If you have been slashed or stabbed with a knife the odds of your artery getting cut is low. The reason for this is because most people do not place enough power behind there slashing or stab which is good news for you.
If the knife or weapon is impaled in your body leave the weapon in place for it is acting like a plug, stabilize the weapon by placing bulky dressing around it, use bandages to keep dressing in place while you wait for an ambulance.
If you have been shot or grazed by a bullet do not panic most injuries do not hit an artery because most people’s aim is haphazard in a shootout so the injury isn’t necessarily going to be life threatening.
Simply apply direct pressure with a dressing (gauze) on the wound to control bleeding while waiting for an ambulance. If you need to add more dressing do not remove blood soaked dressings for this might cause the clot to be removed and restart bleeding again. Apply new dressings over the old while applying direct pressure.
Note: Direct pressure means applying a great deal of pressure onto the wound so you stop it from bleeding, do not kill yourself with kindness or you may bleed to death.
If you have been shot or stabbed and the injury has penetrated the chest wall you will find it difficult to breathe here is what you want to do.
Cover the wound with a dressing such as a plastic bag or wrap to stop air from getting into the chest.
Tape three sides of the dressing in place; leave the side closest to the ground open to allow drainage. This also helps prevent air from going into the chest cavity through the wound but let’s air escape when the person breathes out. If breathing is difficult after applying this seal raise the open side to let the trapped air out, breathing will ease then.
Note: In worst case scenarios to prevent infection from a gunshot wound use a 3-1 mixture of sugar and Betadine (povidone iodine) to make a paste and place on wound. You can also use the same ratio using sugar and cooking oil or honey instead of Betadine (povidone iodine).
There's no such thing as a dirty fighter only an educated one.
Norm Bettencourt
