ArielB
5.4.07, 11:54 AM
Hi! I've been reading the threads since the beginning of the year and am just now joining the site to post. I've enjoyed reading your emails and all the discussion about the show. CJ is the only show I'm watching and, like you all, I'm hoping to see a Season 7.
NigelRocks posted a question about a possible medical error on the other thread; I tried to respond there and cannot for some reason. So I'm posting here. With regards to leeches, it did seem odd for them to say that leeches stopped the bleeding. Leeches are indeed used for conditions where blood needs to be drained from an area. The use I'm most familiar with is after reattachment of severed fingers. Sometimes the blood flow is not good after reattachment, and blood stagnates in the finger. A leech will be placed on the finger twice daily to drain some of the blood and help keep the tissue healthy while everything is healing. The leech secretes an anticoagulant (blood thinner) when it attaches, and this helps keep the blood flowing while it enjoys a feast. After the leech is removed the site of attachment will ooze for a bit.
Hope that helps. It does seem odd to credit leeches with stopping the bleeding. I'd think it would be more of a stroke of luck -- the severed blood vessels sealed themselves off somehow when she moved her arm just so, or something like that. I've read of that happening occasionally where a severed artery somehow pulls up just enough to seal itself off. Perhaps that's what really happened here.
NigelRocks posted a question about a possible medical error on the other thread; I tried to respond there and cannot for some reason. So I'm posting here. With regards to leeches, it did seem odd for them to say that leeches stopped the bleeding. Leeches are indeed used for conditions where blood needs to be drained from an area. The use I'm most familiar with is after reattachment of severed fingers. Sometimes the blood flow is not good after reattachment, and blood stagnates in the finger. A leech will be placed on the finger twice daily to drain some of the blood and help keep the tissue healthy while everything is healing. The leech secretes an anticoagulant (blood thinner) when it attaches, and this helps keep the blood flowing while it enjoys a feast. After the leech is removed the site of attachment will ooze for a bit.
Hope that helps. It does seem odd to credit leeches with stopping the bleeding. I'd think it would be more of a stroke of luck -- the severed blood vessels sealed themselves off somehow when she moved her arm just so, or something like that. I've read of that happening occasionally where a severed artery somehow pulls up just enough to seal itself off. Perhaps that's what really happened here.