Babies - Accidents and Emergencies : Part 3

The Mother and Her Child
by William S. Sadler, M.D., Lena K. Sadler, M.D.

(Page 36 of 43)

Punctured Wounds and Slivers

Wounds made by pins, needles, fishhooks, tacks, and splinters are always very painful and great care must be exercised to force bleeding freely, which helps to wash out infection, as more than likely microbes entered with the instrument or sliver when the wound was made.

Fishhooks are exceedingly troublesome, as they often occasion the enlarging of the wound to get them out, especially if they have gone in beyond the barb.

Slivers are easily broken off, so great care is needed in their removal. A pair of tweezers is convenient for seizing the protruding portion, while all side movements are avoided lest it break off in the flesh, in which case it may be gotten out with a needle that has been sterilized in a flame.

All puncture wounds should be dressed with the wet, sterile compress, covered over with wax paper and bandaged loosely; this encourages cleanliness and favors healing.

Bruises

If left untreated, bruises swell, become highly discolored, and in the process of healing pass through the dark blue, green, and yellow stages. The treatment is as follows: Apply hot and cold alternately - the heat should be as hot as can be borne and left on very hot for three minutes, then ice water compresses should be applied for one minute, then hot again - these changes should continue for an hour, and if carried out immediately after the injury all discolorations and most of the swelling may be avoided. Witch-hazel compresses are comforting. If discoloration has taken place, the application of hot compresses will often hasten its disappearance.

Fractures and Dislocations

While there is very little a member of the family or a non-medical friend can do in case of a fracture, and while it is unwise to offer suggestions relative to the setting of bones, yet it is highly important that both the family and friends know how properly to support a broken leg while carrying a disabled person into the house or to near-by medical aid.

For instance, in the case of a fractured leg below the knee, if a couple of flat boards three inches wide be tied about the leg with two pocket handkerchiefs, the ends of the fractured bone will not rub against each other and the pain will be much less in carrying. In this way all danger of causing the broken bones to protrude and therefore "compounding" the fracture is also avoided. And also, if there is no near-by ambulance, a good emergency stretcher may be improvised out of two or three buttoned vests with two poles, rakes, or brooms run through the armholes - one vest under the shoulders and one under the hips and still another under the fracture. An injured person may in this way be carried for miles quite comfortably.

Two people may fashion a seat out of their four hands on which the disabled child may sit with his arms about the necks of his two friends. If the fractured end of the bone penetrates the flesh it is then known as a compound fracture and the utmost cleanliness must prevail - as in dressing other wounds. An X ray laboratory should always be sought, where convenient, to ascertain if the ends of the bones are in good position.

In dislocations, the bone has slipped out of place at the joint. Medical aid should be called to replace the bone, while hot applications may be used in the meantime.

Sprains

All sprains (a twist or straining of a joint) should promptly be put into a very hot bath and held there for thirty minutes. If this is impossible, then a rubber tube or a handkerchief is tied snugly between the sprain and the trunk of the body. Almost instantly the pain, which is often intense and severe, is very much lessened. The hot-water bath is very hot, and the joint should be very red on taking it out. Immediately following the bath the injured joint is wrapped in a very cold wet compress, which is next completely covered by silk, gutta-percha, mackintosh, or many thicknesses of newspaper - anything that will hold all the heat in - as the cold compress is quickly heated up. Lastly, a bandage of heavy flannel completely covers the whole - compress, impervious covering, etc.

The joint is now elevated for three hours, when it is again immersed in a very hot bath and then again the cold compress is applied. This is continued every three hours, except during sleep, for two days, after which it may be done morning and evening. Massage is now administered every three hours, first four inches below the injury then four inches above it, while in a day or so the joint itself may be gently rubbed with well-oiled hands. By the end of one week the patient begins to use the injured member.

In the case of a sprained ankle a properly applied adhesive strap bandage will give no end of relief and support. Various liniments may be applied, but usually the good obtained is from the thorough rubbing which always accompanies their use according to directions.

Sprains treated as above directed will often liberate the child in one-third the usual time generally allotted for its healing.

Frost Bites and Chilblains

Keep the child who has frozen some part of his body in a cool room, and rub the frost-bitten part with snow or ice water, or wrap it up in cold water compresses.

The return to heat must be slow indeed, else much pain may be experienced; blisters followed by discoloration, and even mortification, may set in. You may be surprised some morning on awakening to find your child's hand twice its normal size and very red, because it was out from under the cover a good share of the night exposed to Jack Frost. Do not bring it to heat quickly but immerse it in cold water, gradually and slowly raising the temperature of the bath until it is warm and comfortable.

The intense itching and burning of a chilblain may often be relieved by painting with iodine or triple chloride of iron. Soap liniment has also been suggested, as well as alternate applications of hot and cold water. Chilblains are troublesome, painful, and their yearly recurrence is often very annoying.

About the Author

Dr. William S. Sadler M.D. was a well-known American psychiatrist and college teacher in the school of medicine at the University of Chicago. For over sixty years he practiced his profession in Chicago, thirty-three years being associated in practice with his wife, Dr Lena Kellogg Sadler. The doctors were pioneers in the research on the mysterious Urantia Papers.