Solo [Opal Healing Tents] Treating Burns

[Waisana]

57th Fall 513AV

Waisana enjoyed carrying out the basic medical care that was given in the healing tents. There were always people who had minor ailments and injuries that needed seeing to. Patients were always coming in with cuts and bruises, with colds and headaches (sometimes that meant hangovers). All those ailments were easy to see to. Maybe a bandage would be needed, or something to ease pain or symptoms. Not everything in medicine was to do with stressful work like wounds that fountained blood or serious ailments. It was the simple work that she liked though. It gave her the chance to talk to people and to get to know them better. Knowing your patients was another part of medicine.

So when a woman came in with a burn on her arm and a pained expression, the teen was straight on it. The healing tents had been very busy and so many of the other healers were occupied, some of them with more serious cases, and so a burn was something she could deal with. She approached the woman with a smile.

"Would you like to come with me so that I can see to you?" she asked, beckoning to the woman who followed her over to a work table. There were three stools around it, one on one side and two on the other. Her patient sat on one side and Waisana on the other after washing her hands.

"Right, give me a look at that arm and tell me what your name is," she told the woman, placing her hand palm up on the table ready to take her patient's arm. The woman complied, placing her forearm on top of Waisana's hand so that the girl could get a better look at the livid red mark marring the skin of the arm. 

"My name is Veenia," the woman replied, wincing as Waisana touched the burn lightly. The skin was red and blistered and appeared to be wet. It was dry to the touch and when she lightly pressed it, the skin blanched, paling under the slight pressure. Judging by the level of damage and the amount that was burnt(she couldn't completely cover it with her palm), she guessed that the Veenia had given herself a second degree burn probably by scalding herself with hot water. If it was a second degree burn then it must have been painful. Glancing up at the woman she noted the blotchy red patches at the tops of her cheeks and the puffiness of her eyes which were bloodshot. It was no surprise that she had been crying.

"It isn't a deep burn, only superficial I think. That means it only really affected the outer layers of your skin," she explained to the woman as she let go of her arm. "It could take awhile to heal or it could go away in only a few days. Looking at this... maybe 15-20 days. I can't be sure. It won't scar though. I take it you scalded yourself?"she continued. The patient's eyes widened in amazement and she nodded. Waisana smiled, feeling smug that she had guessed right. It wasn't that hard to work out. There wasn't really anything else that could have caused such a burn.

"Right, well I know how to treat it now that I know which sort of burn it is. I need to put cold water on it first and give you something to soothe it and something for the pain. I know it hurts but you'll just have to put up with it for the moment. Though when I'm done I can give you some Tolm so that you can make tea with it. It'll help with the pain," the young woman explained, before heading off to search for the materials she'd use. 

[Waisana]

The healer found a bowl and filled it with cool water, collecting a good absorbent cloth while she was at it. Better to squeeze water onto the burn rather then dabbing it, which would only aggravate it further. Immersing the burn in water for too long, or even using water that was too cold could cause problems too. For pain relief, making tea from Tolm was probably the best way. So filling a metal kettle with water she set it over the fire to boil and collected some Tolm which she placed in the bottom a stone cup, ready to go.

There was some plant that was good for soothing burns and blisters but Waisana couldn't remember what it was. She didn't even know what it looked like so that wasn't much good. The best option would be to ask another healer but she was loathe to ask another something that she ought to know herself. Glancing at Veenia however, she knew that the woman was in pain and so now wasn't the time to be proud. So swallowing her pride, the teen approached a middle aged female healer, who was busying herself with herbs.

The woman appeared to be measuring out herbs for cures. Some were fresh, apparent because of their vibrant foliage while some were dried, the foliage shrivelled and browned. Some she crushed and some she chopped but she was measuring them out and grouping them together to be used later. When Waisana approached her and cleared her throat delicately to get her attention, the woman looked up at her, her face stern and one eyebrow quirked up in question.

"Yes? What do you want?" she asked coolly, the annoyance at being disturbed clear in her voice. The teen shrank slightly from the stern woman but she stood her ground, determined not to be intimidated.

