July 11 – “Rub dirt in it”

Yesterday was another of my “connect with the fire department” days.  I needed to get my computer aligned with the servers so I can find out who is working on the days I can go do station visits.  The assistant chief who offered to help me with that was going to be at one of the stations all morning, so I agreed to meet him there.  And as it turned out, the reason he was there involved everyone on shift coming to that station for a training session.  What a way to take care of a day of visiting stations … have them come to you.

The training was already in process when I arrived, so I stood at the door and listened in.  A doctor from UTMB was lecturing on treating severe wounds with or without tourniquets.  He mentioned one product in his presentation that immediately drew my fascination.  It was basically a roll of gauze infused with a product that sounded suspiciously like “Cailyn.”  That’s what got my attention at first.  I finally looked it up.  The infused product is called “caolin.”  It is, well … a type of clay originally found in some obscure province in China.  It has been used for years by the military.  So what’s the big secret?  Well, you unroll a packet of the “Cailyn-infused gauze” (Sorry.  That’s what I heard, and that’s what it will always be to me now).  Then you start packing it into the wound as deep as you can get it.  Remember, this is for the most serious of wounds that have affected arteries and have lots of bleeding.  Once the wound is completely packed, you continue wrapping the outside of the wound to provide the needed pressure.  The “Cailyn” inside the gauze acts to cause the blood to clot, thus stopping the most severe of the bleeding. 

Sorry if that was too gross for you, but for me it just proved a point.  Seems my Dad was right after all.  Sometimes it is best to just “rub some dirt on it.”

Psalms 79:9 says, “Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name's sake.”

Father, thank you for all the miracle of your world that we haven’t even discovered yet.  Amen.