Character injured in an explosion: blast lung, pulmonary contusion, burns, other possible injuries?

[sheenianni]

I’m writing a fanfic where a female character is hurt in an explosion. What I am trying to determine is the extent and limitations of her injuries.

Comments

[lilacsigil]

People with serious burns often don't feel the effect because the nerves are burned away. If you can't get her to a burns ward, she could still have burns on a thick-skinned area like her back and buttocks (running away from the explosion) which will be later painful and require her to stay still and have frequent dressing changes and rehydration. They will scar, but proper treatment will minimise this, and the thicker skin of the back and buttocks will involve lighter scarring and much more mobility than burns elsewhere. She may also have minor injuries from debris. The minor injuries may have embedded debris and are potentially lethal through infection but a vet would be totally capable of dealing with them. She will need antibiotics, but a vet could cobble together a human dose from animal antibiotics

[sheenianni]

Thank you, this was very helpful :) I like the combination of the burns and small debris, and you're probably right about the blast lung - it did sound serious when I read about it. Just one question - wouldn't she go into a shock with the burns that big?

[lilacsigil]

Yes, she will go into shock, but different people go into shock at different times. Some people go into shock immediately, other people go into shock up to two hours later. My paramedic friend got into her line of work after witnessing a multiple car crash and being ordered by a paramedic to corral all the lightly injured and uninjured people so they didn't wander off - she said about every 10 minutes another one would go into shock and try to do something strange like walk off down the hill.

Also, I wouldn't recommend third degree burns over her whole back, sorry if that was unclear - but large patches of third degree burns and second and first degree burns around them, along with some small embedded pieces of debris, would be more survivable with basic medical help.

[sheenianni]

Okay, thanks for clearing that up :)

These injuries would definitely work. So basically what you meant is that while she's running away, the plane explodes and the flames reach her, instantly burning her back side?

[tamtrible]

Sounds like you may have things covered, and I don't necessarily have much to add, but injuries large enough to cause a lot of bleeding don't necessarily mean a blood trail, especially if the injuries were caused by some sort of debris *that remained in the wound*.

The sharp chunk of plane (or whatever) can effectively act like a cork, especially if she's also wearing enough clothes to soak up any blood that *does* leak out, so the wound might not start leaving any significant traces until the debris moves around a bit, which might easily not happen until she gets in the car. At which point, no blood trail to clue in the rest of the world, or at least not one anyone will find.