Date: 2009-06-03
From: Ice Water Spring Shelter

To: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: scattered clouds

I took a nasty slip and fall on a log water bar/step just as I was starting to run down the trail. It gave my left forearm, a small scrape with an odd shaped dime size gash. So I dash the final .25 miles with pack towel on the arm trying to keep it elevated with the scout troop that I spent the night before with pretty close behind. So I get to the shelter go straight to the spring and drop pack and start ripping everything out to get to my medical stuff. I rinse my arm and scrub it with the rather dirty pack towel while I think of what I can manage with the rather small amount of medical supplies I brought. I start rubbing soap on the wounds with the pack towel and then decide to break a gauze pad out to have a clean thing to be wiping with. I have the cell phone out looking for reception to call to check if I can get a person with medical information fresher in their mind. First I thought of Uncle Scott and then I remembered Emily is a nurse, but there is no reception even though I tried each once with the low reception. I do know plenty since I took the wildness first aid training, therefore I knew the steps, but not 100% of the order things should be done and how intense to be doing them, like the scrubbing step if you can over do that one or not. Any how after using the soap and gauze pad a while I decide I got everything pretty good except the gash and I am thinking how do I get in there to clean that deep into something that size. So I am thinking of pocket knife gadgets and the best I can think of is the toothpick and gauze pad, but I remember I just got a new toothbrush in Gatlinburg because I lost my other one. I rinse the toothbrush and soap it up twice with a rinse, then soap it up good to scrub in the wound. Then rinse the wound and toothbrush and re-soap up the toothbrush and brush it out a new refined method to get deep. And repeat the rinsing and re-soap like 5+ more time each time a little different doing my best to get crud out of the wound, not that I know what is or is not in there. So I am there for like 20 minutes waiting for the scouts to get here to ask for there advice and med kit.They don't know much but they have everything pretty much or at least 1 of everything. By the time I ask for help and show off the forearm there is quite a lot of blood but I try to explain it isn't that bad I just have been focused on the washing out of the wounds and not wiping up of the blood. So they give me 2 sterilized wipes one is alcohol the other is something else. At first it is one of the 2 adults of the scout troop wiping gently around the wounds then I take them I clean more vigorously and get patched up with some antiseptic cream on the gash and then he put a huge strip of gauze on the big abrasion and wrapped it all with medical tape a little too tight. I couldn't extend my arm all the way too well. I slept that night and got my bandage changed in the morning even though the scout leaders didn't think it was the best idea, but I just said I am taking it off to get a fresh bandage and the one guy patch me up again. Thank you all very much!