The successful production of antibiotics has greatly boosted my confidence in living. Now all I need to do is inject these diluted antibiotics into my veins, and I expect to see results very soon.
Thinking about this, my mind cleared up a bit. Now it was time to take out that chicken manure vine that had been soaking in the wood ash water.
After three days of soaking, the woody layer inside the chicken manure vine has completely separated from the outer vine bark. I can easily pull the vine bark out completely with a gentle rub.
In this way, I obtained a natural and flexible IV tube.
Intravenous infusion requires sharp needles, but I don't currently have such modern medical equipment, so I can only use the hard barbs from a tiger's quill as a substitute.
For an IV to be administered successfully, the needle must be hollow.
I remember when I came out, there was a bamboo tube containing some steel needles used for mending clothes.
After searching for a while, I found the jar where the steel needles were stored. I took out a needle that was about five centimeters long.
I considered that these needles might be very useful in the future, so I made the needle tips slightly flat and longer than ordinary needles.
Now I need to use a steel needle to break through the hard thorns of the tiger thorn, similar to the method of starting a fire by friction. Simply hold the needle by the butt and rub the flattened tip against the hard thorns.
The flattened needle tip design works very well for drilling holes; if you use it with the bow drill from the basket, the speed would probably be even faster.
However, considering that the processing area of the tiger thorn is too small, and that it is difficult to control the force of the hand when using a bow drill, the tip of the tiger thorn may be broken by accident.
It didn't take long to clear the tiger's thorns; it probably only took about two minutes.
I used a machete to slightly round off the tail of the tiger thorn so that it could successfully insert into the vine bark.
Next, I used a bow drill to make a small hole at the bottom of an empty bamboo tube, just big enough to tightly insert the rattan bark. I then inserted the other end of the rattan bark into the hole, and a simple infusion device was completed.
I thought about how nurses in hospitals pat the back of a patient's left hand before inserting the needle.
I don't need to take pictures of my hands; after years of hard work, all the veins are clearly visible. It seems like I still need to expel the air before I can get the injection.
I poured all the diluted maggot saliva antibiotics into this specially made bamboo tube, and then raised the needle above the bamboo tube to temporarily stop the liquid from flowing out.
After selecting the largest vein on the back of my left hand, I slowly lowered the needle to the level of the back of my hand. At this point, the diluted antibiotic slowly flowed out of the needle under the influence of gravity.
I seized the opportunity, grabbed the needle, and inserted it into the vein.
After adjusting the bamboo tube to a suitable height and feeling that the infusion rate was neither too fast nor too slow, and without any obvious discomfort, I held the precious antibiotic in my right hand and started the IV drip myself.
It's not that I'm reluctant to put the bamboo tube down, it's just that the antibiotics inside are related to my life, and I'm afraid that if I accidentally knock it over, it would be a huge loss.
Top just watched me tinker with this thing with curiosity; it didn't understand the point of what I was doing. But it felt that whatever I did must have its own reason.
This bamboo tube contains only a small amount of antibiotic solution, estimated to be around 700-800 milliliters.
In addition, my homemade infusion equipment is rather rudimentary, and I can't control the infusion rate well, so it's much faster than the infusion rate in the hospital.
It took about twenty minutes for all the antibiotics to be injected into my body.
Those maggots can still produce some saliva tomorrow, so we can't waste the resources. I need to distill some more purified water today, and I estimate that after another dose of medicine tomorrow, my body should be basically recovered.
I unwrapped the banana leaf covering my arm. My arm was still swollen high, and the white pus had made the wound shiny.
I looked at the maggots crawling inside the bamboo tubes. These insects had been disinfected by their own saliva, and their bodies should be safe and sterile at this moment.
I took a knife and made a cut into the festering sore, letting the pus drain out. Then I caught some white maggots inside the bamboo tube.
I frowned and thought for a while, but finally gritted my teeth and put the maggots into the wound that had just been cut open.
This maggot therapy, also known as maggot debridement therapy, was not invented by me; it has existed since ancient times.
The Maya would place the hatched fly larvae on the patient's ulcerated skin and wrap them in gauze. The fly larvae would feed on the decaying tissue inside the ulcerated skin, and then remove the larvae when they were two to three days old.
If the corrupted tissue is not completely cleaned up, new fly larvae are put in to clean the wound tissue.
Because fly larvae can secrete an active antibacterial protein, and this active protein has a very strong antibacterial spectrum, which can kill almost all bacteria that can infect wounds.
Therefore, during World War I, an era of scarce medical supplies, maggot therapy was touted as the most effective surgical debridement method.
However, given the limited medical resources at the time, maggot therapy also had its drawbacks.
Inadequate hygiene practices can lead to the laying of eggs by parasites other than fly larvae, resulting in new parasitic diseases appearing as soon as one problem is solved.
The skin on my body infested with horseflies is a type of parasitic disease. If there is an allergic reaction, parasitic diseases can cause symptoms such as high fever and shock.
I do know a little about this green bottle fly, also known as the green-headed silk fly. This fly is not a parasitic fly; it is a purely scavenging insect.
Their mouthparts can only suck up liquid or mushy food, so there's no need to worry about them eating good skin along with it.
As it consumes these decaying tissues, it releases active antimicrobial proteins to inhibit bacterial survival.
Therefore, this treatment method was even more effective than later penicillin application. The decayed tissue that was eaten away generally healed faster than with traditional treatments.
This insect is also the only living medical device recognized by the World Health Organization, and is known as a walking surgical scalpel.
After doing all this, I re-bandaged the wound with banana leaves. Now it was up to fate; perhaps my body had reached its limit after three days.
Then my eyelids became heavy again, and sleepiness washed over me once more.
I lay in bed, and Top sat beside me, watching me. I gave Top a forced smile, indicating that it didn't need to worry about my safety.
With a mix of trepidation and anticipation, I closed my eyes again.
I feel like I won't wake up until tomorrow. I hope I won't fail again this time.
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