Medical Practices in MTC


Healing within the Wagons of the Tuchuk, thanks to the advances of the Green Caste, are more advanced than what one might at first believe. It is pivotal, however, to realize that the type of healing a Free Person or a slave will provide is not that which a member of the Caste or trained Healer can give. (This, of course, does not hold true for captured women who had been of the Caste or slaves trained in the medical arts.)

What follows has been designed for Free Persons and slaves who are not specifically trained in the healing arts. It is recognized that a trained Healer, Field Medic, or healing kajira may not always be available when injuries arise.

Any treatment rendered should be posted to the healer’s log on the Clan Information section of our boards.

Please note that we do not use kanda in our home. Also, paga or "green paga" is never used to disinfect wounds.

-First Healer


Medical Kits

Locations Throughout Camp
    1.) Ubar's Wagon, inner side;
    2.) Outside of the commissary wagons and
    3.) ...just outside the cold wagons;
    4.) On the outside of the slave kennels, facing the supply wagons and
    5.) ...on a pole just outside the sand pit;
    6.) And the last one is hung on another pole just outside the practice field area.
    7.) In addition, during times of migration, there is a medical kit under the driver’s seat of each wagon.

Contents of the Medical Kit
    •Antiseptic solution - 1 bottle
    •Saline solution - 1 large bottle
    •Agrimony/Blue Grass healing salve - 1 vial, applied to a stitched wound
    •Honey-based Agrimony salve - 1 vial, applied to shallow cuts that don't require stitching
    •Blue Grass salve - 1 vial, used to numb wounds
    •Green powder - sprinkled into deep-penetrating wounds such as arrow wounds
    •Black Pepper - painful but effective, it can be used to stop bleeding
    •Poison antidote - 1 small bottle
    •Verillium antibiotic - 1 vial
    •Willow bark - this painkiller's bark can be chewed

    •Tubing and tracheotomy knife
    •Pair of tweezers
    •Pair of scissors
    •Pre-threaded bone needles - curved and straight with dissolvable gut (3 each, S/M/L)
    •Small metal snap clips for securing bandages - 12
    •Folded clean rep cloths
    •Rolled bandages - 5 rolls of rep cloth


Healing Herbs

Below is a basic description of the herbs and other ingredients found in the medical kit, along with a few others commonly used in Maze Tuchuk. This is by no means the complete list of herbs that our Healers, Field Medics, and healing kajirae have been trained to use.

Agrimony Salve: An antibiotic salve used to prevent infection in wounds. Blue Grass is frequently added for its numbing qualities.

Black Pepper: When sprinkled on a cut, it will stop the bleeding -- though it does cause discomfort in the process.

Blue Grass: Found growing under the water of the falls, it has numbing qualities when dried and crushed. The powder aids in comforting pain.

Emetics-(noun): A powder which, when mixed with water and taken internally, induces vomiting, as described in Dancer of Gor, page 238.

Green Powder: A powder which can be mixed with water to make a tea or sprinkled dry over a wound. Acts as an antibiotic to promote healing. Used in deep puncture wounds to prevent infection.

Honey: When smeared on a wound, it acts as a natural bandage and promotes healing. Used as a base in healing salves to help seal cuts.

Lavenia: Parts used: Flowers
    Preparation & Dosage, Infusion: Pour one cup of boiling water onto 1 teaspoon of the dried herb and leave it to steep for 10 ehn (minutes).
    Preparation & Dosage, Tincture: 1-3 milliliters to be taken by mouth for pain.

Valerian: Parts Used: Phizome, Stolons, and Roots
• WARNING! This is a very strong painkiller. Use it with care!
• Valerian is kept in a locked cabinet, except for what the Healing Staff has in their own person kits. It cannot be dispensed by an untrained free person or slave. If the situation warrents its use and a Healer or trained kajira is not available, a NPC Healer can dispense it.
    Preparation and Dosage, Infusion: 1 teaspoon of the dried herb steeped in 1/2 a cup of water for 10 ehn (minutes). This is the most widely used method of administering Valerian.
    Preparation and Dosage, Tincture: usually 1/2 to 1 teaspoon is given, though the solution can be ingested up to 2 teaspoons at one time.

