Trimiris Injury

[Vicki Marsh]

Greetings, Don Savien,

Thank you for pointing out something, but if you don't mind, I would add to
it.  As the Kingdom Chirurgeon, I have had some intimate knowledge of the
injuries that occur at SCA events.

>What bothers me is we seem to be in some sick race to see which field will see 
>the first SCA combat death. Will it be Heavy? Light? Archery? When it does 
>happen there will undoubtedly be a great hue and cry to ban that activity from 
>the SCA in spite of our already amazing safety record. So everyone hopes it 
>won't happen in THEIR favorite activity first.

There have been documented occurences of people choking to death on chewing
gum, due to the nature and elasticity of the gum.  The absolute most
potentially fatal incident I have ever attended on the list field involved a
fighter choking on his chewing gum after getting hit rather hard in the
ribs.  This particular fighter was gurgling, and clutching the upper left
portion of his chest when I reached him. I figured for sure, "One of the
Weekend Warriors has finally had a coronary!!".  When we removed his helmet,
his lips were blue, he was not breathing, and he passed out.  Fortunately,
the simple act of lifting his chin up cleared the airway enough for him to
regain his breath and clear the obstruction himself.  It could have been
worse......much worse.

Ansteorra almost had a terrible tragedy when the horse carrying Alisha
reared, then sat on the Royal Princess.  Should we then ban horses? I
watched in horror as a beautiful steed reared at 25th year and killed
himself in his stall. If anyone had been in that stall, they sould have been
killed also.

At Gulf War, the Chirurgeon-in-Charge, I believe her name was Mistress
Brigid (memory is the second thing to go.....), and she related to me an
incident that occured to a nurse she knew who was a newbie, not even a
chirurgeon.  This nurse was attending a feast when a young man fell very
ill.  He ended up dying from an allergic reaction to the feast (perhaps a
shellfish allergy?).  If this is a true story, should we then ban feasts?
Or the use of shellfish or nuts in cooking? 

The potentially worst rapier injury I have attended occurred during a rapier
melee', when one of the fighters was knocked down and had his head stepped
on (by another fighter with heavy boots) directly over the temple and
cheekbone area.  His saving grace was that he wore one of the newer
lobster-tail schlager masks/helmets.  I *like* those helmets...

There are no guarantees in life.
But we can take prudent precautions and try not to do things that are just
really *stupid*.

In Service, 

Zara Zina Theanos, Baroness of Elfsea