Author Question

Treatment for Amnesia

/ Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

Marissa Asks:

How do doctors proceed if they suspect amnesia? In my novel, the patient was brought to emergency after being found on the side of the road (in the snow.) The patient shows signs of physical torture: multiple rapes, bruises, lacerations, glass embedded mainly in his hands, hypothermia, and a cold (because obviously my character needs to be ill on top of everything).

burnout-384086_1920The patient has just woken up and had a panic attack. Been settled down. You asked for his name and he seemed uncertain as he gave his first name. You asked for his last name and the patient shook his head. What next? I mean obviously the glass would have been removed from his hands and a drip put in for painkillers but what next? Who does the nurse call? Or what does she ask now? And if memory loss is confirmed, how do they find out it’s amnesia like which SPECIFIC tests do they do? Who is contacted and brought in to liase?

I just sort of need a timeline rundown because my character is going to be going through that.

Jordyn Says:

Thanks so much for sending me your question. First of all, it sounds like this patient has a period of time where he is unconscious in the ER. You make it sound like he wakes up on his own and not in response to an exam by a doctor.

So an unconscious patient found with these injuries would have a CT scan of his head. Hypothermia could be determined simply by taking the patient’s temperature and warming him up with something as simple as warm blankets to more complex as heated IV fluids. Regarding the IV drip for pain— this is actually unlikely in the ER. This is referred to as a PCA pump (patient controlled analgesia) and I’ve never seen them used in any ER setting. Would we treat the patient’s pain? Yes. But, you might be surprised that we may choose not to use a narcotic (for many reasons) and instead try something like Toradol which is an IV form of an NSAID (which is in the same drug class as Ibuprofen.)

The glass embedded in his hands would be removed. The wounds irrigated and stitched closed if necessary. The lacerations would be treated the same way. Keep in mind, not all lacerations can be stitched closed if they’ve been open too long due to the risk of infection.This patient would also receive a tetanus booster if he hasn’t had one in the last five years (even if he can’t remember the last time he had a shot.) If anything looks infected, he would receive IV antibiotics.

If the patient wakes up and doesn’t know who he is (and doesn’t have any form of identification on him) then we would involve the police. Likely, they are probably already involved considering the circumstances— that he was found unconscious and beaten. Plus, you mention that the character has been raped several times so a sexual assault kit should be collected, but the patient’s consent is required, so we’d ask him if he wants this when he’s awake. Yet another reason the police would be involved.

If the doctors think the amnesia is related to a brain injury from the beating, they may just see if it improves with time.

I think it’s reasonable to admit this patient to the hospital and I speak a lot here about how it is actually rare to admit a patient with concussion, but considering the amnesia (it sounds like you want it to persist), the beating, the rapes, the wounds to his hands (as well as additional lacerations), and the hypothermia then some watchful observation is warranted. The doctors could consider a neurological and/or some type of psychological evaluation considering the circumstances of the case to see if his memory loss has a non-medical cause. Neuro might request an MRI of his brain to look for additional injuries not as easily discerned via CT scan.

In the end, if he never remembers, there’s little treatment to “correct” amnesia. This is good for the writer because you have a lot of leeway in what you want to happen to the character. Your time frame can be what you wish.

I think if he were stable in the hospital for a few days and the neurological/psychological evaluation didn’t warrant anything that required further inpatient treatment, he could be discharged home even if the amnesia persists with outpatient neurological follow-up and perhaps outpatient therapy if he consents.

Obviously the police would be very involved with this case.

Author Question: Car versus Pedestrian

/ Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

Alex Asks:

My character suffers the following injuries. I want the injuries to be severe enough that they require immediate surgery, but also that he recovers after about a month in the hospital and a stay in rehab.

carpedistrian1. Character is standing in the road, tries to run but is hit by the car front on.  Body smashes into the windscreen, sending him up into the air.

2. Hits his head on the pavement on landing and suffers broken bones as a result.

3. He blacks out from the impact and wakes up several hours later. In this instance, would he be able to survive for several hours with the kinds of injuries he could have?

4. Possible injuries I thought he could have included: bleeding on the brain, broken leg/s and/or arms, fractured ribs which could cause a puncture to one of his lungs.

5. As a result he suffers from retrograde amnesia when he wakes up at the scene because of the injuries to his brain. Cannot remember his name/where he is or other events in his memory. Again here I am not sure what kind of specific head trauma could cause this.