Willow bark: Parts Used: Bark, Leaves, and Buds
    Preparations and Dosage: Patients can chew the bark to relieve pain. Teas brewed from the leaves, buds, or inner bark also serve as a painkiller.
    Note: Do not give to a patient who is losing blood or who has lost a lot of blood! Willow bark acts as a blood thinner.

Zingiber: Used for nausea.


Common Injuries and Treatments

Arrow Wounds:

"I had used simple-pile arrows, which may be withdrawn from a wound. The simple pile gives greater penetration. Had I used a broad-headed arrow, or the Tuchuk barbed arrow, one would, in removing it, commonly thrust the arrow completely through the wound, drawing it out feathers last. One is accordingly, in such a case, less likely to lose the point in the body."--Raiders, 79


"She was gasping. Some six inches of the arrow, five inches feathered, protruded from her shoulder...
"I lifted her from the cruel pinion. She fell to her knees. Now, the arrow gone, her two wounds began to bleed. She shuddered. I would permit some blood to wash from the wound, cleaning it...
Then I knelt beside her and, with those skins I had taken from her, bound her wound...
She was sick from the wound, and loss of blood. She fainted as I had carried her."--Hunters, 112


You will most often encounter three types of arrow wounds: regular unbarbed arrows; barbed arrows; and crossbow bolt wounds in which the bolt has passed through the shoulder, leg, or torso and out the other side.

Regular Arrows-
Check to see if the arrow is moveable or wedged against the bone. Assuming it is in the fleshy part of the body, break off the shaft right below the feathers and push the arrow through to the other side. This will leave a hole. Pack the hole with gauze soaked in healing herbs. Change the packing twice daily. As the wound heals, you will need less packing. Healing time: 3-5 days
If the shaft is against the bone, pull the arrow out. If the wound starts to spurt blood, the head of the arrow has nicked an artery. Use the butterfly clamps to clip off the artery and stitch it back together with gut and a small bone needle. You must work fast. Unclamp the artery and check for leaks.
If the blood doesn’t spurt but the would is bleeding overly much, use black pepper to slow the bleeding and apply direct pressure. Adminster pain medication as needed. Once the bleeding has slowed, clean the wound out with antiseptic. Sprinkle with green powder to prevent infection, stitch the internal layers with bosk gut, and close the wound with silk. Use agrimony/blue grass salve and bandage. Healing time: 3-5 days


Barbed Arrows-
Barbed arrows must be cut out. Trying to pull them out will increase tissue damage. After the arrow head is removed, treat the wound as above. Healing time: 3-5 days


Crossbow Bolts-
Crossbow bolts can be more of a problem. Most likely they will pass through the fleshy part of the body, but they could just as easily get wedged against a bone, making them difficult to remove. The bolt would most likely have to be cut out. Healing time: 3-5 days


Concussions: Keep the patient awake and watch for signs of confusion, etc.; monitor the pupils for abnormal dilation or contraction and alert a Healer/healing kajira of any changes.

Fracture of the Lower Jaw: A severely fractured jaw may have to be surgically wired shut by a Healer. Fortunately, most of the fractured jaws we see are not that serious. The patient is restricted to a soft or liquid diet. A hollow reed may have to be used to provide nourishment. Healing time: 3-5 days

Broken/bruised ribs: For severly bruised ribs, moss paste can be applied. Packets of the moss can be dispensed by the Healing Staff… It should be mixed in hot water, then applied to the bruised area. The moss should be allowed to dry completely (this would take many hours), then bathed off in the hot springs.
Broken ribs, for the most part, are bound. Probe the break to make sure it is lined up properly. You may have to push the bone back in place before wrapping the area. Bind the ribs with strips of bandages, though not so tightly that the patient has trouble breathing. Healing time: 3-5 days


Breaks and Fractures

"One of the girls was moaning and holding her left arm tightly against her body. It must have been severely bruised, if not broken. If it were broken it could be set, and she could then be returned to the cage." --Vagabonds, 459


"I yanked the fellow by the neck leash of twisted cloth to his feet. I thrust the silver tarsk into his mouth, so that he could not speak. 'Seek a physician,' I told him. 'Have your wrist attended to. It appears to be broken. Do not be in Victoria by morning.' I then turned him about and, hurrying him with a well-placed kick, sent him running, awkwardly, painfully, whimpering and stumbling, from the dock."--Rouge, 156


Types of Breaks/Fractures-
Incomplete: The break doesn't go through the whole bone.
Complete: The bone is broken all the way through, but the halves are still in contact.
Simple fracture: The break goes all the way through the bone. The bone is separated but held together by muscle and skin.
Compound fracture: The bone has penetrated the skin.


