Amputated, Wound Cauterized

I believe that raising the limb is to keep blood from accumulating there, so keeping it raised would be a good idea.

So... the dragon has short forearms? Kind of like a T-rex?

Best way would be to fix it to his body in an upward position. Some sort of sling?

But if he's more of a four-legged dragon then you need to find out what vets do with dogs.

Well it depends on exactly what 'half the forelimb' means. Below (distal to) the elbow? At the elbow?

If the dragon is cooperative, just set up something for him to rest his stump on- either a teepee type frame with a cushiony 'seat' or a table like thing with a cushion. Quick and easy, and he can take his stump off and get up without assistance. This is assuming he can lie on his side partially or fully- and he'll need protection from bed sores. He should be able to get up regularly and move around though.

There are other options too, depending- wrapping it up against his body with a figure 8 bandage that ideally keeps his wings free.

The dragon will need PT to keep the remaining arm and the rest of his body moving and his joints from locking up and getting adhesions. It will also reduce pain overall. Even though PT usually hurts, sitting around allows pain signals to go into overdrive such that everything hurts.

So, there's a fairly common misunderstanding about cauterizing a wound, it works when the wound is small, when it's large it's just a burn, and burns seep fluids.

Honestly, depending on the technology, losing a limb is fatal, no matter how well the wound is closed the arteries and veins have to be pinched off. Believe or not they'll shift to take care of the stump fairly quickly, but unless they have some sort of healing factor they'll bleed out really fast.

As far as the wound dressing goes, it needs to be kept clean and the drainage has to be removed. We have a number of drains that do that in real life. Also, changing a dressing hurts like hell. I've seen incredibly strong men whimper and cry when they're dressing is changed, and that's normally after a pain killer.

Physical Therapy

Lizards don't bleed like humans. Not sure if it matters since there are no recorded operations on dragons who have had a limb severed by a laser...

Besides, lasers don't shoot or blast. They're a beam, not an exploding projectile.

Jeff

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MDSchafer said:

So, there's a fairly common misunderstanding about cauterizing a wound, it works when the wound is small, when it's large it's just a burn, and burns seep fluids.

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True

MDSchafer said:

Honestly, depending on the technology, losing a limb is fatal, no matter how well the wound is closed the arteries and veins have to be pinched off. Believe or not they'll shift to take care of the stump fairly quickly, but unless they have some sort of healing factor they'll bleed out really fast.

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That's a bit oversimplified and there are plenty of examples in history of amputees. The key is closing the wound. A guillotine amputation is basically a death sentence either from exsanguination, dehydration or infection. That suffered on the battlefield will have to be revised by a surgeon. Adding a burn on top of that is not going to help. You need at least a skin flap, preferably a myocutaneous flap to cover and close the wound

MDSchafer said:

As far as the wound dressing goes, it needs to be kept clean and the drainage has to be removed. We have a number of drains that do that in real life. Also, changing a dressing hurts like hell. I've seen incredibly strong men whimper and cry when they're dressing is changed, and that's normally after a pain killer.

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dressings on burns yes, but not on the typical surgical wound.

WeaselFire said:

Lizards don't bleed like humans. Not sure if it matters since there are no recorded operations on dragons who have had a limb severed by a laser...

Besides, lasers don't shoot or blast. They're a beam, not an exploding projectile.

Jeff

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I'm not sure if dragons are lizards at all. If the story has dragons I'd buy some special regenerative ability.

I've used a variety of lasers in the operating room. Depending on the type of laser and the settings some things get cut, some vaporized, some cauterized, and yes some can explode.