After tending to the wounded at the river crossing through the night and day, I joined my sister Healers in cleaning and preparing bodies for their pyres. I then set up the pyres and set them ablaze, before crossing the river with my family.
Upon making the river crossing with Malefic and Shoko, I checked Malefics leg where she was hit with a pole from a wagon dome during the crossing. She only had a bruise, which would be alright. Almost as soon as I was checking her, a call went out for a healer.
When I arrived, there was a man face down in the river just on the bank. I quickly pulled his face out of the water, noting his body position, I slid my hand down his torso until finding he was keeping his hand over an abdominal wound. I did not want to move him without help. Shoko kept pressure on the wound, and we half dragged him face down out of the river, I called for a stretcher and Wapike answered. While Shoko kept pressure on the Warrior, Wapike and I moved him to the stretcher, and then we moved everyone in my little ensemble to the surgical wagon. The man had been eviscerated by a kailla claw within the river. A few inches of his intestines had been tugged from his body. Upon reaching the surgical wagon, I washed up as best as I could, and had Shoko do the same. Shoko set him up with i.v. antibiotics and fluids, and kept an eye on his vitals while I worked on cleaning the wound and intestines as thoroughly as I could given the circumstances, before putting his intestines back in, and then sewing up the resulting claw mark on his intestine with bosk gut thread. Once I was sure that there would be no twisting or tying of his intestines, I applied green powder inside to prevent infection, and then slathered the wound with agrimony blue grass before stitching up the outer claw mark, and then bandaging it up.
A slave got him dry clothing, and tons of furs to get him warm before he suffered from hypothermia. He is to be watched carefully as I do not know how much blood was lost in the time it took for me to get to him, and getting him to the surgical wagon. He survived the surgery, but I am not sure if he will survive the recovery. Hopefully I got all of the tears within his intestines so that his own body does not make him toxic.
Commendations to Shoko and Wapike. Wapike acted quickly getting a stretcher for me, and with ingenuity created enough light for which I could do the surgery by. Shoko acted quickly as well, helping me with little to no problem. For a Woman who had been squeamish at the sight of blood before, seeing a man eviscerated can be a pretty startling event, she did quite well, not even blanching or hesitating despite being freezing and soaked to the bone from the river crossing.
Word has also reached me that Vala's young Daughter was injured during the river crossing. Details seem murky at best as no one is exactly sure what happened, but I have been told that she did not survive the River of Tears crossing. Our hearts go out to Vala in her time of need, as it cannot be easy to lose a young child.
Healers should be aware that there were plenty of injuries to be added to the Warriors already within the medwagon before we crossed the River. I would suggest that we keep only the most dire of injuries within the medwagon, while others can be returned to their families or wagons. Though I would suggest anyone who is injured, returning to a wagon where they are alone, have a healing slave available to them at all times, as there are some sprains, some broken bones that do not allow a person to move freely.
The dead are being prepared and returned to their families, or being set up for their pyres. Two sets of pyres in two days, Tuchuk has suffered many losses so quickly. Thankfully with the crossing of the River, Tuchuk may have seen the last of the desperate days, though oil and other camp supplies are incredibly low, if non-existent, we have crossed our biggest obstacle, and still remain victorious over it, as though we have had many losses, as long as one person survives the River of Tears, then Victory is ours.
Triage was set up at the main fire as the wagons crossed. Any superficial wounds that did not require the utmost sterile conditions (i.e surgery) were treated here, and those Tuchuks returned to their wagons. Surgical patients (not stitches, but those requiring more surgery than them) were moved to the surgical wagon, and then moved to the medical wagon. If we are running out of room within the medwagon, then we fill up the surgical wagon. If we run out of room there, perhaps a temporary medwagon can be set up in one of the medical freight wagons. We shall see.
