Incorrigible - What I learnt in class today...

Gera has joined the Healers at Incorrigible and is now a Guild student. For this she must complete different tasks and join all healing classes. There will be a war coming, starting this coming weekend. Gera will be doing service on the battle field.
And here is what she learned today:

How to remove a barbed arrow

Most important thing to know when you are dealing with a barbed arrow in someones body is that you can NOT pull it right out with out tearing up the wound more.

Barbed arrows are just what they sound like, barbed. If the arrow is in their arm and you pull it out without opening the cut more, you can tear muscle and ligaments. If you are using magical means if you know how, you can phase out the arrow but for those who do not know how nor have magical abilities there is a way to get it out without further risking harm to your patient.

A tool as simple as a spoon can solve your problems. Or even better yet a specialized spoon that curves more in and wider. The object with the spoon is to surround the barbed arrow head inside so when you pull it out nothing catches. The trick is getting it to do just that.

We will be dealing with an arrow in the shoulder.

When you have an arrow in someone there are a few things you need to worry about. Bleeding, Infection, Poison and if it is lodged in the bone.

First thing you want to do when someone comes in with an arrow in their arm or leg is to sit them down. You will need a dagger, bandages, herbs to stop bleeding, help with pain and help with infection.

You will be cutting open the wound to make it bigger which means you will be causing teh patient more pain. You will need to give them a herb that will aid their pain. Blue grass is a herb you apply to the wound directly. It will help numb the area you apply it to.

The wound will already be bleeding but when you cut it open more you will cause more blood. If the patient loses too much blood you will be harming them further. There are a few things you can use to stop bleeding, but the one that works the best and the fastest is the black pepper.

Once you have it numbed, set out the linen, the badnages, and the herbs you will use to clean out the gash. You want to have it all with in arms reach so you do not have to leave your patient at anytime during the procedure to search for your needs.

Now that it is numb try adding a bit of black pepper so it will slow down any blood. You will need to sterilize the dagger with fire. When it cools you will need to begin the cutting. The point of this is to make the wound big enough to slip the spoon around the head. Before you begin cutting around the arrow offer them some willow bark to chew down on to help with the pain.

If the barbed arrow is lodged in the bone, which you find by sticking your finger in carefully and feeling around the arrow tip yourself, then you will need to chip away the bone. You do this by inserting the knife and digging around the arrow point. Be careful to only chip awya what you need to. Note this will be severly painful for your patient. Extract the knife and by using your finger you need to to find teh chipped bone and replace it. Only then can you move on to extracting the arrow.

Now you will slide the spoon down the opened wound and around the moveable barbed arrow head. After it is sorronded by the spoon you will slowly lift it out of the cut. Throwing the arrow aside now you will need to clean and stitch.

Remember through out this time to watch the amount of blood they are losing. Add pepper if needed to staunch it.

To fight off infection you will use two types of cream/powder. Before you stitch you will need to lightly dust the wound with Healers Powder. Then you will need your thread and needle. Carefully you stare from the top of teh wound weaving across back and forth untill you close it off at the bottom. Nipping the string and tying it off to secure it. When it is stitched you will then place the peppermint cream on top of the stitched area to help it fight infection.

Finally you need to wrap the wound. First you wrap the wound itself, snug but not tight. The bandaged will need to be changed every other day, apply more peppermint and rewrap until it is healed. They are not to use that arm or lift their arm up or they will cause it to rip open.

If you chipped the bone, you will wrap the fround first. Then you will need to imbolize the shoulder until the Then you will need to imbolize teh shoudler until teh bone heals. You do this by cutting some stiff leather to fit around the shoulder itself. Placing down a bit of cotton in between teh leather and the bandage you place the leather on the shoulder and wrap that firmly so it will stay. Again you instruct them are not using for lifting their arm until teh bone and stitches are healed.

To help with the healing make them some healers tea with honey, which promotes healing. Have them rest and clean up.

Voila! You just pulled out and healed a barbed arrow wound.