6. After surgery to the brain, he is put into an induced coma to monitor the swelling. He will eventually wake up from this about a month later.

Jordyn Says:

The accident you describe would include some very serious injuries— perhaps not even survivable. It’s not just the injuries the character suffers getting thrown from the impact onto the pavement, but also the injuries he suffers from getting hit by the car. An impact that is so violent that it throws someone into the air would also likely shatter the windshield indicating to EMS responders that there was a lot of violent energy associated with this collision— which means bad things for the patient.

My first opinion is if you want this character to wake up in a few hours would be that he doesn’t fall directly on his head after he’s thrown into the air from the first impact. Overall, for your scenario, you might want to lessen the violence of this crash if you want him up in a few hours. It wouldn’t be surprising for this patient to require surgery to fix broken bones and/or internal bleeding.

A pedestrian surviving this crash is not impossible but it is more on the improbable side. This patient will have a lengthy hospital stay. May not wake up for days or months— not just hours. What you outline is a high speed impact to a pedestrian.

To answer some of your medical questions— surgery may be required for the bleeding on the brain depending on its location. All patients who have a brain bleed do not necessarily go to surgery. A punctured lung will require a chest tube to be placed which further complicates your patient’s medical picture. This patient would be placed on a breathing machine for sure to stabilize him until all these injuries could be sorted out.

Could a patient with a significant brain bleed be conscious at the scene after the accident? Yes. There is a specific type of brain bleed that fits this scenario called an epidural bleed. It does have a characteristic lucid period before the patient becomes unconscious again. It does require surgery to correct. If no surgical intervention is done then the patient will likely die. Honestly, as a writer, you have a lot of leeway in regards to what to do with amnesia. Any type of traumatic brain injury (and this certainly qualifies) could cause amnesia.

Medically induced comas are used frequently in medicine as a way to help control brain swelling. However, the medicines are not used forever. Peak brain swelling usually occurs 48-72 hours after the injury. After this time has passed, the medical team will evaluate when to decrease the medications keeping the patient in the coma. Keep in mind, even after these medications are discontinued, the patient may never wake up. Further studies would need to be done to determine the extent of the damage to his brain. These changes will evolve over time becoming more stable the more time that goes on.

My recommendation would be to lessen the severity of the crash. The car hits him, he hit the windshield, breaks it and then falls to the ground. This alone could cause a femur fracture and brain injury for which he could suffer amnesia and require surgery. If it’s an epidural bleed then he gets surgery, perhaps with some swelling and therefore the medically induced coma, but wakes up in a month. The leg is set in surgery with pinning or a rod. I think just having these two things is enough for your scenario.

All the rest might prove too complicating.

Who Can Get Whose Blood?

/ Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

Recently, a very astute reader by the name of David wrote to me regarding my latest novel Fractured Memory.

In the letter he writes:

blood-donation-376952_1280“On page 67, you referred to a child with ‘the most rare blood type–AB negative.’ You then implied that to give a transfusion to the child, AB negative blood would be required. As far as blood type is concerned, it was my understanding that AB negative is close to being the Universal Recipient (which would actually be AB positive). Thus, while AB- may be extremely rare, such a person could still accept blood which is AB-, A-, B- or O-, so the rarity of AB- itself doesn’t necessarily mean it would be difficult to find donor blood for a transfusion.”

Strong work, David, strong work.

With a couple of caveats.

Why do we even worry about blood types and who can accept whose blood? The issue comes down to whether or not your body will identify the donated blood as a foreign tissue or not. If the body looks at those newly infused blood cells and cries out in terror because it doesn’t recognize it as self— it mounts a war on a cellular level to kill those foreign red blood cells, which leads to a drastic systemic reaction that can lead to some very serious complications for patients.

The trick in transfusing blood is to give something the body doesn’t recognize as foreign. The letters in your blood signify antigens but also signify which type of antibodies are in the blood. So a person who is blood type A has B antibodies in their blood which means if they get any blood with a “B” in it (B or AB), that person’s body is going to want to kill those blood cells. People who are blood type “O” carry antibodies to both A and B blood. Therefore, a person with type O blood can only receive type O blood.

So, yes, a person who is AB negative can safely receive blood from a person who is A-, B-, AB-, and O negative. But for the purposes of a planned surgery, which was the case in the novel, usually type specific blood is sought out. Also, the other blood types this patient could receive are about ten percent of the population combined. Individually they number a lot less. Certainly not impossible to find depending on what’s in stock in the blood bank. Because O negative blood is so valuable in the sense that anyone can receive it it is generally reserved for emergency situations and would likely not be used for a planned surgery.

