Because during production tasks, the whistle to start work would blow again after less than two hours of rest.
The sickle was clumsy and needed to be sharpened at the whetstone, but because Sun Caihua wasn't paying attention, she cut her ankle and bled a lot.
Cuihua was packing her things at home, preparing to go to work, when the brigade leader's wife and her cousin's sister-in-law helped Sun Caihua to her door.
"Is Cuihua home? Do you have any hemostatic medicine at home? Look, Sun Caihua accidentally pricked her ankle."
Cuihua opened the door, and after hearing their purpose, she didn't pay attention to Sun Caihua's uncomfortable expression.
Instead, he focused his attention on her bloodied and bruised ankle, squatted down to examine the wound carefully, and then looked up and asked a question.
"Is the sickle rusty?"
Everyone was taken aback and instinctively turned to look at Sun Caihua. "The sickle blade isn't rusty, but it is. Is that related to rust?"
Cuihua frowned. "I'm worried about tetanus, especially since you're in the early stages of pregnancy. You should be even more careful."
Then, fearing they might not understand, I gave them a brief explanation.
Whether or not a tetanus shot is needed for a cut from rusty iron depends mainly on the depth of the wound and the treatment method.
If the skin is just broken, there may be some bleeding, but the cut is not deep.
The cut area is completely exposed to the air, which contains a large amount of oxygen.
Therefore, under these conditions, anaerobic bacteria cannot survive and reproduce, and you will not get tetanus.
Even if rust contaminates the wound with Clostridium tetani, you will not get tetanus.
There is no need for tetanus antitoxin.
Of course, appropriate wound cleaning and treatment should also be performed.
"Let me clean your wound first. Your wound is a bit deep and covers a large area. It's best to go to a large hospital in the county. Our clinic doesn't have tetanus antitoxin right now."
Cuihua led them to the courtyard and sat them down at the stone table. She went inside to get her first-aid kit, used iodine solution for simple disinfection, and then bandaged the wound with gauze.
"Don't delay, take a bus to the county town now. After all, you're pregnant, so we can't afford to be negligent even if there's the slightest possibility."
Cuihua then stood up. "Sorry, I have to go to work, so I won't keep you any longer."
The village chief's wife, her sister-in-law, and Sun Caihua looked at each other, all feeling that they didn't seem to need to go to the hospital.
She even mentioned examples of cuts she had received in previous years, to which Cuihua smiled.
"It's alright. If you're not going, just consider it my own doing!"
Anyway, it's not her life, so why should she insist on advising her? Maybe she really is fine!
After they left her house, Cuihua didn't linger and pushed her bicycle out the door.
She didn't hesitate to pedal away. Although she was quite far along in her pregnancy, she knew her own body and could still manage.
“Huang Xin’s family, I think Cuihua has a point. After all, you’re pregnant. If you get tetanus, that would be really scary.”
The village chief's wife had heard of people dying from tetanus caused by a nail, so she didn't think Tang Cuihua's words were exaggerated at all.
Sun Caihua hesitated for a moment, then said, "Then, how much will that cost? She didn't say!"
"But you didn't ask, did you? Oh well, never mind how much it costs. Hurry up and get ready. I'll ask my husband to find you a donkey cart to take you to the national highway to catch the bus. Oh, and I'll ask your daughter to go with you."
As soon as Cai Ying was mentioned, she came running over. Upon hearing that there was a possibility of tetanus, the mother and daughter dared not delay any longer.
In those days, tetanus vaccines were made from tetanus toxoid extracted from animal serum, so allergies were very common. A skin test was required before vaccination. If an allergic reaction occurred, tetanus immunoglobulin extracted from the human body would be used, which would not cause allergies, but it was expensive.
When Cuihua returned home that evening, Cuifeng told her the whole story.
"She had an allergic reaction to the skin test, so in the end she got the expensive one. The cheap one costs three cents, and the expensive one costs a hundred times more, thirty yuan."
Upon hearing this, Tang Cuihua wholeheartedly agreed. "Cheap ones are indeed more likely to cause allergies, since they are extracted from animal blood. How can they be the same as those extracted from the human body? And there's a reason why they're expensive. The costs from separation and extraction to preservation are all quite high. She should be glad that she caught a good time and has access to such good products. Otherwise, she and her child would be in even greater danger."
"They only brought a few yuan with them, which wasn't enough. In the end, Cai Ying took a bus back and borrowed thirty yuan from the brigade before they could make the payment. It took them a whole afternoon to get back. When the mother and daughter returned, it was still daylight. They walked straight back from the town."
Cuifeng couldn't help but sigh, "Who would have thought that being cut by a sickle would be so serious? It wipes out more than half a year's income in one go. Who can bear that? It's like working for nothing for half a year. I don't even know if people will blame you or resent you!"
Tang Cuihua sneered, "Who cares? In the end, they are the ones who make the decision. I was just making a suggestion. They shouldn't blame me for it."
Few things happen around here. If one or two do, they should be grateful to me. Isn't that how people are?
Never mind them, you two be careful in the future, don't hurt yourselves.
In fact, Sun Caihua regretted it as soon as she got the injection, especially after she came back and heard Huang Xin's endless complaints, feeling that she had gone to the wrong place. She was even more annoyed.
"Was it the one who said that on purpose? Is she jealous of us doing well? Did I get tricked?"
Huang Xin, with a smug grin, said, "It's hard to say. She's just a nurse, how much could she know? Thirty yuan! I could only earn that much by not eating or drinking for three months."
Huang Xin, increasingly angry, couldn't help but yell at Sun Caihua.
“I’m not giving you any money, so how can your daughter borrow from the village!”
She also said I had bad intentions and wanted to harm you. You're the mother of my child, how could I harm you?
Sun Caihua didn't want to listen to him and went back to her room on her own.
In the following days, the Huang family of three wore long faces because of this thirty yuan, and they went everywhere with a sullen expression.
On the last day of the wheat harvest, when they heard that someone in the neighboring village had also been cut by a sickle a few days earlier but hadn't paid attention, and then died of tetanus last night, the entire Xihe Village was stunned.
"Good heavens, Huang Xin's family, you've saved your life with just thirty yuan!"
"What do you mean one life? That's two lives. If something really happens, it'll be two lives lost!"
One second Sun Caihua was still upset about the thirty yuan, and the next second someone mentioned an example from the next village.
His eyes widened immediately: "Is this real?"
The village chief's wife came running over, panting, "Of course it's true. Didn't Cuihua say that she would fall ill in as little as a week?"
From the start of the wheat harvest until today, how many days have passed? Good heavens, thank goodness you listened and went to get your shot, look how scary it was!
Sun Caihua's face gradually turned red and then white. On the way home, Cai Ying suddenly stopped and looked back at her mother.
“Mom, I think you should thank them. They did do what they were supposed to do. You can’t assume they’re deliberately trying to cheat you just because of my good-for-nothing stepfather. That’s not right.”
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