Nasal Saline Spray and contact lens saline solution => thanks for the great ideas guys. I've been looking for something smaller for my kit and am kind of embarassed that I didn't think of these first!

Hey Dave,
Wow, your sone is 5 already? Time flies (and work is still crazy - lurkers - before Dave moved to Ohio, we used to work for the same company, but in different departments)

Anyway, that spring water would have still been fine for a wash - cleaner than the wound

the Kerlix 4x4s are nice. Another good one is what they call abdominal wound pads, which look to be little more than a sterile Maxi-pad

In that stituation, I would NOT have put on any antibiotic, as the MD is just going to have to clean it out. Irrigate the wound, slap a 4x4 on it (BTW the J&J 4x4s are a lot thicker than the average 4x4) tape it down, or wrap it down (roll of gauze, then tape that, so you don't have to worry about hair), and transport

Hi Charlie - nice to hear from you! How's the leg?

Thanks for the thoughts on nasal saline/smaller contact saline solution bottles - don't believe I've ever seen those before (but then again, I was never looking for them).

Also, very good improvisation idea on the bag/iodine wipes/water/pin for flushing - I'll keep a couple of the Ziploc bags around stashed almost everywhere.

I wanted to chime in with a few other good/bad gear reports for the weekend - I had to sit around for a while and laundry list what I expected to add, because I kept forgetting an item as soon as I thought of another.

Anyhow, in no particular order some of the things I liked using:

Nitrile gloves: While I didn't think to break them out to treat this head wound, and it would have been a nice idea because our hands were day two grubby from the camping scene, I've added nitriles to all my first aid kits. Costco has two 150-count boxes of nitrile gloves for about $15. I group several to about 8 pairs together inside a sandwich bag and force all the air out - they roll up real small. I also use them all around the house - painting, gluing projects, when I cleaned out the Coleman stove with Simple Green - I've kept lots of nasty stuff off my hands for pennies per project - money well spent.

Carabiners: I have one climbing-grade carabiner I bought years ago, and I used it this trip to attach my hydration daypack to one of the loops on my bigger backpack. And - smaller, cheap, non-climbing ones for attaching random things to other random things. You may not need them, but for a buck or so, it's awful handy to be able to attach something to something else without fumbling with knots (if you're like me).

Bungee cords: for same reasons as the carabiners, but for things like sleeping bags and mattress pads. I once bought some really nice-looking straps of various lengths that have velcro, but they're basically useless for the bags - the velcro won't actually keep something that big secure.

Double-wall mug: I have a couple stainless camping mugs, with 4 and 8-ounce measure lines and no lids, that I used. They really beat my single-wall stainless mugs (which nest around a 1-liter Nalgene)...coffee or cocoa in a single-wall will burn your hand until just before it's cold, while the double-wall is comfortable to handle before you can drink the beverage. Sitting and balancing food and drink, double-wall's the way to go. Of course, several of the other guys use larger, beat up plastic mugs with lids that they attach to the outside of their packs with carabiners through the handles, which are probably an even better idea.

Wok bowl: Wok bowl I've been searching for a while online to find a photo - I bought these (I think) in EMS - or maybe Campmor.
I really like these bowls - the handle's sturdy, no folding or fussing, and especially when you're handling food and drink in your lap, I appreciated the solid hold.

GI Spoon: http://www.imsplus.com/ims44.html My friend told me long ago of the British SAS tradition of cooking up meals in a communal pot, and that each member of the group gets a spoonful in turn. So, the game becomes the search for the perfect "racing spoon" - not too small so you're shorted on food, but not so big that you can't get every drop of food. I think this may be a contender for perfect racing spoon - narrow at the tip, broad and deep as it nears the handle. Sturdy. A good size for spooning out biscuit dough into a dutch oven. Thumbs up.

Light My Fire Spork: Spork Mixed results. Handy - such a cool-looking gadget. Nice to be able to eat a main course, then flip over with the spoon for dessert. Somehow, though, I don't enjoy having fork tines hanging out the other end while I'm eating with the spoon.

Gerber Strike Force: I tried a couple different firestarters, and while I love the Boy Scout flint and steel for its size, Strike Force was putting out a bigger stream of sparks, shooting farther, lasting longer (landing and sputtering as opposed to disappearing after they hit).

Contractor and yard waste bags: Big, handy, sturdy. Work as ponchos, etc., plus they are great for cheap insurance against wet, dirty, nasty gear that you have to stuff into your backpack. I will now always stash a few of these as well as a few various-sized Ziplocs any time I pack - because you never know.

Nalgene bottle insert: Nalgene insert
These look like a fantastic idea, and when I carried a Nalgene daily in the city, it was a nice addition. Camping, I found that it was always knocked through, floating inside the bottle. And camping, I didn't care if I had a tiny dribble of water on my chin. Nice but not at all necessary.