Treatment-
Reset the bone carefully, if needed, making sure to give the patient a piece of leather or rope to bite down on before attempting to reset the bone. Once the bone has been reset, immobilize the limb or body area. On an extremity, a simple splint will work. When splinting a limb, be sure to use ample padding before applying the splints.
This kind of situation is a perfect example of when shock can set in. Please see the "Shock" section of this page, if applicable to your patient.


Nasal Trauma (broken nose): Do not try to set. Alert a Healer/healing kajira. Healing time: 3-5 days

Soft Tissue Injuries (sprains, strains, and contusions): For sprains, pack the limb with moss paste -- or, if the paste is not available, mud -- to reduce swelling, then wrap for support. Healing time: 1-2 days.
For strains, give willow bark or lavinia for pain and have the patient rest as much as possible. Healing time: 1-2 days.
For the more severe bruisng associated with contusions, moss paste can be applied. It should be mixed in hot water then applied to the bruised area. The moss should be allowed to dry completely (this would take many hours), then it can be bathed off in the hot springs. Healing time: 1-2 days


Wound Care - Punctures and Lacerations:

"I had found that I could stand on the leg. It had been lacerated, but none of the long, rough-edged wounds was deep. I would have it soon treated by a physician in my own holding."--Raiders, 171


"I found Flaminius, the Physician, in his quarters, and he obligingly, though drunk, treated the arm which Ho-Tu had slashed with the hook knife. The wound was not at all serious. 'The games of Kajurilia can be dangerous,' remarked Flaminius, swiftly wrapping a white cloth about the wound, securing it with four small metal snap clips."--Assassin, 264


Cuts and lacerations are some of the most common injuries seen in Tuchuk, along with arrow wounds. Cleanse the wound and determine how deep it is. If it is shallow, apply honey salve to seal it, then bandage it, if necessary. Healing time: 1 day
For deeper cuts, apply blue grass salve to numb the area, then stitch it closed. Depending on how deep the wound is, you may have to use layers of stitches. Use bosk gut for internal stitches, as it will eventually disolve. Silk should be used for external stitches which will be removed when the wound is completely healed. Apply agrimony/blue grass salve atop the stitches, then bandage the wound, changing the wrappings twice daily. Healing time: 3-5 days
If the wound is spurting blood, there is a nicked or severed artery. Use the butterfly clamps to clip off the artery, then stitch it back together with gut and a small bone needle. You must work fast. Unclamp the artery and check for leaks. Healing time: 3-5 days

If the blood doesn’t spurt but the would is bleeding overly much, use black pepper to slow the bleeding and apply direct pressure. Administer pain medication as needed. Once the bleeding has slowed, clean the wound out with antiseptic. Sprinkle with green powder to prevent infection, stitch the internal layers with bosk gut, and close the wound with silk. Use agrimony/blue grass salve and bandage. Healing time: 3-5
Note: Uncontrolled bleeding can often be stopped very quickly by applying pressure with two fingers on the bleeding end of an artery or vein. That pressure should be maintained constantly until the bleeding has decreased enough to apply a pressure bandage. A tourniquet should only be used when direct pressure and all other first aid methods did not work. In the event that a tourniquet MUST be used, place it between the wound and the heart, about 10 centimeters from the wound itself. You can use a stick as a handle to tighten the tourniquet, and it should only be tightened enough to control the bleeding. Never ever place a tourniquet directly over the wound. The person applying the tourniquet should release the pressure every 10 ehn (minutes) to check the bleeding as well as to let blood return to the extremity. If the area is still bleeding upon the release of tourniquet pressure, tighten the tourniquet after an ehn.


