On Thu, 10 Aug 2000 dmccarty_at_us.ibm.com wrote: > "... and impaled on their paddle [a leg injury ;-]. you are near a > road, and i'll make up whatever other "details" you need ;-)" warning, VERY graphic injury description will follow. > |a: what's your first plan of action > What does impaled mean? Literally as in the paddle is buried through the > leg orto the bone? Or just stuck 'em a bit and made the water a shade of wooden/solid paddles would have caused impalement, aluminum, etc, would cause injury described next > red? I'm assuming our Intrepid Paddler has an injury beyond the abraided > skin stage. 8-) ok, we'll use my injury as a template 8^( ... i was more technically "cored" like an apple. the paddle shaft went through the flesh to the bone, then was pulled out. as the paddle went in at an angle, it left part of the flesh attached. a semi-circle, looking exactly like a "c" 1/2 cut deeply, 1/6th torn, one third attached, approximately 1.5" [3.5cm] across. the flap trying to fall out, me plugging it back in with my thumb, like the boy & the dike. http://www.dotzen.org/paddler/cpr/graphics/leg-01.jpg > If it is impaled I would leave the paddle in place to limit bleeding if > possible. Stabilise the paddle to prevent/limit movement, compress the > wound to minimise bleeding, keep the victim warm and try to keep them from > going into shock. If no impaled but lots of blood, pretty much the same. hand pressure until 1st aid kit on scene, ace bandage afterwards. the ER drs noted a 4" [10cm] ace is too narrow, should be 6-8" [15-20cm] > |b: how do you decide if the person is capable of continuing on, on their > |own, or if someone needs to play ambulance driver [snip] > Real Impalation is going to be a no brainer on driving. > Otherwise how much are they bleeding and is it stopped? quite a bit while swimming in the river ;-) cold water [temperature not avail online :-[ close to stopped with hand pressure while waiting for 1st aid kit. > |c: how do you notify the "next of kin" --- ie tell them to meet you at > |the hospital/ER, without adding undue stress to the callee > "Hi, its GreatPaddler, ImpaledOne had me call you to let you know he is ok > but has a little boo boo from the kayak trip. We decided to be safe rather > than sorry so we took ImpaledOne to the hospital to be checked outed. Can > you meet us there?" > > How is that? You need to keep the other folks calm so the following would > be a bad idea. so calling my wife, and asking her which ER she'd rather meet me at was uncool?? hmmmm, explains a few... ooopppsssss sorry 8^( > I think this would be the wrong way to notify the next of kin. 8-) applies to mine too ... but, in reality, i called, told her the weather was pretty good, and most of the paddling was good, at least until i stopped paddling... i'm ok, but i have to go to the hospital... but it's not so bad i can't drive the 3 hours home, and meet you at our local hospital... more later > |d: what other factors should be involved/considered > Does ImpaledOne have a local NextOKin? If not, does ImpaledOne have what's local?, and how long is safe to drive with a gaping wound, how long can it stay open... [covered, not gaping to the world, but that center mass of flesh is soaking in blood, it's not going _through_ it... > children or pets that might have to be looked after while the Shaft is > removed from the Shaftee? Someone needs to take care of our > BelovedShaftee's 'yak, gear, maybe vehicle. excellent, maybe... i drove home, because the kids [16 & 17] were NOT home to give my wife a lift, so we'd have had to deal with a car at a mountain hospital 3-4 hours away, with me in NO condition to drive once they pumped me full of pain killer for the stitches!! > If the accident was away from transport its a whole new ball game.... even with blood running down my leg, we couldn't flag down a passing motorist ... tried 3 cars in 20 minutes. so, how long is tooo long for what? broken bones would add to this, but blood is enough!! > |e: is this discussion usefull? > Yes. good!! > Later... > Dan McCarty great job ;-) i'd like you on my trips 8-)# -- #-canoeist[at]dotzen[dot]org------------------------------------------- mark zen o, o__ o_/| o_. po box 474 </ [\/ [__| [__\ ft. lupton, co 80621-0474 (`-/-------/----') (`----|-------\-') #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~ http://www.dotzen.org/paddler [index to club websites i administer] ---- A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner. -- English Proverb *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Aug 10 2000 - 16:40:38 PDT
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