This article is a great resource for writers when it comes to blood types and who can get whose blood.

Do you know how a person’s blood type is determined?

Author Question: What Kind of Trauma Causes Blindness?

/ Jordyn Redwood / 2 Comments

Belle Asks:

One of my characters is in a minor plane accident. When you see him next, he is blind. What could cause him to be blind as a result of this accident?

eye-211610_1920Jordyn Says:

A character can lose vision as a result of this accident in one of two ways. Either direct injury to the eyes themselves or injury to brain centers that are involved in the processing of visual information.

Direct injury to the eye could include the eye itself or bones around the eye could become fractured and impinge on certain nerves that could ultimately lead to blindness. You could also have traumatic retinal detachments that if not repaired could lead to blindness.

Many areas of the brain are involved in processing the information our eyes takes in. Any injury to any one of these centers could lead to blindness even though the eye itself looks perfectly normal. This article gives a basic outline and would probably be a good jumping off point for further research. As mentioned in the piece, some of these conditions would be called “cortical visual impairment, cerebral visual impairment, neurological vision loss, brain-damage-related visual impairment, and vision loss related to traumatic brain injury”.

Best of luck with your story!

Historical Medical Question: Head Injury 1870s

/ Jordyn Redwood / 2 Comments

April Asks:

skull-476740_1920I have a question regarding medicine in the 1870’s.  What would brain/cranial surgery consist of then?

I’ve tried to find some information on this type of operation from this time period, but have had very little luck so far.  In a quick scenario, there’s been a serious buggy accident, and the heroine of the novel has bleeding on the brain. I know one proposed procedure for this was to actually drill a hole into the skull to let out the influx of blood. Was this happening and being practiced in the 1870’s? Also, what would the medical instruments of the day have been to achieve such a surgery?

Jordyn Says:

This could definitely be a set up for a craniotomy (drilling a hole into the skull or creating a burr hole) to be used to relieve pressure within the cranium. The procedure would have been called trephining and was definitely used during your time period. Two resources for the procedure can be found here and here.

Author Question: Stab Wound

/ Jordyn Redwood / 2 Comments

Sandi Asks:

Where can you place a stab wound that wouldn’t instantly kill your character, but keep him around for a few hours?

diagnosis-1476620_1920-1Jordyn Says:

You have a couple of options here. One would be a stab wound into the right side of the chest. This could partially collapse a lung and cause some bleeding as well. Think of the lung as a balloon. A small nick to the lung could cause it to slowly leak air into the chest, keeping the character alive for a few hours, but killing him in the end if the collapsed lung isn’t treated. The more collapsed the lung is, the less it is able to function. The more air that accumulates in the chest, the more it will push other structures.

We call this a tension pneumothorax.

Imagine the right chest is now full of air. Air will keep building unless it is given a way out (like a chest tube) and can actually squish the heart and lungs on the other side of the chest to the point where the heart may not beat anymore.

If a tension pneumothorax is left untreated, this will cause the patient to die. They may die from blood loss, or low oxygen levels, or from the heart being impinged to the point where it can no longer beat.

Why not a stab wound to the left chest? This has an increased chance to kill instantly because you have the heart and several large blood vessels that come off the heart that sit there. Can anyone say aorta?

Another option would be to have a stab wound to the belly. All sorts of stuff in there. If you wanted the character to die in a few hours, this could happen from untreated bleeding. There are two organs that sit in your abdomen that have a rich blood supply— the spleen and the liver. The medical term is highly vascularized . . . meaning rich with blood supply. You could also have an infection set in and this could keep him alive for a couple of days until he is overwhelmed by sepsis.

What signs and symptoms would a patient with a collapsed lung (pneumothorax) have? What’s the difference between and sign and symptom?

Author Question: Gunshot Wounds and Rib Fractures

/ Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment
Shanda Asks:

I have a scene where (in my mind at least) someone very physically fit is shot in the torso as they dive to save another from being shot. They then land excruciatingly hard on the edge of raised concrete (think like the front of an outside step) and break three ribs but that injury goes unnoticed as a result of the gunshot wound.

human-skeleton-163715_1280So my questions are as follows:

1. Would it be possible for someone to pick up the injured and run say a mile or two to get them to where help is waiting?

