being tossed off a cliff: injuries & recovery

[olinscarr]

Hey hey, guys!

Setting: Complicated parallel universe with slightly malleable physics and late-Qing/pre-industrial tech; "magic" is available with strict adherence to internal physics

Comments

[ilye_elf]

I can contribute some personal experience? I've had broken ribs, a cracked skull (and concussion, obviously!) and internal bruising from separate accidents

[olinscarr]

Oh, fabulous, thank you so much!

I'll look up internal bruising - didn't even think to research that! - and how it works. For the TMI, that's actually really helpful, since she's, well, female, and I think details like that is important. (If you don't mind me asking, by "interesting" do you jsut mean "heavier"? Or like off time from usual?) Finally, I assume the internal bruising didn't show?

Broken ribs and cracked skull - thank you, I'll keep all that in mind.

Thanks once again! Really appreciate it :D

[ilye_elf]

By "interesting", I mean that I was "on" at the time and continued to be so for the next two weeks. Not heavily, but noticeably. The next time around was delayed (probably the stress), regular flow but more painful because everything in my abdomen was cramping already.

Nothing internal showed, no. There were lots of external bruises, particularly on bony bits like knees, ankles, elbows, hipbones, but you couldn't see the internal stuff.

[amiyuy]

Re: Concussion there was a large discussion about them recently- http://little-details.livejournal.com/3484482.html

[olinscarr]

Wonderful! Thank you, I will go read that direct!

[full_metal_ox]

If this is the fandom I'm suspecting, magical healing exists; if so, I take it that your heroine won't have access to same?

You mention that Google brought up falls among seniors; was that part of what you were specifically looking for? If she's in that age bracket, she's looking at a far worse-case probability range.

[olinscarr]

Not a fandom - original 'verse, original stories. "Magic" is something I hesitate to call it because it works with the physics of that world, but doesn't with ours. She does indeed have access to it, which is why she ends up not paralyzed for life.

And nope, sorry - she's 21, so research on senior falls won't have so much to do with her.

Thank you, though!

[green_grrl]

8) This is the only one I can answer for certain (best friend has osteogenesis imperfecta-lots of old broken bones). She's very, very achy in the winter, during cold weather. When it warms up again, not so bad. Doctors were not liking the very long-term use of high doses of ibuprofen or Tylenol, so they now have her vaping medical marijuana, which could be a nice pre-industrial solution

[olinscarr]

Aha, thank you. I'll look around also, I think, at international non-marijuana solutions, just because I'm striving for non-Western in my worldbuilding.

Unfortunately no - it's a clayey cliff, not quite sheer - ridgey and sloping, like a continental shelf. Ribs being painful I can deal with; punctured innards are harder. Broken wrist - good; elbows - would make sense and will look up.

Thank you for all this!

[green_grrl]

FWIW, the Wikipedia article on cannibis says it's native to Central Asia and India, and there is evidence of prehistoric use in Euro-Asia and Africa.

[marycatelli]

The thing that would be most likely to help would be something unexpectedly soft and fluffy at the bottom. The current record holders for surviving a fall -- both from airplanes -- landed in snowbanks.

I will observe that an ER doctor once observed that the two thing continually astounding him in his job is how little it takes to kill someone, and how much it takes to kill someone. Pointing out that she's on the far end of the probability curve helps mitigate it.