[[[the wonderful mess that we've made]]] [[[part iii]]]

31.

I sat with her on my knee in the back of one of the fifty ambulances, all the time I was holding the bandages to her leg, now pouring with blood onto my shirt. As I'd suspected, the moment they took the pole from her leg when she went under anesthetic, she began to bleed profusely. And it wasn't stopping. There was confusion and panic all around. There wasn't enough paramedics for all the injured people. We had to wait for more people to be loaded on before we could go to the hospital. I cradled her in my arms, even though she was asleep, I promised her she'd be ok.

During the twenty minute ride I held my breath and watched as her breathing slowed down. Would we make it in time? What would happen when we got to the hospital? She'd need surgery but there was so many other people in need of help too. I felt useless. I could pay for her to be moved to a different hospital, to be flown home, but we wouldn't have time.

There was more confusion when we arrived and I ended up walking around the packed corridors with her in my arms, begging someone, anyone to help. Woody found me amongst the crowds of walking wounded and distraught families and he was white with fear.

'What do we do?' He asked. I shrugged. I didn't know. 'She needs help.'

'I know. But there's too many people.'

Every doctor was already busy. Every nurse was under fire with hundreds of patients. I felt totally out of my depth when she needed me the most.

'In here!' Woody called from a side room. There was a bed, all though it had been used and stained with blood, it was now free. I lay her down and replaced the soaked bandages with fresh ones from a shelf. I looked to Woody as though to say 'now what?'. The bleeding wasn't stopping. Her skin, already pale, had now gone grey. Then I noticed her lips had turned blue.

'Woody...' I sobbed. I saw the moment he snapped.

'SOMEONE HELP US! SHES DYING!' He screamed and pulled the first nurse he saw into the room. 'Please...' He begged.