2. Could it be possible to have surgery for the gunshot would and the rib injuries be missed and hours later cause internal bleeding?

3. What would be the typical recovery time for the first and the latter?

4. Would it be realistic that after the second surgery (for the internal bleeding) the patient could not wake up for days having had two trauma surgeries so close together?

Jordyn Says:

Thanks so much for sending me your questions.

1.  Can someone carry an injured person one to two miles for treatment? It would depend on the physical characteristics of the character who is lifting the other person. Carrying someone one to two miles is a long way. I could possibly imagine a man doing this for an injured female and possibly a very fit male for another male, but a female doing this for a male might be stretching it. It would have to be a very fit female character.

On the other hand, could a character with these injuries get themselves to the hospital? The three cracked ribs are definitely going to slow them down and it also depends on what the gunshot wound has injured which you’re not clear on here. If the gunshot wound deflated a lung then they are going to have a lot of trouble breathing.

2. Could the broken ribs be missed on the first medical exam? Probably no. Any patient with a gunshot wound to the torso is going to get plain x-rays of the chest and probably a CT scan of the chest as well— both of which would show the rib fractures. So in the setting of modern medical care it would almost rise to the level of negligence to miss the rib fractures with a gunshot wound to the torso. I don’t see that happening.

3. To determine your typical recovery time I really need more information on this gunshot wound. Where was the character shot and what was injured specifically? The rib fractures themselves will take 4-6 weeks to heal. Rib fractures are very painful and could inhibit breathing based on their location. Also, successive ribs that are broken in more than one place can create a free floating segment that can be very detrimental to breathing as well.

4. A patient could still develop internal bleeding and need to go back to surgery even if the rib fractures are found right away. This would not be a rare event. It is reasonable for a patient to not wake up for a couple of days if they suffered a code during the second surgery due to extreme blood loss and had flat lined for a period of time.

Even the stress/shock of the surgeries close together might be enough for the brain to check out for a time. The problem with a comatose patient is they have to be in the ICU, on a vent, with a tube in every orifice as they say. For instance, a patient can’t be out cold and have no way to pee— so a catheter has to be placed so the urine can come out.

Going down that road can get very complicated for a novel depending on whose POV you’re telling it from.

Best of luck with your novel!

Kawasaki Disease

/ Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

JoAnn Asks:

I need an illness (not necessarily a disease, but I’m open to any ideas) that could potentially kill a child of 5-7 years old (a boy growing up in west Texas). He recovers and eventually becomes a world-class athlete with no later repercussions.

I was thinking of some kind of weird bacterial infection or spider bite or something along those lines. Any thoughts? I know you’re busy, but if you have a minute or two to throw out some suggestions, I’d be most grateful (and you’d get a shout-out in the book, too). Thank you!

Jordyn Says:

Kawasaki’s Disease might be a good option for you.

http://www.seattlechildrens.org/medical-conditions/heart-blood-conditions/kawasaki-disease/

http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/heart/kawasaki.html

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/tc/kawasaki-disease-topic-overview

Kawasaki disease causes inflammation to arteries within your body. This includes the coronary arteries which can lead to some of Kawasaki disease’s biggest complications.

It is characterized by high fever (over 102.2 lasting more than five days), peeling skin (usually lips and bottoms of hands/feet), very reddened eyes and rash to the trunk.

The cause is unknown.

Treatment may include an infusion of gamma globulin and high dose aspirin. The cardiac effects are the most serious and worrisome but patients do have a good chance of recovery.

Author Question: Condition of Body in Two Views

/ Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

Angela Asks:

I am an Australian writer of crime fiction novels set in SE Asia, specifically Thailand. You can read more about me and my books here: http://angelasavage.wordpress.com

In my current novel, The Dying Beach, a body washes up in the shallows of a cave by a beach. I’ve done a bit of research on forensics and how you distinguish drowning from accidental death. What I hope you can help me with is the following.
The body is that of a young Thai woman. Would the skin of the corpse whiten if it had been in the water for say, 12 hours, or would the skin still appear olive?
The body is found by a war surgeon on vacation, floating face down. When the body is rolled over, would you expect to find the eyes open? Would they be clear or cloudy?
Is there anything else I should know about a corpse found in this state? 
FYI the corpse is found in shallow, tepid water.
Any advice you can give would be much appreciated.

