Flashback Medicine 1

Gemma learns first aid from her mom

(This is a thread from Mizahar's fantasy role playing forum. Why don't you register today? This message is not shown when you are logged in. Come roleplay with us, it's fun!)

The Diamond of Kalea is located on Kalea's extreme west coast and called as such because its completely made of a crystalline substance called Skyglass. Home of the Alvina of the Stars, cultural mecca of knowledge seekers, and rife with Ethaefal, this remote city shimmers with its own unique light.

Medicine 1

Postby Gemma Parker on February 25th, 2019, 2:42 am

Image

Fall 13th, 516av, 13 Bells

Gemma sat cross-legged, facing her mother, who was in the same position. This was how their classes together were conducted. Her mother had just come back from another one of her trips and when her father had mentioned with pride how much Gemma was learning about herbalism, Sera, Gemma's mother, decided that Gemma had grown lax in her medical studies. Gemma didn't bother to point out that that was because her mom was never home. She knew the drill. In some way, she even knew that she could have studied medicine even in her mother's absence. Maybe one day she would.

"Today I will teach you how to stop a bleeding wound." She said, taking a knife from her pack and laying it with medical precision to the side. She then removed several implements and pointed out what each was, even though most of this was review. Her mother always said that the only way to be sure knowledge stayed in the mind was for it to be learned through the hands. Apparently that was what they would be working on today.

"This is clean cloth, to stop the bleeding. Apply this to the bleed and add pressure. The amount of pressure needed is determined by how much the patient is bleeding." She said.

"This is a leather thong, which will be used to make a tourniquet. Tourniquets are very dangerous and should only be used when the patient will die without it. To tighten the tourniquet, you must use a rod or stick. Today you can use my sheath knife." She continued. Gemma nodded along, not taking notes yet, but remembering everything for later when she would write everything down. Her mom, unlike her dad, wanted to feel that she had Gemma's full attention, which meant no distractions, not even notes. But she would then expect Gemma to have mastered everything she had been taught, thus the notes.

"A bandage to go over the cloth and to tie it in place." She said, pulling the item out and putting it to the side.

"These are the tools you will need. When a person is bleeding severely, you must first stop the bleeding. If there is any clothing or debris that can be quickly removed from the wound, do so, but don't waste time digging around and cleaning the wound. Infection will not have time to kill a body with no blood." She said.

Without another word, she unsheathed her knife and cut her arm. It was not super deep, but there was blood. Gemma lurched to stop her, but she was too late. The blade had already been sheathed.

"Save me." She said impassively. Already the blood was dripping between them, and Gemma shot to a crouch and dove toward her mother.

"Are you insane?" She asked, but her mom didn't bother to answer the question.

"If I were insane, would it affect your ability to heal?" Sera challenged.

"If you're going to cut yourself again it might!" Gemma said, but she was already grabbing the cloth and pressing it to the wound.

"Good. Cloth and pressure first. Then what?" She called, though Gemma was right there.

Gemma grabbed the bandages and wrapped one hand around the wrist and fabric, maintaining pressure while she wrapped the bandage tightly around the wound with her other hand.

"The wound is bound. Now what? What's next?" Sera said.

"I should get you to a doctor and report that you cut yourself and need to be watched." She said, half sarcastically.

"Good enough. Now what did you do wrong?" Her mother asked.

"Wrong? What do you mean? I did everything you said." Gemma complained.

"What did you miss?" Her mother asked again.

"I mean, bedside manner. I should have been comforting you." She looked around, thinking more. "I also should have removed the knife from your possession, tossed it away or at least stored it in my pack. Oh, and I should have raised your wound above your chest." She said.

"Yes, yes, these are small details. What was the big thing you missed?" She said.

Gemma was silent. "Well there was more I could have done. I could have-"

"You never used your gnosis mark. You never tried to heal me. You should always be healing what you can, even while you practice medicine and healing on a patient. You never know what edge that might give you to save a life." The words were not harsh, but Gemma felt scolded.

"I- You're right, mother, of course." She hung her head.

"Next time will be-?" Her mother started.

