Just got back from my attempts at getting that wire. I'd thought it'd be easy; a Saturday night, probably only be a couple of people about waiting to colck out. There were proxies that's. Plural.
I got going at about ten, as planned, got there about half past. Oyster cards are really useful. It seemed quiet at first, and I made it in ok. Then I found a guard dead. Sick bastards cut him open, pulled things apart. Jesus, that poor bastard. Anyway, when I saw the body I prepared for a fight. It wasn't exactly unexpected so I had a wrecking bar (crowbar to my US reader(s)). Still, there were more of them than me. One came up from the front, had a fuck-off big knife. I think I broke his hand, swinging with the bar. He dropped the knife, but by then his mate was behind me, caught me in the arm. If I wasn't wearing leathers it could've been really bad. As it is? A fairly shallow cut. Stings like a bitch tho. I tried to hit him, but he was too close to get a swing in, caught my arm and got me into a hold while the one with a bad hand gave me a kicking in the stomach. Weird, didn't hurt as much at the time. So pretty soon they dropped me, one looked for the knife he'd dropped. I stabbed him in the leg with it, chucked it at the other and ran off. Well, staggered. Feel like absolute shit though. Arm stings, stomach hurts, I feel like I'm going to throw up over everything. And I didn't get the wire. Still, maybe it's a good sighn. If I wasn't onto something they wouldn't havevbothered to stop me. Still, this really fucking hurts, and my arm won't stop bleeding. Any ideas for first aid?
Okay, putting pressure on the wound should help slow the bleeding. Wash it with a wet cloth to get any particulates out, and then apply antiseptic. High proof alcohol, salt or honey will do in a pinch.
ReplyDeleteIf it's deep or long enough it might need stitches; self stitching strikes me as a really bad idea, esp. if you don't have any painkillers, but if you want to try I recommend thin nylon wire and a needle sterilised by a hot blowtorch like flame or at the very least with the aforementioned alcohol or citric acid. The stitches should bring the edges of the torn skin together and hold them there, but the skin shouldn't be indented; that can cause lack of blood flow and possibility of infection.
If you do opt to use one, I recommend using a simple interrupted stitch, where each stitch is unconnected to the others, the thread being cut and tied after each one. Time consuming and fiddly, but the easiest to perform, the least likely to go wrong, and if one stitch fails the others can still hold the wound shut. Tie the knots on one side of the wound so it can heal properly and you can more easily remove them later. Use square or surgeon's knots. This is of course all assuming you can't get this done elsewhere.
If you don't use or it doesn't need stitches, tie a sterilised bandage firmly but not constrictingly around the wound, and change it whenever it gets too saturated.
Thanks for the advice, hopefully won't need stitches because the only painkillers I have are a half pack of ibuprofen, and self stitching without painkillers seems like an awful idea. Didn't know salt could be used for an antiseptic, it'll have to do because I don't have anything better.
DeleteGlad you're alright. I'd go and help you out, but I'm kind of holed up in Blackpool. Dammit. I'll reel up any copper wire I find, though, will try and get it to you when I can.
ReplyDelete