silver_sun | Fic related question.

So I am writing a fic and I've got two options of how the plot gets from point A to B.

Basically Jack, Ianto and Owen are stuck on an alien planet. Jack is mortal (when he destroyed the paradox machine at the end of Doctor Who S3 he got fixed when time got reset).

Jack is hurt. A deep puncture wound to his lower leg. He fell out of tree trying to find signs of habitation and managed to stab himself with a pointed stick. They really didn't have anything to treat it with straight away and it's infected and Jack isn't in a good way.

They've now been found by the alien inhabitants of the planet, who (without revealing more of the plot) have a crashed spaceship they've raided for supplies in the past.)

However the ship has been there years, so the quality of whatever is left on board is decidedly dodgy.

So to the question: Ianto goes to the ship and retrieves what medical supplies he can and brings them back to Owen.

So should the stuff still be good/work despite the stuff being alien and being submerged in a partially flooded space ship for about 50 years? or should he get the stuff and it's no good, so Owen does the best with what he has?

Jack is going to pull through either way.

So I can see either working, but have been torn between both options. Is the medicine being viable too convenient and unlikely? or is having it not being any good after Ianto getting in not particularly easy circumstances just angst for angsts sake?

So any thoughts?

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From:

psithurism.livejournal.com

I would say whether or not the medicine is too convenient would depend on what century and planet the medication is from. If it's from far into the future, it is possible that it could still be viable. If it's from a technologically advanced species, also possible that it's still viable. I would say that the 'too convenient' portion would be Owen assuming the medication is compatible with Jack's physiology if the origin of the medication is unknown. He could make medical assumptions drawing similarities between Jack and the native species that have been using the supplies but it is a huge risk. There are a number of medications that are perfectly fine for you but would kill your dog. There are plenty of medicines that are fine for your dog but will kill your cat. I'd say the medication being compatible with Jack is more unlikely than it being viable and undamaged.

One of the things I'm constantly asking myself when I'm writing is "to what end?" or what my husband likes to call "wtf is the point?". It doesn't seem like angst for angst's sake to me. Jack's sick and he's in a bad way. Owen and Ianto are both going to want to do something, not just sit back. If Ianto goes and gets the medicine and it turns out it can't be used for whatever reason, maybe Owen and Ianto get the satisfaction of having at least tried something instead of sitting with their thumbs up their arses.

From:

silver_sun

The aliens on the planet are actually colonists (sort of - they were actually fleeing a war who ended up crashing there, it was uninhabited and they stayed - believing that the planet was a second chance for their species - and part of that was going back to nature - for the most part.) The ship was one of theirs.

They aren't particularly human like - the best short description is 4 foot tall lilac furred marsupial otter people.

They have been there about 50 Earth years. Which is a couple of generations for them.

I'm thinking that perhaps Owen will have to discount the medicines as he can't be sure of how Jack will react, but things like sterile dressings (or maybe even some dressings that have an anti-bacterial element built in), instruments (scalpels and the like) or a suture kit could still be used.

I know how Owen is going to treat the wound (Thanks to Google and Skin and Soft Tissue Injuries, and Infections: A Practical Evidence Based Guide by Adam J. Singer, Judd E. Hollander, M.D., Robert M. Blumm - which admittedly was about puncture wounds on feet, but seemed adaptable enough to cover this.) It's going to be a pretty horrible experience for Jack - with Owen cutting out the dead, infected tissue.

From:

psithurism.livejournal.com

It's going to hurt, no mistake about that. Most sterile dressings and suture material have expiration dates on them and a lot of times that date has to do with the sterility of the item and how long the manufacturer can ensure function (ie suture material might not have the strength it once did). I wouldn't worry too much about the instruments. Instruments can be sanitized (probably not actually sterilized) by heating or boiling. The de-briding is going to be painful. The dead tissue isn't going to hurt but Owen's going to have to cut back until he sees blood flowing and that IS going to hurt.

I'm a veterinary nurse and a kind of bandage that we use often is something called a "wet to dry" bandage. We use it on infected wounds that are draining a lot of nastiness. It needs to be changed often (once a day but in your situation twice a day would probably be better). Sterile gauze is soaked in sterile saline. It's packed against the wound and then dry bandage material is used around it. The dry material will wick away the draining fluid. I do not know about the usage of this bandage in human medicine though. It may be considered antiquated and not used anymore. If you decide not to use the medicines, it may be a good option. Owen pulling a rabbit out of his hat and using a piece of old fashioned field medicine to save Jack?

From:

silver_sun

That's really useful information. I've looked it up and it's definitely used on human patients too. It seems to be really, really common in the US (which is what most search results bring up) and the ones for the UK (specifically the NHS - which Owen would have worked for pre-Torchwood) do use it too.

There was a lot of information about what type of gauze/different materials that could be used in the place of gauze, but it definitely seems to be used and would be something that Owen was familiar with.

They have access to some painkillers (made from some of the native plants) for Jack to use, but it's not super effective. It'll take the edge off, but that's about it.

The main piece of field medicine that I can think of would be the 'using maggots to clean the wound' something more common in historical military type fiction (the main thing that I can think of is one of the Sharpe books) It is something that has been reintroduced in the NHS and has had success - esp for things like ulcers.

The only problem with that is that the they don't actually have any - as although there might be something comparable amongst the native wildlife I'm not sure they could trust that it would work the same.

I think I'm going to go with:

Ianto fetches the things from the ship, but there is little of it that they can use.

Owen decides to cut away the infected tissue and use wet to dry bandages. They have access to water from a clean source that they can boil, as well as salt (sea salt that the aliens make in salt pans down river from the village at the coast).

Out of interest how many days would it be reasonable to start to see an improvement in the wound and the health of the patient? No specific timescale is necessary to the plot, more just not wanting to mention an amount of time that is either far too short or far too long.

I'm thinking a day or two for a reduction in fever and about three or four days for Owen to be able to say that it looks like it's starting to heal cleanly.

At what point would Owen stop with the wet to dry? Is it once the infection is gone or once the wound has healed to a certain point?

Thank you so much for the information that you've given me. You'll definitely be getting a mention in the notes for the help you given.

From:

psithurism.livejournal.com

I'm guessing that the maggot thing takes a lot of time. And it's just flat out disgusting :)

It would depend on the state of infection and how bad it was. That I'm not really good with because I tend to see things improve with medication. And things that don't improve with medication get put down. Usually we see improvement with medication in about two days. I'd imagine it would be longer without medications, probably a week if not more. We usually stop wet to dry once the wound has stopped draining pus and then switch to a more traditional bandage that's monitored and checked probably once... twice a day?

Always glad to help :) Hope it all works out! Can't wait to read it!