"Better." Gemma finished. "Next time will be better."
Last edited by Gemma Parker on March 7th, 2019, 11:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
Gemma Parker
Player
 
Posts: 185
Words: 219685
Joined roleplay: February 12th, 2019, 5:22 pm
Location: Lhavit
Race: Konti
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 3
Overlored (1) Donor (1)
Lhavit Seasonal Challenge (1)

First Aid 1

Postby Gemma Parker on March 7th, 2019, 10:09 pm

Image

Fall 14th, 516av, 14 Bells

"Good. Now let's practice a tourniquet." She said, removing her bandages and revealing a totally healed wrist under the bloody rags.

"For this, I will not be cutting off my own limb. That would be beyond either of our abilities to heal. We will have to simulate the situation. Tourniquets are only for life threatening bleeds. To apply one, take a cord of some kind and wrap it above the wound." She held out her arm again and gestured at the leather thong with her head. Gemma took it and wrapped it around her mom's upper arm.

"Cross it once, then put a stick or something over the cross." She said. "Use the knife handle for this."

Gemma followed the instructions.

"Now tie the cord over the rod item." Gemma did so.

"At this point you will twist the rod until the bleeding stops and you feel no heart beat above the tourniquet. This will hurt the patient, and you must be very careful to keep track of what time you apply the tourniquet so you can tell the doctor or help when they arrive. But if it's needed, knowing how to do it right will save the patient's life." As she spoke, Gemma did as she said. She tied the leather strip around her mom's arm, put the knife over the crossed part, tied the leather over the knife handle, and began to twist until her mom told her to stop.

"That's enough." Sera said. Gemma stopped.

"Did I hurt you?" She asked, worry in her voice.

"A tourniquet, if properly applied, will always cause discomfort. Now check my bloodflow above the knot." She commanded.

Gemma held two fingers above the tied cord and felt for a few seconds.

"I think I do feel your heartbeat, yeah." She said.

"Good. And what was the second step?" Her mom asked.

"Check if it's still bleeding, but there's no blood so how do I do that?" She asked.

Just lift the bandage beneath the tourniquet to see if blood is still flowing out." She said.

Gemma lifted the bandage and saw pale skin beneath it. Of course she didn't have a wound, so there was no issue with that, but she would try to remember that she needed to check if she ever had to apply a real one of these.

"Now how should you fasten this tightly so it doesn't let blood back in?" Her mom asked.

Gemma thought for a moment, looking at the setup.

"I could use a bandage over the stick to tie it in place. I might lose some of the tension, though." She said. Her mom was quiet, so she thought some more. She grabbed some bandages and wrapped them to test her ideas, but her mom's presence shifted suddenly, almost like she had heard something.


"That's enough for now. Keep practicing those techniques. Remember that the only way to be sure knowledge stays in your mind is for it to be learned through your hands." Gemma nodded with an internal eye roll.

"Now please go get a rag and clean up the blood." And with that, her mother was gone.
Last edited by Gemma Parker on March 8th, 2019, 12:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Gemma Parker
Player
 
Posts: 185
Words: 219685
Joined roleplay: February 12th, 2019, 5:22 pm
Location: Lhavit
Race: Konti
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 3
Overlored (1) Donor (1)
Lhavit Seasonal Challenge (1)

Medicine 1

Postby Gemma Parker on March 7th, 2019, 11:46 pm

Image

Fall 14th, 516av, 14 Bells

Gemma stood at the door to her house, having just come home from school. She knew her mom was inside, ready to give her another first aid lesson. She really didn't want to go in, but what could she do? Anything she did to avoid her lesson would bring consequences. Her mother had told her before that the lessons were easiest when she did her best. If she slacked, her mom would make them harder. She couldn't bear to think of what it would mean for the lessons to be harder. So with a deep breath that did nothing for her nerves, she pushed open the door.

"Gemma, you're late." Her mom said.

"Sorry." She wasn't. But she had to show contrition. She didn't give an excuse. That would have made things worse.

She deposited her shoulder bag at the base of her chair and stood, waiting for instructions. In front of her mom were a set of bandages, so she could guess what they would be working on today: wraps.