Burns: First Degree burns affect the outer layer of the skin, causing pain, redness, and swelling. If the skin is unbroken, run cool water over the area or soak it in a cool water (but not ice water) bath. Keep the area submerged for at least 5 ehn (minutes). A clean, cold, wet towel will also help reduce pain. After flushing or soaking for several minutes, cover the burn with a moist sterile bandage (if available) or a clean cloth. However, if the burn occurred in a cold environment, do NOT apply water.
Second Degree burns are more serious. They are deeper than first degree burns, look red or mottled, and have blisters. They may also involve loss of fluids through the damaged skin. Second degree burns are often the most painful because nerve endings are usually intact, despite severe tissue damage. Apply dry dressings and bandage loosely. Do not use water as it may increase risk of shock.
Third Degree burns are the deepest. They may look white or charred and extend through all skin layers. Victims of third degree burns may have severe pain -- or no pain at all, if the nerve endings are destroyed. Apply dry dressings and bandage loosely. Do not use water as it may increase risk of shock.


    DO NOT...
    • DO NOT apply ointment, butter, ice, medications, adhesive bandages, cream, or oil to a burn. This can interfere with proper healing.
    • DO NOT allow the burn to become contaminated. Avoid breathing or coughing on the burn.
    • DO NOT disturb blistered or dead skin.
    • DO NOT give the victim anything by mouth, if there is a severe burn.
    • DO NOT apply cold compresses or immerse a severe burn in cold water. This can cause shock.
    • DO NOT place a pillow under the victim's head if there is an airway burn and he or she is lying down. This can close the airway.


Traumatic Pneumothorax (Collapsed Lung):

Symptoms & Signs-
• History of recent chest injury or high-risk procedure, plus...
•chest pain
•shortness of breath
•rapid breathing
•chest tightness
•hypoxemia (low oxygen level in blood)


Diagnosis-
Listening to the chest with a stethoscope may reveal decreased breath sounds on one side of the chest. There may be a bluish coloration to the skin caused by lack of oxygen. The affected person may have a rapid heart rate.


Treatment-
The goal of treatment is to remove the air from the pleural space (the tiny area between the two membranes, called the pleura, that protect and cushion the lungs), allowing the lung to re-expand. Small pneumothoraces (areas of collapse) may resolve on their own.
Aspiration of air through a catheter to a vacuum bottle may re-expand the lung.
The placement of a chest tube between the ribs into the pleural space allows the evacuation of air when simple aspiration is not successful, or if the pneumothorax is large. Use the trocar and slide it between the ribs to open the hole, then insert the tube. Re-expansion of the lung may take several days with the chest tube left in place.


Shock:

Signs of shock include-
• rapid heart rate
• low blood pressure
• enlarged pupils
• pale or bluish lips, skin, and fingernails
• decreased alertness
• confusion


Treatment-
• Laying the patient down improves circulation.
• Elevate the legs so long as the patient is not suspected of having head or neck injuries, or leg fractures.
• If head or neck injuries are suspected or confirmed, keep the patient lying flat. In case of vomiting, turn the patient on his/her side.
• If the patient is having trouble breathing, prop him/her up slightly.
• If necessary, use blankets or furs to maintain body temperature.


Don'ts of shock-
• Don't overheat the patient.
• Don't let the patient become aggitated; keep the patient calm


Healing Slaves

MTC and its Healing Staff has sanctioned the use of healing slaves in accordance with these quotes from John Norman's books of Gor:

"I have not mentioned, either, slaves with professional competences, such as medicine or law."--Fighting Slave, 165


"I saw a man who lacked an arm, lying on the floor, groaning, the limb having been lost to the unseen beam of the ships above. 'My fingers,' he cried, 'my fingers hurt!' One of the humans by the wall, a girl knelt by him, holding a cloth, trying to stanch the bleeding. It was Vika! I rushed to her side. 'Quick Cabot!' she cried, 'I must make a tourniquet!' I seized the limb of the man and pressing the flesh together managed to retard the bleeding. Vika took the cloth from the wound and, ripping it and using a small steel bar from the sheared wall, quickly fashioned a tourniquet wrapping it securely about the remains of the man's arm. The Physician's daughter [now a slave] did the work swiftly, expertly."--Priest Kings, 244-5

 

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