Young Writers Society

Hello! Skylar here, wondering if I'm going about this thing right.

Anywho.
I have a question about injuries and events around them.
I'm working on a small blurb for one of my recent creations, Eldridge. The scene I'm writing is the funeral of Eldridge's brother. But what I'm wondering is, would E actually be able to go to the funeral?

I ask because he's hurt at the time. He was involved in the wreck that killed his brother, and it left him with fractured ribs. His leg also had to be amputated below the knee.

So would he be able to go to a funeral service only about two or three weeks (three weeks max. I was planning an open casket for emphasis in the scene.) after his injuries/being admitted to a hospital and operated on?
Or could the funeral be pushed back somehow, reasonably?

Sorry for the weird question, but I'd really appreciate any help/opinions! Medical professionals or observers would be amazing.

Hi there boopdoodles! Here to answer a couple questions about funeral service.

First of all, have you ever considered using the fact that Eldridge isn't able to go to the funeral as an internal conflict? This is a suggestion that I have because fractured ribs usually take at least six weeks to heal. This also depends on the amount of ribs that have been fractured, since you didn't specify in the post.

As for an amputation of a limb, the procedure takes from five to fourteen days, so this character of yours will be in the hospital for awhile. What I suggest instead is, when your character is healed, being able to go to a memorial service. The range of time in which these take place can be days, weeks, or even months after the actual funeral if you're wanting Eldridge to have closure about his brother.

The details of this are what make the answers that I give vary. How long is Eldridge in the hospital before the funeral occurs or the funeral is planned? If this is only one rib, then your character probably won't even need to stay in the hospital. Multiple, though, as you seem to be suggesting, can end up having other answers.

There are specifics with this that are needed to be explained for a more straightforward answer, though for the most part, this depends on how badly Eldridge is injured in the first place. Two or three weeks isn't enough time for him to be fully-healed so the question as to if he'd be able to go to the funeral is doubtful. Excluding the scene with the open casket to sacrifice him being able to go to the funeral when he's healed is a possibility, though this depends on the details and what you want to end up doing.

Hope this helps!

@StellaThomas has The Character Clinic you can ask on. Not sure how active it is, but there's a ton of medical research there you can read over, and ask a question for her to get to later if it's not answered.

You can also go through little_details on livejournal for more ideas; again, the research there is pretty extensive so read through to see what already exists.

And there's script medic for more. As with the above, you can browse archives.

The thing you have to also keep in mind is things like temporary leaves, or the range of motion at various stages of healing. Yes, a fractured rib takes up to six weeks to heal— but you're probably not going to be in the hospital that whole time. Hospitals are the places you go to not die, and you stay there until you're not at risk of dying anymore. People are discharged as soon as feasibly possible, just because being around other sick people is terrible.

Plus, day-discharges are very much a thing. A temporary visit out is potentially in the cards, depending on how sick the person is, how long the event is, and whether any sort of staff would need to follow along.

You'd have to determine their recovery time, any complications, and how quickly they're discharged over how quickly something takes to heal. Hospitals are, really, at their core, for emergencies and/or super invasive processes. Once you're no longer an emergency and/or don't need super invasive monitoring, you're discharged and taken for home care.

Plus, as Nikayla said, you can consider the conflict of not being able to attend the funeral, if it ends up not being possible.

Thank you Nikayla and Rosendorn!

I'll definitely look at those links and see what I can dig up -- and also do some more Google research, because I never noticed/found out how long an amputation procedure takes. That would definitely get in the way of things, for sure.

Needless to say, Eldridge wouldn't be completely healed if he did get to go to the funeral. My mentality was that of a temporary discharge, like Rosendorn mentioned. If I'm remembering my research correctly, amputations generally take about three to four months for the sugery wound to properly heal, and six months to a year for swelling to go down. So Eldridge will still be healing no matter what I decide, memorial or funeral.

Say he has two fractured ribs, lower left side. And the operation for his leg goes without real complications. What would you guys estimate the earliest time for discharge at, temporary or not?

I would really like to have all my options available, if that makes sense. So sorry for the pestering questions.

No need to apologize! That's what this place is for. Research.

Regarding the question, the earliest discharge might be five days. This is less because of the fractured ribs and more because of the leg amputation, though this can stretch to two weeks or longer. This is flexible to Eldridge depending on his health and the severity of the wound.

The general earliest that people begin to learn how to use an artificial limb is ten to fourteen days after the amputation, though this can change based on comfort and how well the healing process is going. Eldridge is able to go home after he's able to take care of himself with assistance, which again, is flexible depending on how healthy he is and how severe it is.

Hope this answers that question! Wanting to have options available is totally viable. Good luck with your story.

Hey @

Thanks Rosey for the bing, Character Clinic isn't really active at the mo but happy to help out here as I just finished an orthopaedics job (which I hated but whatever) where I had a lot of polytrauma patients like Eldridge.

Truth time! Ain't nothing we gonna be doing for those broken ribs, unless he has a so-called flail chest (so many breaks that you can't inflate your lungs properly), or he punctures a lung and sustains a pneumothorax or haemothorax in which case he'll need a chest drain for maybe two or three days. They're a bit complicated and he would need a lot of X-rays to check on it and it can be painful itself.

But other than that, he's just going to have to suck it up.

The BKA is a different story. Assuming that it's traumatic, even with tidying it up etc he should be ready to rehab in maybe five/six days. After that it'll be a lot of physio and OT, getting prosthetics and wheelchairs and stuff sorted for him. If it's a Public Health Service this can mean a few weeks until he's absolutely good to go home, but even with that he can have day leave to go out to the funeral of course.

I think my main question is just if he needed an ICU stay. Even a few days in ICU can slow down your recovery by weeks. It sounds like a pretty serious accident so it wouldn't surprise me if he had a little while in the ICU.

But yes. Day leave. And hospitals are always keen to get fit and healthy young people out before they get too institutionalised.

You're all so amazingly helpful. Thank you so much!

I'll keep what you said in mind, about Eldridge's ribs. Outside that, I'll do a bit more research on my own for the rehab and healing process. I thought I'd tracked down the right information beforehand, but I feel like my mindset is a bit off.

He would've had a stay in the ICU, yes, but I don't think it wouldn't have been long; just a few days, even if does slow down the recovery process quite a bit.

Again, thank you guys so much. I always have a bit of trouble feasibly working with events that can affect the timing of things, so I really appreciate the advice.