Purell: Yes, it's nice to be able to kill the germs when I've just been rinsing grubby hands with plain water. But it was really great to be able to use it as a firestarter - and it sustained a flame for quite a while. I was able to stack fresh charcoal briquets on top of the dutch oven, nest them next to ones that were nearing the end of their burn, and with a squirt of Purell, get a flame to sprout on the new ones and get them to light reliably. Nice double duty product.

Dave

And a couple more odds and ends:

OBG: So you just have a bit of melted butter over the top of dry cake mix in your dutch oven? Does that come out rising and cakey, or what's it like? I'm having trouble figuring out what it should be like. I'm wondering if doing something more like a cobbler to top the fruit would be the way to go to avoid the tasty, but weird-consistency topping I got with the 7Up. I've gotta believe I'm doing something wrong with that.

Also, my cousin told me the folks at the ER complimented how the wound was taken care of when they got it - and apparently the bit of neosporin helped the gauze come off easily rather than sticking with dry blood. So now I feel like my CPR/First Aid course I took in December has paid off. Hope to never have to get full value on the CPR end of things.

And Charlie - Sam turns 6 next week.

Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions

Dave

We have done a lot more of them in the oven at home than a DO, but they come out basically the same. No rise to it, or not much, it just kinda firms up and gets a little crusty on top. If it is gooey you didn't cook it long enough...

Standard dump cake portions:

2 15 oz cans fruit or pie filling(peaches in syrup is the most popular).
1 pkg cake mix (yellow is the most popular)
1 20 oz bottle soda pop (lemon lime soda is the most popular)

It looks like you used twice the amount of fruit and twice the amount of soda for the amount of cake mix. Ideally, when finished the top of your dump cake should be golden brown and a little crusty, the center should be cakey, and the bottom should be like a thick cobbler.

Also, it sounds like your biscuit mix was far too wet as well. That will take a lot longer for the biscuits to firm up and brown than normal cooking time.

"...biscuit mix..."

Sometimes, if we are in a hurry, or just lazy, we will use Jiffy biscuit mix. Not nearly as good as home made, but quick, easy, and hard to mess up. Worked great for scouts making bisuits in aluminum foil too...

Oh yeah, I've made my own before as well. Really it's just about mixing all the dry ingredients together, maybe sometimes cutting in the shortening as well, then bagging it and using that instead. Really it is all the same list of ingredients with little variation in the quantity ratios. Just as with the Bisquik brand, you can also use it as the base for waffle, pancake, muffin and other quickbread recipes.

It seems, though that DaveT's mix ended up with too much liquid mixed in perhaps. At least that's what's happened when my biscuits have gone too long on the fire. Often they will collapse as well, the leavening having gassed out before the heat could set the dough firm enough to hold the structure. It's not a big deal, it all eats the same anyways, long as it is cooked through.

One of my favorite biscuit mix recipes is Coon Balls. Probably one of the top trail foods you can pack IMHO...

I used to carry a small syringe, but now I use Steripods or one of its imitators. I am not sure if they match what you used. They are single-use with a tab you break off. In my experience the nossle hole left is small enough for squirting - you aren't left dripping the fluid in. In fact I just tested, and could send a stream of fluid 10 or 15 feet. I hope that's enough for irrigation.

Each holds about 20ml. The more you have the better, of course, but just one is better than nothing as you can refill them with clean water for more squirting.

I sometimes also carry an antiseptic (TCP) but I'd hesitate before using it as real medics seem to disapprove. (I have no medical training.)

Well, I did another dump cake last night in my smaller dutch oven. So, two 21-ounce cans of cherry pie filling, one box of yellow cake mix, and one 16-ounce 7-Up.

This one worked a LOT better than any of my previous attempts - when I dumped in the 7Up, it fizzed right up to the lip of the dutch oven. I kept rotating the oven and the lid in opposite directions every 5-10 minutes. When I opened it up, it was turning nicely golden and some of the cherry pie filing was bubbling up through the cake mix in one spot.

So, I think I was previously only putting in enough 7Up to moisten the cake mix and make it a sludge...plus probably checking it so many times that it never got a good shot at heating.

As to the biscuits, I'd say benjammin's diagnosis sound correct again. I made my own homemade "Bisquick" mix, with the Crisco cut into the mix. I don't think the biscuit mix was too wet - it was just enough moisture to really knead it for a while to get everything moistened - not soupy or thin. I think I must have baked them so long that the leavening all gassed off as he described - they were not light and airy, but still tasty (especially with sausage gravy on it).

Thanks again for all the feedback - it's getting better each time.

Dave