Jordyn Says: 
I actually ran this question by two sources: a physician coworker and a forensic investigator. Here are their responses.
Physician: 
As far as the skin pigmentation– she said a person will retain the pigment. They might look gray but won’t be “whiter”. And you’ll have to consider how blood settles when someone dies.
As far as the eyes being open or closed– she thinks partly open because it takes muscles to keep your eyes closed and if you’re dead– these aren’t functioning anymore.
As far as the eyes looking cloudy– I know when I’ve taken care of patients that have died, the color in their irises– this is the colored part of your eye– definitely look like the color leaches out. Almost looking gray. So, no clear answer here– you could probably have a little creative license.
Coroner: 
1)  A person’s skin pigmentation would not change unless the person has been dead for at least several weeks. Then the body would turn green and eventually black due to the decomposition. But this would take weeks into months depending on the environment the body is in (hot, cold, dry, humid, etc.).

2) When the body is rolled over the eyes may or may not be closed. There is no rhyme or reason for it. I would expect the eyes to be clear. Typically the eyes would become cloudy after the decedent has been dead for at least several days/weeks.
3) There really is not a whole lot more information. The hands would show sign of wrinkling, referred to as “washer woman hands”. This can make fingerprinting for identification difficult. Sometimes marine life will start to eat the body. This typically occurs about the face, eyes, and genitals. This of course would typically not occur within 12 hours of death. Another thing is when a body has been in the water for day(s) and is removed, decomposition will tend to accelerate. The bacteria has had no oxygen source as the body has been in water. Once the body is removed and the bacteria has a oxygen source, they really go to work to make up for lost time.

Author Question: Consent Issues Peds ER

/ Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

Carol Asks:

Scenario:

Hero’s daughter is spending the night at the heroine’s house b/c he has to work. They think she has the flu but is appendicitis and is gonna burst [based on a friend’s kid’s experience ;)]. Heroine wakes up to hear her crying in the middle of the night. Goes to check on her and gets her roomie who is a licensed [but not practicing] paramedic. Says we gotta get straight to the hospital but hero isn’t answering phone.

So, they get there, but dad’s nowhere to be found. Heroine knows daughter’s name/birthday but that’s it [not even an address].

1. Will they still try to find a patient in the computer based on the info they have [patient’s name, birthday, town, dad’s name etc]?
Jordyn: How old is the child? A first or second grader should know their address so they would look up her name and birthday and try and match the address. If not, they’ll just create a new chart. It’s possible to merge electronic records at a later time. Do they not even have a phone number to reach him? That would be pretty odd.
2a. How much credence will they give to the medic since it’s not someone they know? He’s gonna rattle off information [HR, BP, temp, etc] and don’t they have some sort of ID card he could use to back up his claim that he knows what he’s talking about?
Jordyn: It’s anecdotal. We’d probably be most interested in the temperature. She’ll get her vital signs taken at the time and it might be curious if they are markedly different than what the paramedic got. But, we won’t ask for his ID. We’ll just want to know what treatment they provided at home and probably the last time she ate or drank (for purposes of surgery that’s important to know.)
2b. Should they call the ER en route?
Jordyn: No, this is cheesy. People do it but it won’t move you up in line, it doesn’t reserve a spot, etc. We’ll say, “Okay, see you when you get here.” Unless they are requesting emergency info—like how to do CPR—it doesn’t make a difference in the care of the patient when they arrive. You’d be surprised how many people call and then never show up.
2c. Is it plausible they’re not too busy at 3am on Sunday morning? And go pretty straight back?
Jordyn: Yes, this is plausible.
3. Will the medical staff allow the heroine/medic back into the ER room etc. before dad gets there?
Jordyn: Yes, if she is the only adult and the daughter is comfortable with her, she’d be allowed back.
4. When dad gets there, will they require any ID for him to prove he’s dad?
Jordyn: Typically, we get ID and insurance card if they have one. Before that—attempts will be made to reach him via phone to get verbal consent to treat. This is a big deal with minors. If it’s not an emergency—medical treatment can wait. If it is an emergency—we can go ahead and treat regardless on consent. 

*****************************************************************************

When she’s not writing about her imaginary friends, Carol Moncado is hanging out with her husband and four kids in the big yard of her southwest Missouri home, teaching American Government at a community college, reading, or watching Castle and NCIS. She’s a member of ACFW and RWA, founding member and current facilitator for the MozArks ACFW group, and a category coordinator for ACFW’s First Impressions.