Challenge #02256-F066: First to Aid
A book written by an alien Medic over humans and their needs (physical/emotional/etc) medical "normal" procedures/operations for them, limits of humans (go wild and have fun with this one^^) and what to do with your human if sh*t hits the fan and emergency medical procedures (Bringing him back to life by smashing repeatedly his ribcage and forcing air in, stopping leaks, treating rocket fuel burn( how did he even get this?!?) , etc.)
Have fun and do your thing :-) -- Anon Guest
The title of the piece was Edge Medicine - Living With Humans and Keeping Them Whole and Rykthaak Malyss had made a fortune off it, back in the day. For a long time, it was the only source for Mediks about Human health. In retrospect, it is an erroneous document full of assumptions and incorrect deductions, but for decades, it was written with the best and most heartfelt of intentions.
Sympathetic rhythm in a human chest can cause their hearts to resume beating after theirs has stopped, ze wrote. Many Humans are taught this from a young age. See appendix file 'Staying Alive' for the ingrained rhythm. Other means of coronary stimulation include electronic rhythm induction, though this is preferred to re-establish a rhythm in erratic heartbeats.
Another chapter was dedicated to broken bones. Human bones are difficult to break. What many consider lethal force would only cause relatively mild fractures in sections of a Human skeleton. Humans are capable of operating with broken bones, but that does not mean that they should be allowed to do so. Fractures large and small cause a great amount of pain in Humans. Especially what they refer to as 'green stick' fractures.
Several pages follow with disturbing imagery warnings, containing examples of Human bone fractures, the symptoms, and the best treatment for the same. The worst ones, under the most severe offensensitivity warnings, were the ones where the broken bone pierced the Humans' own flesh. Those had precise and exacting steps that included important ones like be certain that the Human is adequately sedated and given pain relief before proceeding.
The really alarming part was that Humans had been performing procedures like this on each other and sometimes themselves for centuries. Sometimes, centuries before adequate pain relief was possible. Many Humans in centuries before the Shattering owed their continued survival to their extended capacity for alcohol and other sensory inhibitors.
There are many sections in this work concerning things that should only be performed in extremis. Emergency Procedures, as they are known. Things that can go wrong with the Human body that only a Human could have known about before this work was published. Tracheotomy. Cesarean. Bypass. Transplant. Transfusion.
Just flipping through half of these pages is enough to convince any Medik stepping into the Edge Territories that little can definitively or permanently kill a Human. By the Powers, their own reproduction process is enough to endanger the lives of both parent and child, yet they evidently keep doing it. Small wonder, then, that for a significant portion of time preceding the admission of Britania into the Galactic Alliance, that deceased Humans were repatriated to their points of origin in cryosleep containers.
The more interesting passages are on emotional well-being. They are the ones that dictate what other species can do for solitary Humans. There are entire passages on touch, haptic reward, and what kinds of peoples the Humans tend to find more amenable to physical contact than others. Species with fur or feathers are always more interesting to Humans' haptic curiosity than those with skin. Similarly, it is rare to find a Human who is amenable to physical contact with an insectoid species. Therefore, it is always considered a polite move to ask first.
Before you ask, yes. There are, indeed, numerous passages on how to pet a Human.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / ntitov007]
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