It has been over 17 years since we worked as an infantry medic, but we think (?) basic first aid has not changed much since then. We specifically did not allow the patient to drink water if they had an abdominal injury. We rarely gave patients water because they rarely asked for it. The only (obvious) case for giving water to the patient was for heat injuries.

This is the (updated) manual that we had to know forwards and backwards: [url]http://armypubs.army.mil/doctrine/DR_pubs/dr_a/pdf/fm4_25x11.pdf[/url]

There were several other manuals covering more specific tasks that we were required to know but this manual covers the basics.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;365708]It has been over 17 years since we worked as an infantry medic...[/QUOTE]

I sincerely bow to you for being able to do that kind of work. :namaste:

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;365708]
This is the (updated) manual that we had to know forwards and backwards:[/QUOTE]
Mrs. LaurV, who, beside of being many things :razz: is also a college graduated nurse, may give you a big kiss for this link.

edit: Saved.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;365708]It has been over 17 years since we worked as an infantry medic, but we think (?) basic first aid has not changed much since then. We specifically did not allow the patient to drink water if they had an abdominal injury. We rarely gave patients water because they rarely asked for it. The only (obvious) case for giving water to the patient was for heat injuries.[/QUOTE]

Well I stand corrected. Makes sense for abdominal injuries.

It makes a bit less sense to me as far as anesthetic goes because I would expect a body that needs an extra cup of water to be able to process it reasonably quickly. Even when I'm well hydrated, I can end up on the toilet within an hour of drinking a cup or two of water.

Actual food on the other hand makes total sense.


Sort of on the topic, I might have gotten a bit of a mild flu or some sort of food poisoning on my trip to Mexico over the Christmas break. I slept like crap, and had a couple of liquid #2 encounters with the toilet during the night. Big headache in the morning, and I ended up over the toilet for a third and very final encounter, only coming out the other end. But my stomach was completely empty. Hell, I was hungry enough for breakfast that I was disappointed my body was trying to reject food instead of taking more in.

Long story short, I vomited on a completely empty stomach (no water or anything either) and it was possibly the second-worst unique experience of my life.

Not too sure why I felt the need to share that, but there we go. Maybe some unfortunate sap can relate.

That last post is a hard act to follow, but I'll try:

First of all, I would think that in the tropics, the body's need for water might be more acute than in more temperate areas, so I wouldn't want to deny water to anyone who asked for it. Even in severe situations, such as my 26th birthday in Crete, after a night of drinking Retsina, Ouzo, and Metaxa the night before, water was actually helpful in allowing me to successfully relieve my stomach and feel better. But I can see that an abdominal injury could possibly be a reason to avoid it.

Second of all, thanks for the Army medical manual, Mike! I am finally getting something tangible for all the taxes I have paid in to the military all these years. Like LaurV, I have saved a copy.

Third, the discussion of rotting fruit reminds me of a visit to Mexico for a solar eclipse many years ago with a friend and my sister, when we stopped to take pictures in a small town of some beautiful Bougainvillea trees, and encountered some young people with several bushels of enormous Papayas, [B]much[/B] larger than those we find for sale in the States. They insisted on giving us several, and would not accept payment. As my sister said, it was sort of like when we grow so many tomatoes or zucchinis in the summer, we are just glad to give them away. We have an apple tree that produces a bumper crop every 2 years, and although we make a good amount of cider and applesauce, we would still have fruit rotting on the ground if we didn't invite friends and neighbors to come over and harvest. Here in Eugene, we have several outstanding gardening projects that raise food for the local food bank. Produce sharing can certainly be a significant way of helping the hungry.

[QUOTE=philmoore;365740]We have an apple tree that produces a bumper crop every 2 years,[/QUOTE]A knowledgeable gardener told me that the typical 2-year cycle of apple trees could be evened out by doing two years' worth of pruning just after a "low" year harvest, but none after the following "high" year. It seemed to work on the one we had.

A story about sickness:

We have had severe food poisoning three times over the years, twice requiring hospitalization.

But, one of those "interesting" instances is not the story we are going to share!

When we were little, maybe 10 or 11 years old, we were so poor we couldn't even pay attention. Our diet was composed of inexpensive foods and usually lots of the the same thing. If chicken legs were 19¢ a pound, we had chicken legs for the next month. No matter what you do, there are only so many variations of chicken leg recipes! To this day there are numerous foods that we refuse to eat because we ate them so much as a child. Good meat, like bacon, was a luxury. A thumbnail-sized piece of bacon would be used to grease the pan the eggs were cooked in, to get bacon flavor, and at the end, we fought over the bacon sliver.

There was an apple orchard nearby. They had a deal for $5 where you could pick as many apples as you wanted. So once or twice a year we would bring home a mammoth pile of apples. Apples are like chicken legs, except there are more recipes for them. Nonetheless, it becomes wearisome eating apples all the time.

One visit we noticed that they had a 25¢ deal for "All the Cider You Can Drink". There was a big cooler full of cider and little Dixie cups. We remember asking them what the record was for cider consumed, and the answer was somewhere around 10 or 15 cups.

We drank 37 cups.

Fortunately, the physical toll of our awesome victory did not manifest itself until several hours later, when we were at home.

:sick:

[SIZE="1"]Movie quote: Wat: Uh, betray us, and I will fong you, until your insides are out, your outsides are in, your entrails will become your extrails I will w-rip... all the p... ung. Pain, lots of pain.[/SIZE]

Thanks for sharing.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;365772]

[SIZE=1]Movie quote: Wat: Uh, betray us, and I will fong you, until your insides are out, your outsides are in, your entrails will become your extrails I will w-rip... all the p... ung. Pain, lots of pain.[/SIZE][/QUOTE]
Great movie. Sustained a friend's morale through very troubled times. He watched it about 100 times and gave us the video which we treasure.

We thought Kate was way hotter than Jocelyn.

:love:

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;365959]We thought Kate was way hotter than Jocelyn.

:love:[/QUOTE]

way hotter? maybe not, but definitely more attractive.

One of my close friends tells a similar story of childhood poverty that was a little more...criminal. they got into a truck driven by their uncle and stopped in a field of corn where upon the kids rushed out into the fields to collect as much corn as possible.

Given the nature of Missouri field corn, which is raised for feed, and the option of several days of eating corn-with-____ he describes a similar experience to the one you are hinting at.

Kate was hotter not only due to her attractiveness but also because she was independent, down-to-earth and stubborn.

:love:

We like how the movie morphs modern music and scenes periodically. And Chaucer's character was amazing. Even the bad guy was sufficiently bad. (Most villains do not impress us, but his snobbish attitude really made us not like him!)

[SIZE="1"]William: Oi sir, what are you doing?
Chaucer: Uh... trudging. You know, trudging?
[pause]
Chaucer: To trudge: the slow, weary, depressing yet determined walk of a man who has nothing left in life except the impulse to simply soldier on.
William: Uhhh... were you robbed?
Chaucer: [laughs] Funny really, yes, but at the same time a huge resounding no. It's more of an... involuntary vow of poverty... really.
[/SIZE]