And Supplies You Don’t Know How to Use: Should You Store Them? Part 1

I see and hear this discussion all the time, with the louder and less-informed always declaring that people shouldn’t fill their shelves or kits with medical supplies they don’t know how to use.  The idea has been discussed numerous times here on the blog.  Of course, I’m in the camp of storing all kinds of things I’ve got no experience using and which I hope never to use.  Nevertheless, I want to have them items on hand should the need ever arise.

Last week while I was away selling books at a gun show, KOTPE was home playing with one of his toys.  I think I heard him say hole saw, but it could have been whole saw, and for what it’s worth, neither of those makes sense to me, so maybe I didn’t hear it right.  Whatever the tool was, she took offense to something that KOTPE did and smacked him hard a little above the corner of his mouth.  He had a respectable laceration and wanted to know if he had to go to urgent care.  Like I’m going to be able to answer that over the phone.

So Aaron gets the video call going for me, and KOTPE says it’s about 1/8” deep.  It looked maybe ½” long, but it was hard to tell on the phone as he was still bleeding a little bit.  Aaron’s in the background making the argument that KOTPE has good insurance and should just go in.  KOTPE knows if he goes in he’ll get stitches even if he doesn’t really need them.  So I told him, if it were his child, definitely go in.  His wife?  Possibly, depending on how concerned they were about a facial scar.  Adult male?  I think it falls into the category of badge of honor. 

After he washed the laceration out really well, I suggested the supplies he’d want to use.  Steri-strips.  He asked if he could use a butterfly bandage.  I said it might work, but I thought the former would be better.  Glue—over the top, not in—would be good.  Could he use super glue?  No, not advised.  He could go to my house and get the Vet-Bond.  He could cover the area with some Tegaderm so that he could monitor the wound while still keeping it protected.  I suggested also taking some ibuprofen.  He asked about Tylenol.  No, Tylenol is not an NSAID (non-steroid anti-inflammatory).  He needs to keep the swelling down.  Tylenol doesn’t do that.

Aaron and I finished at the gun show and made the long drive back. (Made longer because it was really cold and there was a little bit of snow on the road, little enough that people think they can still drive fast, but enough to cause nine vehicles to spin out into ditches.)  I got to see KOTPE at church the next morning.  He did a pretty good job of cleaning and putting himself back together and the swelling was rather minimal. 

So what did he learn?

1.  Steri-strips were much, much more effective than butterfly bandages.  He needed something that would adhere better due to all the movement of facial muscles with talking and eating and malicious family members who kept trying to make him laugh. 

2.  He wished he’d had some Vet-Bond, but not enough to drive to my house for it.

3.  He really wished he had shaved that morning.

4.  He learned that in this situation, the fact that he had no experience using these supplies was irrelevant.  And while being able to improvise is desirable, he wished he’d had just the right supplies instead.  It’s nice to have parents (and their supplies) a short distance away, but it’s better to have the essentials at hand when needed.

Links to related posts:

Managing Lacerations When There Is No Doctor 

Glues for Wound Closure