The Buddha Says

Plenty of interesting stories that bring back memories of my home and training. I think I was a first year resident when this happened. I was sat in trauma when a young man was rushed in. He had fallen in the path of a train and was extremely lucky to be alive. His arm (I dont remember which side) was amputated at the level of the mid-humerus (that is the bone in the upper arm). All we could do was to stabilise him, tie of the blood vessels in the stump and dress the wound. A good half-hour later, two men came into trauma very agitated enquiring about this patient. I was attending to some paperwork and pointed in the direction of the patient's bed. However, something about one of these men was odd. He had his arms folded across his chest and for a moment I did not realise what was odd about that. Then it struck me. Folded across his chest were not two but three arms. He was cradling the amputated part of his brother's arm that he had picked up from the tracks in the hope

This is by far the most difficult story to tell. I want to write this someday but I am not sure I am just ready yet.

7.45 am Friday 2003 Trauma is usually quiet in the mornings. We were sat at the main desk, chatting. Very excited casualty porters wheeled in a young man, lying on his side on a stretcher. And, nothing excites them. So, this had to be something big. He was of small build, lying calmly on his left side. He had long hair and was wearing clothes typical of tribals. He appeared to be stable. For a second, I and my junior resident wondered what all the fuss was about. Then, one of the porters removed the large gauze swabs lying across his right chest. And there it was. The largest laceration I had ever seen. His chest was split open from his right nipple to the tip of his right scapula - all the way to his pleural cavity. I could actually see the collapsed lung through that gaping hole. A sight enough to squeeze the juice out of any surgical resident's adrenals. We got him into trauma OR and started the routine bits. I went to inform my boss ( 'the lion' , we called him) who was