PFAK success at sea

[Grumpy Old Man]

My fishing trip was cut short this weekend when a deckhand fell against the escape hatch and lacerated her head. It ultimately required 11 stitches. But.... we were 120 miles down into Mexican waters and needed to get her back. As it wasn't that serious an injury, we elected to turn around and go back to port and take her to the emergency room. So at about 5:30 p.m. we headed for home.

Two of us had our PFAKs with us. He had some topical antiseptic and numbing agents but not a lot of pads, mostly just large bandaids. The boat kit was not a lot better as it it was meant to cover a lot of situations in addition to cuts.

My PFAK is always with me and it is a bit of overkill, but I had the things needed to do the job right. A small bottle of Povidone for cleaning the wound; 4x4" gauze pads to apply to the wound and vet wrap for keeping the gauze in place. The other fellow had a pretty good kit but his was geared more toward stitching something up. The upshot was that as the laceration was pretty jagged we put 3 gauze pads on it after cleaning with Povidone and wrapped her head laterally and vertically with vet wrap to hold the gauze in place until she got to the ER.

If you don't have vet wrap or Povidone you can get them much less pricey at the feed store vs a pharmacy.

Links provided below.

Vet Wrap
http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.h...FeV7QgodR0IA4A

http://www.farmingsuppliesdirect.com...FYhxQgodAjsAfQ

Povidone

http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.h...2-00b0d0204ae5

http://www.bizrate.com/equestrian-cl...dine-betadine/
Note the price difference!

Also note that vetwrap comes in various colors for the fashion conscious!

[izzyscout21]

Thanks Grumpy!

I've never heard of either product, byut both will soon be riding in my kit.

[bacpacker]

Mine as well. Thanks Grumpy.

[4suchatimeasthis]

Ha, vet wrap is awesome! It's stretchy and it sticks to itself. Think of like ace bandage x cling wrap!

[The Stig]

I hadn't heard of that either I don't think. Thanks much.

[Evolver]

Sry to hear that our trip has cut short but it sounds like it wasn't uneventful. Thanks for the links.

For an comparison Pharmacy's sells Betadine (Povidone Iodine 10% Solution) which is the same thing as Providone for $17.99 for a 8oz bottle = 2.25 per oz Your link is $11.99 for a 32oz = .37 per oz. Huge difference!

[msomnipotent]

I buy vet wrap in the horse section at Farm & Fleet. Some people call it horse wrap. I buy a bunch when it goes on sale (sometimes $1.25) and then suffer the looks when people ask me what kind of horse I have and I say "Horse?"

[ak474u]

I buy vet wrap in the horse section at Farm & Fleet. Some people call it horse wrap. I buy a bunch when it goes on sale (sometimes $1.25) and then suffer the looks when people ask me what kind of horse I have and I say "Horse?"

Just tell them you're doing maintenance on your mummy.

[LUNCHBOX]

Vet wrap is a nice add to any med kit. It works great in place of an Ace bandage it adhears to itself. (we kept it on hand for our horses) Good call Grumpy.

[Kodiak]

I really need to update my med kit, good info Grumpy.