well.

Over the past decades, researchers have gained more evidence of the importance of the blood that flows through our vascular systems.  For a long period of time mankind did not know much about the blood or its functions but since the development of modern instruments, a great deal has been found out about human blood.  We know now that even the slightest drop in the overall amount of blood in our vessels causes our heart to race which promotes the other organs within our body to work out of sync which if left untreated will produce multiple organ failure.  In short, if our blood volume decreases our bodies cannot survive very long and if left in this condition we will die.

This article is going to be a tad difficult for me to write since it is going to deal with a certain aspect of my job that all of us who work in the medical field dread will happen.  No matter what the setting is in the medical field there is always a possibility that some type of situation like this will occur and as you guessed it, this scene played out.  But God reminded me of this incident and told me that there was a purpose in this scene that everyone should know.  It is the importance of blood and what blood does even after it escapes the body and how precious it really is to God.

Working in the clinical laboratory setting our main purpose is to test blood samples; at least, that is what we are most famous or infamous for.  With the modern technology that has been made possible to us the amount of human errors that occurred within the laboratory has significantly dropped but being human occasionally something will happen with a specimen and that certain patient may have to return for another draw.  This type of scene in the laboratory is not a good event to experience since people are partial to their blood and would like to keep as much as possible.

One type of lab accident in the lab is when one of us drops a specimen tube.  It rarely happens and for the most part, will not affect anything since the specimen tubes are plastic now, but once in a while a tube will be dropped and a portion of the blood will spill onto the floor of the lab, or on any other surface that is around when the tube falls.  Now there is not very much blood that is contained within the specimen tubes but if anyone has ever witnessed blood splattering on a surface when it comes in contact with the surface, then they would know that it really makes a huge mess even though it may only be a few drops that have been spilled.

Of course we as laboratory professionals really get embarrassed when this happens and we do our best to clean up the mess as soon as possible because we know that ridicule is coming our way when our fellow colleagues find out what happened, not to mention the total embarrassed state we will be in if the patient has to return for another draw.  As reality sets in and we stand over the spill for a few seconds trying to ascertain how much damage has been done, we then begin the cleanup process.  This process is not the easiest of procedures since blood is considered a biohazard and the spill if large enough has to have special removal precautions taken in order for proper cleanup to be done.  Even if the spill is only a few drops of blood the mess looks like someone had stuck a pig and blood went everywhere. 

Blood has its own unique consistency that makes the cleaning up process interesting.  It is difficult to clean up blood because of this consistency and complex texture.  It takes a special kind of cleaner to completely remove blood from surfaces and even after cleaning with these special chemicals the entire spot of blood may not be totally gone.  And at crime scenes when the forensic team shines a special type of light on a specific surface the contents of the blood that remain will be visible.  This is kind of neat to know and to see under these conditions but it does have a resounding effect on people knowing that someone has lost some blood on a surface for some specific reason.  In other words, blood is specific both inside the body and outside of the body and whichever environment it is located the life of that person leaves a permanent mark.

One evening when I was working the 3-11 shift I received a phone call that a gunshot victim was coming in by ambulance and that the entourage would be arriving within ten minutes.  I knew what my protocol was and where I needed to be when the patient arrived.  Having no phlebotomist at that time of the night was common so I was going to work this trauma situation alone.  I had been in these types of situations before and really felt as comfortable as one could while the events were unfolding.

We all gathered around the EMS radio system and listened to the report that was being presented.  It was quick and to the point without any weaknesses in the description concerning the patient.  The ambulance pulled into the bay and within a few seconds the doors opened and the paramedics entered into the Emergency Room with the patient all the while trying to accomplish some type of resuscitation and leaving a steady trail of blood behind them as they reached the trauma room.  All of us quickly transferred the patient onto the ER bed and began diligently working on him.

The ER doctor quickly decided to perform a chest tube on the patient due to the location of the gunshot wound in which was made at point blank range towards the heart.  The incision went well and I was in my normal position ready to issue blood when the incision process was completed.  The doctor had his finger in the hole and was waiting for the tube to be placed inside.  The tube was then inserted into the patient’s chest and put in the approximate place believed to be inside the lung area.  As soon as the insertion process was complete the plug on the exposed end of the chest tube was opened.

