I have a friend who was recently in a motorcycle accident. He was airlifted to a trauma facility. After being evaluated he has no brain or spine injuries. He has broken ribs, broken metatarcel(spelling?) and his skin completely burned off on his heel. They just graphed some skin back on last night. This morning they took him off the ventilator and now hes running a fever with swelling and high vitals. What does this mean?
It is fortunate he has no brain or spine injuries. Broken ribs are a serious injury, but they do heal Usually no specific treatment is needed. However, people with broken ribs have a lot of pain, and they tend not to take deep breaths. Because of this they are prone to pneumonia. Being on a ventilator also predisposes one to pneumonia. The fever suggests some sort of infection; my first thought would be pneumonia. He also could get infected through the skin from the trauma he experienced. You don't mention what is swollen, but skin areas swollen and red indicate infection. Generalized swelling of the body could result from an air leak in the lungs from the trauma and broken ribs. His doctors are surely aware of these possibilities and will treat them appropriately. Hope this helps. If you have more questions, I would be happy to answer them.