CU Nursing - Fall/Winter 2019 - 11

CLASS NOTES

four years ago, the Repshers said. However,
a chief factor was the wide expertise found
on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus and
the quality of care they received.

'I DIDN'T KNOW IF HE WAS GOING
TO MAKE IT'
By the time Amanda rushed into the hospital after a 90-mile ride from Frisco, the
site of the crash, her husband was through
his first emergency surgical procedure in
the tub room.
"He was in there for four hours," Amanda
said. "That's where they make the determination of how badly burned you are and do
immediate interventions."

Dave and Amanda
Repsher out
for a hike.

Dave suffered severe burns over 90 percent
of his body, most of them full-thickness
burns, some down to the bone.
"I was desperate to be with him, because
I didn't know if he was going to make it
through the next couple of minutes,"
Amanda said.
Her fear was warranted. The burn surgeon
told family members he did not expect

I was probably on fire for a good
couple of minutes before a fire
extinguisher finally got to me and
put me out." - Dave Repsher

Dave to survive the night. "And if he does,"
Amanda recalled him saying, "it's going to
be a marathon."

'I WAS PROBABLY ON FIRE FOR A GOOD
COUPLE OF MINUTES'
Flight for life
nurse Dave
Repsher with
his helicopter
before his crash.

A rush of cold fuel pouring over his shoulders and down his back was Dave's first
recollection after the crash. The drenching, combined with no clothes under his
flight suit on the hot July day, literally
fueled the burn.

"I was probably on fire for a good couple of minutes before a fire extinguisher
finally got to me and put me out."
During his hospital stay, Dave underwent 53 surgeries and lost more than half
of his body size, going from a muscular 180 pounds to a low of 89. Labeled the
"sickest patient in the hospital," statistically speaking, he should have died.

'HAD THEY NOT KNOWN ... HE WOULD BE BLIND NOW'
"You guys will learn as you go through your burn rotations that you really want
to be at a major burn center if you are in Dave's situation," Amanda said. Having
the burn team's expertise made a difference in his care, as did having the broad
multidisciplinary skills that exist on this campus, she said.
One example, she said, happened the day after the crash. Excess fluid that plagues
burn patients was causing Dave's entire body to swell.
"Right off the bat, he was tanking," she said. But because staff members were
keenly aware of all the complications that could arise, they noticed a dangerous
pressure buildup behind his eyes.
With an ophthalmologist right there doing rounds, the team quickly performed
pressure-reducing procedures (canthotomies). "That saved his vision," Amanda
said. "Had they not known to look for that, he would be blind now."
For the next five and a half months, in a chemically induced state of sedation,
Dave battled for his life, undergoing excruciatingly painful therapies along the
way. He remembers none of it because of the sedatives, mostly ketamine, that
Amanda insisted on his having to erase any memories that could haunt him later.

'I CRIED HARDER THAN I'VE EVER CRIED'
When Dave developed severe bleeding in his chest, things changed. He deteriorated so much after surgery that the team decided pulling back on the sedation
drugs was necessary. Suddenly, Dave "woke up."
Continued on Page 13

CU Nursing - Fall/Winter 2019

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