My character (a healthy 29 year old) is hit by a truck while crossing the street and sustains a head injury. Within a couple of days she is going to be brain dead and will donate her organs. Leading up to this, she is physically unconscious, but through the magic of fiction, her thoughts are still going and she's aware of some of what's going on around her.
I'm wondering:
1) What would she look like after the accident? I have her lying still on the ground with her eyes open, the back of her head bleeding onto the pavement. Should she be bleeding somewhere else (nose/mouth)? Should she be struggling to breathe? Not breathing? Should a bystander start CPR? This takes place in a city, so there are people around (one of them calls 911), and I think the paramedics would arrive within minutes.
2) What would the paramedics do for her when they arrive? I understand they'll check her airway, breathing, and circulation, and then transport her to the hospital, but what would they be saying/doing as they do this? I'm especially looking for some accurate words and phrases they would be saying as they tend to her, which she'll "hear" as what's happening to her body intrudes on what's going on in her head.
3) The next time we encounter her, a day after the accident, she's in the ICU on a ventilator. She hasn't yet been declared brain dead. A friend is by the bedside reading to her. What could happen in this scene that would trigger the friend to worry and call in a nurse? An alarm going off on a machine? A physical symptom? I know she'll be checked by two doctors before she's declared brain dead, but I'm looking for the thing that would take her from "she's unconscious and we don't know if she's going to make it" to "it's time to call in those two doctors to determine if she's brain dead."
4) She's going to donate her organs. I know that once she's declared dead, she'll still be on the ventilator and seem like she's alive (breathing, warm) until she goes into surgery and the organs are removed and ventilator turned off. Besides that, what would she look like two days after the trauma? Would her face be bruised? Would the doctors have done anything to try to relieve brain swelling that would change her appearance -- head bandaged, hair shaved? Besides the ventilator would she be hooked up to any other machines or IVs? Just looking for a few details to make it realistic.
5) And an added bonus: she's pregnant, but not far along (just took a home pregnancy test that morning, no one knows but her). Is there any reason she'd be tested for this at the hospital? Is it believable that the trauma could lead to miscarriage while she's unconscious? (I don't see why not, just checking!) Basically I'm looking for a way for her family to find out she was pregnant, since she didn't have a chance to tell anyone.
Thanks in advance if anyone's able to help!
I'm wondering:
1) What would she look like after the accident? I have her lying still on the ground with her eyes open, the back of her head bleeding onto the pavement. Should she be bleeding somewhere else (nose/mouth)? Should she be struggling to breathe? Not breathing? Should a bystander start CPR? This takes place in a city, so there are people around (one of them calls 911), and I think the paramedics would arrive within minutes.
2) What would the paramedics do for her when they arrive? I understand they'll check her airway, breathing, and circulation, and then transport her to the hospital, but what would they be saying/doing as they do this? I'm especially looking for some accurate words and phrases they would be saying as they tend to her, which she'll "hear" as what's happening to her body intrudes on what's going on in her head.
3) The next time we encounter her, a day after the accident, she's in the ICU on a ventilator. She hasn't yet been declared brain dead. A friend is by the bedside reading to her. What could happen in this scene that would trigger the friend to worry and call in a nurse? An alarm going off on a machine? A physical symptom? I know she'll be checked by two doctors before she's declared brain dead, but I'm looking for the thing that would take her from "she's unconscious and we don't know if she's going to make it" to "it's time to call in those two doctors to determine if she's brain dead."
4) She's going to donate her organs. I know that once she's declared dead, she'll still be on the ventilator and seem like she's alive (breathing, warm) until she goes into surgery and the organs are removed and ventilator turned off. Besides that, what would she look like two days after the trauma? Would her face be bruised? Would the doctors have done anything to try to relieve brain swelling that would change her appearance -- head bandaged, hair shaved? Besides the ventilator would she be hooked up to any other machines or IVs? Just looking for a few details to make it realistic.
5) And an added bonus: she's pregnant, but not far along (just took a home pregnancy test that morning, no one knows but her). Is there any reason she'd be tested for this at the hospital? Is it believable that the trauma could lead to miscarriage while she's unconscious? (I don't see why not, just checking!) Basically I'm looking for a way for her family to find out she was pregnant, since she didn't have a chance to tell anyone.
Thanks in advance if anyone's able to help!