Crossbow Wounds

When one is dealing with crossbow wounds there are various things that must be determined first. One must find out if the bolt from the crossbow is barbed or not as this is of major import in the treatment of the wound. If the bolt is barbed there are different ways which this can be removed. One way that is the most used is for the bolt to be pushed through the body and pulled out this way, but I find this to cause more damage than is necessary. I myself have found that very gently cutting around the barbed end of the bolt and then removing it tends to be less painful and damaging. Now when one decides to cut out the barbed bolt one must be sure that the depth of the bolt has not gone too far into the flesh as this will make it more difficult, in which case one should then do as stated before and push it the rest of the way through, barring bones and organs which might be in the way. There are various things that come into play when dealing with crossbow wounds which cause one to think before simply treating and this is not always a bad thing. After one decides upon a course of action for treating and removing the bolt there is a set way to handle this wound. It is as follows:

First one must always and I cannot stress how important this is, always wash ones hands in sterile water. There will be enough chance of infection setting in that we do not need to add to this with treating with dirty hands.
Second, one must always use numbing salve on any area that is to be stitched or cut or even probed deeply as we are healers or physicians and should never cause more pain than is necessary.
Third one must always prepare what one needs and will need for the treatment so that one is not rummaging around during the treating of the wound as we wish to fix the problem as quickly and efficiently as possible

Now on to the treatment of the wound, remember that you will want to remove the barb and then stitch up the wound and then apply healing and antibiotic salve and then bandage it. This is a simple way of doing things but it is the best way.

Now after one has assessed the wound and decided upon a course of action there are certain things which must be done, there will be bleeders inside the wound, these are arteries and veins that have been severed or nicked and will need to be stitched up so that the blood loss is minimal. There will also be various muscles and tissue that will need to be pieced together again,You should always use the smallest thread and stitches possible as these will need to hold tiny things together.

Once the wound has been properly stitched , you should bandage it , not too tight but also not too loose , as either can damage the wound more than it already is. Upon the sterile dressing you put a good amount of antibiotic/pain numbling salve and then place it atop the wound. This will help keep out infection as well as numb the area to keep the pain level down to a minimum.



Regular Arrow Wounds

Regular arrow wounds are much easier to deal with than crossbow bolts, as they are not normally barbed as heavily or as strongly as the bolts of a crossbow, so oftentimes it is easier to simply break off the shaft and push the arrow the rest of the way through, depending of course on how far into the flesh it went. You would not wish to do this if it has only pierced the skin a inch or so. Each arrow wound will be determined individually. The arrow will normally go cleanly through the body , if you choose to push it through the rest of way, because the shaft is normally wooden and thin and the point small. If you choose to cut it out, you would do this the same way as with the crossbow bolt.

Once the decision has been made on how to remove the arrow, you follow the same procedure for stitching and dressing the wound as you would a bolt. You basically treat this as a puncture wound but normally with a much larger diameter.