by Oluse on January 24th, 2012, 3:18 am
Oluse smiled at Falix, very glad she had been pondering his words from the day before. It left him convinced that she had indeed been listening. "As you remember from yesterday it is absolutely essential that humans breath. And the very first physical problem you check for is weather they are breathing or not. I felt it would only be right to teach you how to help remedy this problem as well as identify it.
There are many obstacles that could get in the way of a person's breath. Sometimes when you check you'll find that their lungs have simply given up on breathing. This could happen if they have nearly drown, or if they are under a large amount of shock either physically or mentally." He then stopped a moment as the list went on his head, but he decided to just skip to teaching her the remedy instead of dwelling on the causes. "When this happens the goal is to get them breathing again as soon as possible. To do that-" He paused again, realizing a slight anatomy background might be necessary for the little creature. "Well humans have lungs. Two. One here, and one here." He pointed with his fingers, then gave an indication of their shape and size with his hands. "This is where we breath into. A muscle runs across here." He touched his own diaphragm. "That draws breath in," His moved his hands to mimic the motion as he took a deep breath in, "And out." He showed the opposite motions as he exhaled his words. "So if we have stopped breathing it is one possibility that this muscle, the diaphragm had ceased. In that case our goal as healers is to get that muscle working again, no matter what. Humans sustain permanent damage and die extremely quickly if air stops cycling through them. Breath is life." He took a moment to pull his coat and shirt off, setting a heavy waterskin aside with with them. Standing there topless he gave another demonstration of the movements of the human chest.
"So, when you find your patient, you first put your ears to their mouth and listen carefully. If you don't hear or feel breath for a hand or two of ticks then they need help immediately. First, they may have an obstruction to their airway. Carefully lay them on their back, and then lift their chin like this," He laid down and demonstrated on himself, unabashedly right in front of the fire. "Then listen again, if breathing does not begin within another hand or two of tricks then it is likely their diaphragm has stopped. If there is anybody near by that can help you, recruit them to either go fetch more help, or to do the procedure for you while you tend to other medical issues.
In addition to your fingers here lifting the chin, you must pinch the nose like this," he pinched his nose between his trained fingers causing his voice to distort comically as he continued, "keeping the hilt of your hand up here on the forehead." He gives her a little smile, but persists, removing the pinch from his nose, and sitting up a little. "Then you take a normal breath. Or for you I suppose a large breath." He looked again doubtful of her size. "Then seal your lips to theirs, or have another person do it if you need, so no air can escape. And exhale into them. Their chest should raise slightly, but not their stomach. If it doesn't try re-raising their chin and pinching their nose, then repeat till it does. Administer two of these breaths. Both about a tick long with a tick in between, not too forceful." He paused giving her mind a short moment to process everything, then repeated a few key points and continued.
Once you've done this, press your hands like this right here." He then laced his fingers together awkwardly flaring his elbows out, palm against the back of the opposite hand, and pressed it to his chest directly anterior the inferior portion of the body of his sternum, directly superior his xiphoid process. "Not here," He demonstrated lower, "But definitely not up here." He demonstrated higher. "There is a very delicate bone that can break here." We went ahead and put his chest closer to his apprentice. "Go ahead and feel so you can get comfortable with where it is. Once she had he moved on.
"You'll want to spread out the pressure on their chest as much as possible with your hands to keep from breaking anything, but you will also want to make sure you don't spread out onto the flat of the ribcage here." He pointed up the wall of the ribcage. "Don't be ashamed to ask for help if your having even a little trouble. It's essential this is done quickly." He shifted around onto his knees, and redirected his hands straight down front of him, to show how he would do it. "Now this part will be the most physically exhausting. If you hear a snap or crunch do not stop. A broken rib bone is less threat than not breathing. You must do thirty compression. Thirty of them. Hard and fast. Make sure the compression is about this deep into the chest." He put several fingers together to show the depth, a frightening amount for a human, but likely less shocking for the Pycon.
He then squared his shoulder up, leaning forward, his ass rising up, causing a v between his upper and lower legs, making his arms run vertically upward from the ground before him. "Thirty times," He repeated, the words seeming to come from a secret place within him, one that did not think but simply acted. Like the words themselves were muscle memory. "Fast. Hard. Rate of one hundred times per minute. Two breaths." He then looked the Pycon in the eye, he wanted to imprint the words into her mind forever. "Thirty times. Fast. Hard. Rate of one hundred times per minute. Two breaths." He then gave a demonstration to the hard floor before him. He took it seriously, however, attracting some odd looks from a patient wandering by. His motions were measured out perfectly, and his focus cut in severely on his actions. The movements were those of a man that had administered this very action hundreds of times in the past. After the lightening fast thirty compressions he stopped shifted his weight and showed a fluid breath to the imaginary patient beneath him, then gave another thirty compression to the ground. "Two breaths." He looked at her looking relatively unphased by the exertion, save his eyes which seemed somehow more distant.
"Then you repeat the cycle till they breath." He gave out a short laugh as he finished the instruction, trying to shake himself from his own trance. He had more to say, but he stopped to listen to the Pycon's words before he continued.