Sure enough, after only a moment's pause, her mom introduced the topic.

"Gemma, today we'll be working on wrapping a sprain. Do you know what a sprain is?" She asked.

"It's when you hurt your ankle or wrist and can't move it without pain." She said, not able to keep the grump out of her voice.

Her mom was gracious enough not to comment on that, instead focusing on the incorrectness of her answer. "While that is, in broad strokes, correct, it fails to identify what makes this different from say a break or bruise or strain." Her mother said.

"Well a break is with the bone." Gemma said, hoping to earn points for that. She was unlucky.

"A sprain is in the ligament. A strain is in the muscle or tendon." She said. "I see that you don't know the difference between ligament and tendon." She sighed. "A ligament connects bone to bone. They help things to stay in their correct structure. A tendon connects muscle to bone." To Gemma the two sounded the same, just attached to different things. She didn't see why she had to know the difference, but she wasn't about to tell her mom that.

"All right, I understand. So we're working on sprains, which make it hard for the body to stay in the correct structure." She said.

Finally her mom's eyes came up. Was she impressed? "That's correct. So what should we do to treat this type of wound?" She asked.

"Wrap it?" Gemma said, gesturing to the bandage on the table. Her mom rolled her eyes.

"Yes, but how and why?" Sera asked.

"Well the best thing would be to not use the limb, since that would obviously make it worse. But if you had to use it, I guess you'd want to replace the stability that was lost." So you'd want to wrap it in a way that you could use the limb without hurting it more and while supporting it as much as possible." She reasoned.

"That is correct. Today I will show you how to do that, and you will practice on me. We will start with the ankle." She said.

Gemma slid off her sandal and sat on the floor with her mother, who was already barefoot.

"You want to wrap it like this, in a figure eight. Secure it like this, then wrap in the same pattern." She showed Gemma how. "You want it to be tight, but not to cut off circulation. Check the toe or fingers for circulation by squeezing them until they're white, then letting go. If the digit turns red within a few seconds, the limb has circulation." She said.

Gemma nodded in understanding, trying to mentally note all the things she would need to write down later. When they were done, they switched places and Gemma did her best to replicate her mom's instruction.

"No, not like that. You have to tuck, then wrap." Her mom corrected her start, but after that Gemma was able to form the figure eight wrap and secure it at the end.

"Good. Again." Her mom said, and Gemma repeated it again.
User avatar
Gemma Parker
Player
 
Posts: 185
Words: 219685
Joined roleplay: February 12th, 2019, 5:22 pm
Location: Lhavit
Race: Konti
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 3
Overlored (1) Donor (1)
Lhavit Seasonal Challenge (1)

Medicine 1

Postby Madeira Dusk on March 25th, 2019, 6:42 pm

Image
Grades Awarded!

Don't forget to edit/delete your grade request!


Gemma Parker

Skills
  • Medicine: 3xp
  • Observation: 3xp
  • Rhetoric: 3xp
  • Logic: 2

Lores
  • Motherly advice: best way to learn in through the hands
  • Medicine: how to tie a tourniquet
  • Tourniquet: a dangerous medical practice
  • Healing Gnosis: always pray over a patient
  • Medicine: a sprain affects the ligament
  • Medicine: a strain affects the muscle
  • Ligament: connects bone to bone
  • tendon: connects muscle to bone
  • Medicine: how to wrap a sprain

Awards & Retribution


Notes
I most often read about the congenial dad, so seeing the cold mom is a refreshing change of tone! I like Gemma's very different relationship with both of them. Excellent read.
User avatar
Madeira Dusk
long may she reign
 
Posts: 1774
Words: 1599220
Joined roleplay: October 11th, 2016, 7:45 pm
Race: Human
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
Journal
Plotnotes
Medals: 11
Featured Contributor (1) Featured Thread (3)
Mizahar Grader (1) Overlored (1)
Donor (1) One Thousand Posts! (1)
One Million Words! (1) Lhavit Seasonal Challenge (1)
2018 Mizahar NaNo Winner (1)


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests