(Novel research!) Could my character survive this?

Question

Okay, so one of my main characters is a 5' 5" female elf living in the medieval times. She's escaping some enemies on a young dragon (main character, 14 year old dragon, from nose to tail tip: approx. 40 ft. long), the dragon crashes on the ground and one of the sharp, slightly downward curving spikes on her neck slices into and back out of the elf's abdomen (top of the would starts at an inch under the sternum and goes 3 inches down the abdomen). The stab wound is 4 inches deep.

I want her to survive this and the wound to be kinda life-threatening. Would the wound I described puncture a major organ or something? And would it be realistic that she'd survive it? Yes, she does get medical attention by a human friend that was right behind her on another dragon.

Also, if she started to die, would it be okay if her friend gave her CPR? It wouldn't cause anything worse, right? What problems would be caused if the friend did do CPR on her? Would it be unrealistic if she survived them?

MsBittner · Accepted Answer

I'm not a doctor, and she's not a human, so factor those things in when you evaluate the usefulness of this reply.

In a human of that size, a wound four inches deep starting just below the sternum and extending for three inches down would probably be fatal.

The liver will take most of the damage. (Here's an image showing its location in relation to the sternum: http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/hfsimaging/hfsimaging1205/hfsimaging120500007/13702883-abdominal-organs.jpg

Other probable organs damaged include the stomach and pancreas and possible the uppermost part of the colon, which will put her in a state of sepsis as the bacteria in there are set loose in the abdominal cavity..

She's going to require surgery and antibiotics--or magic.

Remember, though, she's an elf and this is not our world. What do you need to have happen? Set it up well in advance, whether it's differing anatomy or medicinal magic which works, and you can have it play out however you want.

Dreamscaper · Answer

I don't know if CPR would help, isn't that for heart attacks? Compressing the wound might be better. And it's pretty easy to google a diagram of all the major organs in the body and where they are. Obviously a four inch wound in the stomach is pretty dangerous, but I reckon she could survive.

Cody · Answer

I'm no medical expert, but of what I do now, it would be very difficult for her to survive that. But since this is fantasy, and she's an elf, maybe that could explain her recovery? It wouldn't be a fast recovery, for sure, and she might have some problems, maybe some sort of partially collapsed or crippled organ, like a lung, but I could imagine survival is possible.

Also, I'm very sure that CPR didn't exist back then. There were things like it, like hitting someone's chest (maybe. I'm not even sure people knew to do that back then), but no CPR.

Cheers!

Also, I'm very sure that CPR didn't exist back then.  There were things like it, like hitting someone's chest (maybe.  I'm not even sure people knew to do that back then), but no CPR.

Cheers!

Tommy · Answer

Well your book is already unrealistic with elves and dragons so you can make it as different as you want but in real life I think a human could survive that she wouldn&#x27;t need CPR but if she did it wouldn&#x27;t be bad! Hope that helps

Anonymous · Answer

With the technology available in that time, she definitely wouldn't survive. Even someone in our time would have difficulty surviving that.

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(Novel research!) Could my character survive this?

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