theoutlands
Official Resister
Let me take a moment to HIGHLY recommend this piece of kit! If you remember - with disdain - the little rubber-cup snake-bite kits, you understand the basic concept of the Sawyer Extractor - SUCTION. However, this device is at least an order of magnitude of improvement over the old way.
http://www.sawyeronline.com/sawyer_products/pages/extractor/index.htm
Here's the manufacturer's website...
http://bitesandstingsonline.com/extractor.htm
Here's a site with some good basic info on it.
I quibble with the "easy one-handed use" bit, tho. I have fairly large hands, but holding the body of the pump steady and then stretching all the way up to the end of the plunger is...verging on "not bloody likely!" Other than that, HOT DOG!
LdyHerbs managed to get nailed on the hip by something that left a "purple pimple" boil-type injury. Based on our experience, our thoughts immediately went "BROWN RECLUSE!" Our oldest daughter suffered thru the attentions of a brown recluse about 3 years ago. It was nasty. This time, we went into a rather more aggressive treatment approach. We started by making an incision across the top of the boil in order to open the way for drainage and the extraction of necrotic tissue. I put the Extractor in place and let it do its job, drawing out blood and some clear fluid. Eventually, it even pulled out some "thick blood" - which us non-medical types assume to be necrotized tissue.
After quite a while - prolly 30 minutes - of suction episodes interspersed with cleaning periods, we slathered it with ldyh's homemade drawing salve and covered it with a gauze sponge, taped in place for the night. This morning, we revisited the Extractor, again drawing out some blood and more clear to yellow/milky fluid. The incision had already started to heal closed, so I nipped it back open, which resulted in small bits of "thick blood" - and a noticable change in the nature of the coloring of the site. The "purple" was a bit smaller and closer to the surface by now. I opted to make a crossing incision in order to make a larger exit for the nastiness.
This had the result of removing a LOT of "thick blood" which made a *great* reduction in the size of the purplish area and it is now very close to the surface. Again, we spent about 30 minutes in wound care, recoated it in drawing salve, and redressed it with a gauze pad and tape. We'll go back to it this afternoon and repeat the performance.
I have to say - I bought a couple of Sawyer Extractors, one for my truck-bag and one for the house, primarily on the basis of testimonials. Now that I have used one FOR REAL, I'm adding my testimonial and my STRONG RECOMMENDATION that everyone who has a first-aid kit GO GET ONE OF THESE NOW! I got mine at WalMart in the camping section, but you can get them at pretty much any place that carries outdoors goods, particularly first-aid gear.
http://www.sawyeronline.com/sawyer_products/pages/extractor/index.htm
Here's the manufacturer's website...
http://bitesandstingsonline.com/extractor.htm
Here's a site with some good basic info on it.
I quibble with the "easy one-handed use" bit, tho. I have fairly large hands, but holding the body of the pump steady and then stretching all the way up to the end of the plunger is...verging on "not bloody likely!" Other than that, HOT DOG!
LdyHerbs managed to get nailed on the hip by something that left a "purple pimple" boil-type injury. Based on our experience, our thoughts immediately went "BROWN RECLUSE!" Our oldest daughter suffered thru the attentions of a brown recluse about 3 years ago. It was nasty. This time, we went into a rather more aggressive treatment approach. We started by making an incision across the top of the boil in order to open the way for drainage and the extraction of necrotic tissue. I put the Extractor in place and let it do its job, drawing out blood and some clear fluid. Eventually, it even pulled out some "thick blood" - which us non-medical types assume to be necrotized tissue.
After quite a while - prolly 30 minutes - of suction episodes interspersed with cleaning periods, we slathered it with ldyh's homemade drawing salve and covered it with a gauze sponge, taped in place for the night. This morning, we revisited the Extractor, again drawing out some blood and more clear to yellow/milky fluid. The incision had already started to heal closed, so I nipped it back open, which resulted in small bits of "thick blood" - and a noticable change in the nature of the coloring of the site. The "purple" was a bit smaller and closer to the surface by now. I opted to make a crossing incision in order to make a larger exit for the nastiness.
This had the result of removing a LOT of "thick blood" which made a *great* reduction in the size of the purplish area and it is now very close to the surface. Again, we spent about 30 minutes in wound care, recoated it in drawing salve, and redressed it with a gauze pad and tape. We'll go back to it this afternoon and repeat the performance.
I have to say - I bought a couple of Sawyer Extractors, one for my truck-bag and one for the house, primarily on the basis of testimonials. Now that I have used one FOR REAL, I'm adding my testimonial and my STRONG RECOMMENDATION that everyone who has a first-aid kit GO GET ONE OF THESE NOW! I got mine at WalMart in the camping section, but you can get them at pretty much any place that carries outdoors goods, particularly first-aid gear.
