knife wound

[phoenixwriting]

...to the front of the shoulder. a biggish knife, like a bowie but not quite THAT big. pointed and smooth-edged.

the wound is deep but not drastically so; it doesn't go right through.

assuming it's properly treated and so on... how healed would this kind of wound be after two months?

would the bandages be on/off?

how restricted would arm movement be?

and if two months is unrealistic... how long would it take to reach a point where the bandages could come off?




many thanks.

[Kenn Hoekstra]

It would depend on a number of factors like:

- Age of the person with the wound. The younger you are and the better shape you're in, the faster you'll heal.

- Did the knife do any damage to major blood vessels (the Brachial artery, for example, is in the arm) or nerves or muscle tissue? This would lengthen healing time.

My take on this question is yes, two months would be enough time to recover from a knife wound, especially if the wounded person got professional medical treatment, including stitches, bandages and an arm sling to immobilize it.

At the end of two months, a bandage might remain, but only to protect from infection. Full range of motion would likely be back at that point. A huge fist fight or extremely heavy lifting might re-open the wound, but it should be mostly healed by then.

Ever see Payback? Mel Gibson's character was shot in the back, had the bullet removed by a "hack" and was back in action not too long after the procedure. Remember...it's a movie you're dealing with.

Here's an article on wounds and how they heal: (Adobe Acrobat free reader required)
www.regionsem.org/users/k...20Care.pdf (http://www.regionsem.org/users/kkilgore/StudPage/monographs/Wound%20Care.pdf)

Hope that helps!

--Kenn

[phoenixwriting]

kenn,

outstanding, exactly what i was looking for.

the stabee (?) is in his mid-thirties, in good physical shape.

the seriousness of the wound is irrelevant, so no problem there.

many thanks!