Quote:
Originally Posted by Wayne
We don't, we take the stitches out about a week or two later. We might send them home on antibiotics and pain relief but that's it.
Having said that, maybe that's all people get after intensive care…
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After elective surgery yeah, that's pretty much it.
I had surgery on my neck in 2001 and was let out of the hospital 22 hours after I was left Recovery with some medicine. Later surgeries may have been 2days in but if you can eat, go to the bathroom and possibly walk it's back home you go.
With trauma it's a lot more variable. It varies depending on the trauma but "simple" operations can follow that 1-2 day timeline.
With 1 particular traffic accident I have full details on there were 2 hospitalizations after 1 conventional ambulance trip and 2 patients on the helicopter to the trauma center.
One was a "lap belt" injury with a rupture in the small intestine. Certain to lead to infection if untreated but only a relatively small loss of HP. surgery was performed to remove the bad section (c. 4 inches) and splice the remaining length of intestine back together. Hospitalization was short.
The first helicopter evac was for a ruptured diaphram plus a shattered femur. Probably a lot of lost HP too. 2 surgeries each of 6 hours length were performed. The first repaired the diaphragm and no doubt prevented eventual death. The second repaired the leg bone that would never have healed without surgery. The patient eventually walked again (with a limp). She was released from the ICU after 1 month but still needed a very long recovery time.
The other helicopter evac was for a probable large loss of HP but they thought that there was only an ankle fracture. They missed another intestinal tear and then spent 4 months fighting infection. Surgeries were performed many times to help fight the infection but I never heard of any that would have been anything like HP repair.
As a personal opinion relatively few instances of HP loss in Gurps that are not accompanied by crippling injuries are represented by large, gaping wounds. Simple suturing without reconstruction probably is First Aid. If the victim of the injury would heal without serious intervention then surgery probably can't help.