Issan Village First Aid.

[Cuban]

There is a little irony as I write this post with one finger firmly bandaged from a gecko bite earlier today. But as things occur in threes, 'we' should be OK for a while now.

As the kids are off school at this time of year I remember that having a first-aid kit restocked and to hand is wise, as more people are milling around the house than usual with more time on their hands along with the impending Songkran next week.

The first incident a few days ago was a dehydrated child flaked out after running around in the heat all day. Thai solution: dab a wet towel on her arms, no offer of drinks in sight. I made up some sugar, salt and lemon juice drink and gave her that. Now the fridges have a few liter bottles of a similar drink made up with boiled and mashed up pearl barley, (better than just water, Coke, Fanta etc.) I'm getting the kids involved in making them - it ensures they drink during the day. Having a filled ice bucket with it or iced tea goes quickly too.

Next event was the youngest (15) nephew; who fell while playing football. He is no cry-baby so to see him in tears even while being tended to by his cousins that he is 'fond' of tells me he is in real pain. He had fallen shortly before I returned home and the niece with a brain (care of Girl Guides' first aid training) had him sitting down and was applying wrapped ice to his wrist. The three Thai adults (family members) that were within shouting distance were taking no action at all. After seeing that the kids were OK for the immediate time I went to look for my wife and other English speaking relatives. After a short Thai:Thai:English conversation their conclusion was that the wrist wasn't broken.

I was close to 'loosing it' as I explained in basic English that no Thai has special x-ray vision and from my knowledge of the kid in question he is in severe pain, there was also dark discoloration near the wrist, that alone is reason to assume broken bone. He was going to hospital whether I took him or his father could be bothered to.

They debated for a few minutes before they departed for the short trip to a local hospital. He looked much happier two hours later with a plaster cast encasing the arm to the elbow hanging in a neat net sling with adjustable strap. Q. Was it broken I asked? A. Only a little bit. Was the sheepish reply.

My encounter with a gecko is documented here, but in brief gecko teeth are sharp and deliver nasty bites to Falang fingers. I have nice thin blood that flowed freely from the wound so it took two gausses and a lot of bandage to stem the flow. After the initial humor (mine included) that I had been bitten while trying to set the creature free, the MIL offered to carryout a mystical Buddhist blessing ritual to stem the blood and remove the pain.

I accepted and offered my supported hand, Thai style, not so much that I expected a cure but I know it pleases my wife that I appear to go along with her customs. While MIL pressed on the bandaged finger and muttered something mystical, I asked my wife why, when I suffered a minor dog bite last year that we had to go and see a man 3Km away for the same 'treatment'. She said that MIL couldn't do dog bites but this was different. My face only betrayed 20% of the laughter in my head that the treatment for a gecko bite was different from a dog bite and the fact that I should know that. I swear that MIL pressed harder at that point to remove my mirth with a yelp.

Have a safe songkran everyone.

Edited April 9, 2010 by Cuban

[MAC10]

You'll need to be carefull with the Tokay bite. They have a foul mouth and you can end up with a serious infection from them. Did you scrub out the wound and talk to a Doc about taking preventive antibiotics? When was your last tetanus booster? If more than five years you should talk to a local doctor about having one.

We had a relative bitten by what he first thought was a rat. He stuck his hand in a hollow piece of log, snatched it out, claimed he was bitten like it was not a big deal. Then a cobra crawled out of the log and he panicked and ran all the way home. He refused to go to a Doctor and his hand swelled up terribly. Later the swelling went down and part of a finger rotted off. He still refused to go to a doctor, says he does not like them. The latest news is he is back to work after everyone thought he would either die or lose his hand.

[Boo]

I keep my own first aid kit in the draw next to our bed at the mil's. Bandages, plasters, calamine, antihistamine, pure alcohol for cleaning wounds, vicks, calpol for kids & some other basic medicines & antiseptic creams & lotions. I just wont trust that if my son or someone else gets an injury or illness that mil will have anything recognizable to me for treatment. Luckily the local & quite good hospital is a 2 minute drive from our house for real emergencies but it is always worth having your own stash of first aid kit as well.

[bina]

the two best things i found for cleaning wounds is polidine cream mixed in water to a weak tea solution (same we use on animals) used only til the wound scabls up, then saline water.. or hydrogen pyroxide.

in laws' medical drawer was impossible. tubes and pills and creams and they seemed to use them w/o thought to which cream goes to which problem.... same as pills. i actually sat down one day and organized the things and attemtped to explain to sis in law which things are what....

as far as dehydration, i also did the same thing but no one seemed to make the dehydrated feverish and vomiting child drink (mark the bottle after each drink to see how much she drank- very common in israel even the most idiot of mothers is taught that since dehydration is common here)....

funnily enough, husband recently had a major hive reaction to a caterpillar common in israel (the hairs blow in the wind and cause horrible reactions): he refused our 'ahiston'2 mg (chlorenphemarimine -spelling) and went to the thai workers who gave him a huge bottle of ..........the thai 'ahiston' 4 mg. and if the dosage was one pill, he took two and slept for 8 hours on the sofa........he refused the cortisone cream for hives we have and preferred calamine which is useless on allergic hives, because he recognized it. so now we have thai meds in one box, and israeli stuff in the main medicine cabinet.

btw, if u stroke a gecko on the stomach or dont attempt to remove him, usually they relax on their own and let go... the more u get aggressive, the more frightened they get and the tighter they clamp down.

bina

israel