As soon as gravity could realize that it was control of the situation inside the tube solid blood began pouring out from the tube and running onto the floor; in the same area that we were standing in to be exact.  The doctor quickly placed his finger back on the exposed end to stop the outpouring of blood and immediately knew that there was no way that the patient could be saved.  By the way, that the chest cavity had filled with blood and that no vital signs, including a heartbeat, were not to be found, the battle had been lost even before the ambulance crew had arrived at the ER.  There was no chance of saving this young person’s life and as soon as the doctor had checked a few other vital levels, the patient was pronounced dead.

I am not going to go into many details but the choice of this action by this young man was due to a failed relationship and this young man had it in his mind that if the relationship could not continue his life could not as well.  A sad chapter in that family’s history, one in which should have never happened, did.  A choice had been made and the results of that choice became the young man’s end results.

I remember standing in the area of this patient and looked down to the ground and noticed that the entire floor, on this side of the bed, was red in color.  The rush of blood out of his body was only there for a few seconds, just long enough for the doctor to react yet the amount of blood that was lost and that had landed on the floor looked like someone had completely bled out.  Blood was everywhere and there was no way that either the doctor or I could get out of the area without stepping in that pool of blood.

After the body was cleaned up and then moved so that the family could see him, it was time for housekeeping to come into the trauma room and begin the cleaning up process.  Luckily the ER had not been too busy that evening and the housekeeping personnel had enough room to complete their responsibility.  I then went down to the laboratory and returned the units of blood to the blood bank inventory and recorded my actions into the Blood Bank logbook.  I did not have any opportunity to run any blood tests since I had not drawn any blood, which I found kind of ironic since I had just walked through a pool of blood in order to get back to my department.

I slowly walked back down to the ER and began to hear a sound that one never forgets and that was the sound of a mother’s cry over her dead child.  It is a sound that will haunt a person for the remainder of their life and it is a sound that can be heard all the way down the halls of a building and no matter what part of that building you are in, it sends chills down your spine.  There is nothing light about hearing this sound and there is nothing appropriate that anyone can say to the mother and the other family members at that time. 

As I reached the ER doctor’s desk I asked if there was anything else the he needed from me and of course, the answer was “no.”  I then turned to ask the nurse on duty if she needed anything and she quickly asked if I had obtained any blood or if we had given any of the blood from the blood bank and both of my answers to her was “no.”  The ER was basically quiet with the exception of the crying sound coming from the other room which was to be expected in this situation.  So I turned towards the hall and was going to finish cleaning up my mess of blood supplies before I returned to my department.

I noticed that the housekeeping person had recruited the other housekeeping personnel to help out with the cleaning up of the spilled blood.  I walked into the trauma room and immediately encountered a bucket full of red water.  I lifted up my eyes and looked at the floor where I was standing and there was a slight shade of red still present but the pool had been spread out due to the fact that they were trying to clean up the blood with a mop which usually spreads the blood out first before it soaks up into the mop.

It was like the blood was clinging on to the last bit of surface before it had to let go and be placed into a different container.  I stood there for a few moments watching housekeeping do their best to remove all of the blood on the floor.  It took them approximately twenty minutes to get the floor back to its original color with no signs of blood on the floor.  I cautiously tiptoed across the wet area and quickly cleaned up my area and then crept back across the wet flow as to not slip and fall.

 

It is common for those of us that work in the medical field to know that blood is a major component of information that gives answers to unanswered questions when patients present themselves in a medical setting.  We in the laboratory believe that everyone should have a blood test because the blood tells the physician so many things about what is going on inside the patient.  It is important that physicians know blood levels that might help the patient recover faster.  The blood also has a way of letting other types of medical personnel know what is going on as well.

Short-term or acute experiences with patients are the main setting that some hospital departments witness patients, but long-term and permanent conditions within the body can be detected by obtaining blood samples as well.  We now have the capability of testing a patient’s blood for DNA and all of the possible conditions that can be present on that level, in other words, conditions that might affect your grandchildren can be detected now.  So no wonder God holds the blood as being sacred since it represents life for the body in many ways including death.

A passage in the Bible that has stood out to me for a while is a famous one where God is talking to Cain after he had killed his brother.  And God’s statement about Abel’s blood that it cried out to Him from the ground is the statement that I am referring to.  Have you ever wondered how blood could cry out or make noise?  When listening to the blood flow from the tightness of a blood pressure cuff one can hear the blood moving as the heart beats it past the squeezed area but to hear it outside the body?