"I was wondering if you could help me with something. I'm looking for something that can help soothe burns. I can't remember what it is," she told the woman, her hands showing that she was apologetic. The healer scowled at her, dropping what we was doing, freeing her hands to be able to sign.

"How can you not know?" she asked, her signs rapid and over exaggerated, showing her annoyance. "What sort of healer are you? You need Rhinedale ash mixed with water to make a paste. There's some over there, now be off with you!" The woman had gestured to a small container before making a dismissive gesture and turning away to show that the conversation between them was over.

Meekly, the girl took the tub and hurried away to find some small pot to mix her paste in. So she had been looking for Rhinedale ash. How had she forgotten the name? No matter, now she knew it and there was no point dwelling on it. Scooping a few measures of the powder into a pot, she added water and then used a finger to stir the mixture into a paste. It still seemed a little thick so she added more water and stirred it again, wiping her finger clean on a cloth. Her paste made, she put it to one side and went to check on the kettle over the fire. The water was bubbling away merrily so the girl lifted it off with a cloth wrapped hand and poured some of the water on top of the Tolm to leave it to stew.

While she waited for the Tolm tea to brew, the healer carried her water, paste and bandages back to her patient. She smiled reassuringly at her patient.

"I'll have something for the pain in a few chimes, Veenia so in the meantime let's get to work shall we?"

[Waisana]

She took a light hold of Veenia's arm and dipping the cloth in water, she held it over the limb and squeezed water onto the burn. The woman winced slightly as the unexpectedly cool water fell on her arm but then she relaxed and sighed with relief as it took away some of the ache. Waisana repeated the exercise, allowing more water to trickle over the reddened surface. She did it twice more then took a thin, dry cloth and placed it over the burn to take up the surface water. She repeated the action until she'd gotten it reasonably dry.

"This is a paste to soothe your burn," she told her patient, holding up the little pot of paste for her to see. "It has rhinedale ash in it, something we have to trade for because we don't have it in the Sea of Grass. That means that we have to be careful how much of it we use because we only have a limited supply. So when I tell you to use this sparingly, I mean it. If you run out, don't say that I didn't warn you." Dipping her finger into the paste, she applied a thin layer of it to the burn. "That's all you need, see?"

Taking the little pot, she put a piece of material over the top and looped a piece of cord around it, tying it shut. She placed the little pot beside the woman and picked up her bandages. Burns needed to be covered in bandages that weren't too constrictive and ones that could breathe. Wrapping them loosely around the burn would stop the skin from peeling off or sticking to the material. So Waisana looped the strips of cloth around the burn carefully, tying the bandage closed but not too tightly.

"Now, you take those bandages off tomorrow and wash your arm before you put on fresh paste and bandages. You probably won't be able to do it yourself but someone in your pavilion could do it for you as long as they don't tie the bandages too tightly then you'll be fine," she explained to Veenia, smiling reassuringly at the woman. Her patient smiled back gratefully, her expression one of relief.

The teen rose and fetched the Tolm tea for the woman, allowing her to drink it while she went to gather some more of the herb so that the woman would have pain relief later. When she returned with the herb, her patient had finished her tea and was smiling. The woman clasped the girl's hands and thanked her with feeling before she gathered the supplies Waisana had given her and left the healing tent. The healer watched her go with a feeling of satisfaction. There was no feeling better than knowing that she had helped someone.

[Translucent]

Congratulations On Your Hard Work!

Waisana:
XP:+3 observation, +3 medicine,+1 leadership, +1 Deduction, +1 intelligence, +1 herbalism
Lores: Deduction/Intelligence: Following the clues to guess a scalding. Swallowing pride for the betterment of her people, Herbalism: Rhinedale Ash for burns

Notes: After learning more about the Drykas, 15 years old is not a child for them. At 15 Waisana would be an adult with adult responsibilities, so they wouldn‘t treat her like a underfoot child. Hehe it was once told to me that someone who was 18 years old was approaching middle age for the Drykas

A nice thread, don’t forget to edit your grade request 

As always PM me if you have issues.