Mike told me about a case in which a 15 year old kid had been stepped on by a bull at a rodeo event.
The dad was a rodeo champion and was used to being tough. He didn’t want the paramedics to take his son to the hospital.
The boy was acting hurt and having trouble breathing, so the paramedics convinced the father to let them check his son’s oxygen level and other vitals. The oxygen level was at 82%, which is really low. They told the father that his son was actually hurt and needed to go to the hospital. He finally consented and let the paramedics take him.
It turned out that though the boy hadn’t broken any ribs, his lung had been punctured. This was why he was having trouble breathing. Mike had to put a chest tube in him to get his lung inflated again and help him breathe.
Mike explained to me that children and teens rarely break ribs because their ribs are soft and still forming. They have lots of cartilage in their ribs. So, even though kids don’t break ribs easily, they can still sustain serious internal injuries.
Mike loves tough people who don’t run to the ER for every little problem. In this case, he was glad the father recognized that his son was injured enough to require expert medical attention. Luckily this boy got the treatment he needed and should be fine.
Moral of the Story: Operating out of common sense can help us know when to seek professional help.