If this is true, and in my opinion, it is, blood can still represent our bodies and our lives outside its vessel walls which means that even though it is out of its normal occupancy it is alive and God can hear its voice as the blood somehow tries to figure out what is going on with its new immediate surroundings.  What would blood cry out about anyway?  We in the lab have a saying that when people pull back too fast on a syringe and the blood flows out from the vein, in the same manner, we say that we can hear the red blood cells screaming as they are being pulled through the needle.  The cells are being placed into another environment in which they are not familiar with, which is the case since the clotting mechanisms activate at this time and begin to form a clot which is a natural response when blood is subjected to abnormal conditions.

I am guessing that the words that a person’s blood would ask the following: why it was pulled out of its life’s environment and placed in one way or another into another surface or area?  And this spilling of blood which is now automatically exposed to an unfavorable environment that would try to end its life in some manner is now considered to be the norm for the blood.  Knowing now that the DNA molecules that are inside the blood cells can live for centuries, it makes it more feasible to understand this concept of blood being able to speak to God.

The place that the young man died is now a parking lot and the spot that Abel was buried was in a field.  I could probably estimate to where the ER trauma room was located and locate an approximate when I believe the young man passed away.  But God knows exactly where both of these men died because their blood cried out to Him for the injustices that were wrought upon them.  And since that time millions of other people have lost blood as well and their blood probably is recognized by God as well.  This is a process that our minds cannot fathom, yet God has the authority and the power to look even upon the ground and hear the cries for Him.  He can do this because somehow our blood stays alive even after we die.

No wonder God chose the blood sacrifice as the only manner in which to be redeemed from the sins of the people. This also explains the reasoning for God to send His only Son to die on a cross as a blood sacrifice for our sins.  Somewhere between Genesis Chapter 2 and Genesis Chapter 4 people knew what the meaning of blood was and what it represented to their bodies.  For it has been stated that the blood sacrifice was accepted by God and not the results of the harvest. 

There is one more difference that needs to be addressed and that is the blood lineage of Christ.  God knew that in order to provide a way for mankind to have access to Him once again a unique way must be provided but it could not be by man alone but somehow man had to be involved.  This is why God had to keep the bloodline Holy and this explains the manner in which Jesus was conceived.  If one thinks about it man’s sins will always be present and since this is true there is no way that anyone can redeem anyone else coming from a “flawed” or in our case sinful bloodline, our redemption had to have Holy roots.

With the amount of knowledge that we have about the physical aspects of our bodies, it has been said that we are on the cusp of finding out some of the major reasons why certain conditions overtake our systems and create sickness.  However, on the other hand, researchers admit that we have only scratched the surface of how our bodies operate and function, with blood being one of the more studied organs there is yet still to be much determined of its overall viabilities.  This means that since we know about our blood and what it means to our lives we still do not have a clue about all of the benefits that it presents to us and that we have a long way to go in understanding everything about blood.  But even with all the lack of knowledge concerning blood, we strive forward and continue to learn as much as possible about blood and what it means to our lives.

God should be given the same courtesy since we know a little bit about Him but if we will be honest with ourselves we must contend that we hardly know anything about God and that it will take all of humanity’s endeavors to scratch the surface of God’s abilities.  Shouldn’t we give God the same amount of time in study in order to fully understand His love for us and to try and comprehend all of the things that He has provided for us through the blood?  If we do not then we rely on human abilities far greater than what God we hold God to be and this is a selfish habit that will lead to further empty questions.

I also understand that the more humanity begins to rely on itself rather than God then His ears is going to become bombarded with continual cries coming from our lands.  This is not an if statement it is a when statement because man cannot be satisfied with any accomplishment for an established period of time, he must do more and have more which stretches the imagination and pulls on the heart strings for more excitement.  God is the only stabilizer and true directional holder and He holds the keys to our eternal existence, not mankind.

I had a self-proclaimed atheist ask me not too long ago about why God allows things to happen to people and why He allows incurable diseases to be inherited in people.  I had no definite answers for this person but I did tell him that I am learning more and more about humans and God at the same time since I have sat down and honestly studied God’s Word.  I cannot tell you that I know everything and I cannot sit here and tell you that I know a lot about God.  The truth is I do learn more each day about God but I have not even scratched the surface of His knowledge but I do know this He loves me and He sent His son to earth to die for me so that I may live through His blood, this I cannot deny.

DLB