07-14-2011, 02:36 AM
LRRPF52 Wrote:If you do get any fabric and foreign debris into a wound, the debris needs to be removed ASAP. This is where debridement comes into play. Basically, you need to expose the wound, irrigate with saline solution, probably open/remove damaged fascia at the entrance/exit, and run gauze through it until the wound path is cleaned. They did that on my legs with the GSW. If you don't debride, the dead tissue and foreign debris will induce infection really quick, and then the muscle tissue will turn black, while skin turns dark and mushy, with no more nerve function, and will need to be removed. This is why mine injures are so effective when a soldier is wounded because he needs to be rushed through the echelons of care from the front to the rear ASAP.
LRRPF52
Yeah, in my case they stopped the bleeding and left the wounds open for about 10 days, a trick they learned in Vietnam. No sense stitching infection in. They changed my dressings every other day and just spackled Betadine paste into the wound holes with a tongue depressor. Then another trip to the OR for 300+ stitches and skin grafts.
I don't know what the relative speed of the shrapnel was but I suspect it was pretty slow. I was 10 or 15 feet from the blast. So I wonder if a slower or faster projectile would have a tendency to take cloth with with it rather than punching a clean hole in the cloth.