[MR] Fw: [Clan_Wulfgard] From the Chirurgeon list about Combat Archery

[Lady Daria]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Kelly Turner 
To: Clan_Wulfgard at yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2003 6:42 AM
Subject: [Clan_Wulfgard] From the Chirurgeon list about Combat Archery


I would take this as an example as to why not to disarm close to the field and I know marshals are suggested to wear eye protection, but maybe they should have to in combat archery battles.

Regardless of your combat archery opinion, I thought you might be interested to hear what happened.


Message: 2
   Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003 16:27:15 -0000
   From: "artefiction" <caitlin at phosphor-ink.com>
Subject: Forward from the Merry Rose (Atlantia) on recent combat arrow issue


July 23, 2003

            Greetings all.

            This is a follow up report on the combat arrow that hit 
Sgt. Istvan Toth on June 7th, 2003 at North Oaken War Maneuvers.   I know  a lot about this since I am Istvan Toth.

            To sum up...I was standing in the backfield of a bridge 
battle at the latter part of the day.  My best guess is that I was 40 to 50 
feet from one end of the bridge, at about 45° from one corner.   I am
not sure how long the bridge was...by the way...if anybody has a different 
idea of these distances please step forward, I was not measuring distance - I  was watching somebody pull victims off of the bridge with a great axe.

            I was not wearing my helm as I was in the process of  quitting
the field and thought I was at a safe distance.   According to Eric Ericson the Scout, the arrow that hit me missed all intervening participants and struck me square in the right eye.  I was checked by Eric Ericson (who is also an EMT basic) on site.   Then I was taken to the Cleveland Medical Center where a CAT scan showed a fracture to the right orbit floor (below the eye, also called  a "blowout") and of the maxillary sinus with much nasty swelling and soft tissue damage.

            On June 12, 2003 I saw an ENT (Dr. Agostino) the delay  being
that the swelling had to go down to a point where an examination  could be
done.   Other than the bones healing perhaps 1/8" off things looked good and I could have had surgery for that had I wished but I preferred not to 
if it was not absolutely necessary.    Dr. Agostino and later Dr. Gabrielle,
Ophthalmologist, (seen on June 24th)  both said that if any blurring  of
vision or other vision irregularities showed up, to immediately have  myself seen.   They said the bones should heal in about 6 weeks.  The
ophthalmologist saw no obvious retinal damage at the time.

            On July 12 I attended Warriors & Warlords.  The concern 
was an aggravation of the fractures.   I experienced no ill effects and 
fought very well.

            On July 14, while driving to the dentist, the vision in my
right eye went blurry.  I made an appointment the next day for Wed. 
July 16th.  The ophthalmologist said he thought it was retinal detachment 
and immediately made an appt. with Dr. Lee, a retina & vitreous 
specialist. On Thursday morning Dr. Lee did a special examination to determine the extent of the injury etc. and scheduled surgery for Friday.  The retinal detachment was 50%.  I was rushed into surgery (look it up and cringe -you have to be awake for this folks!).  The surgery was actually three procedures, a Vitrectomy, Pneumatic Retinopexy, and the application of a Scleral Buckle. In layman's terms the eye was drained and a gas bubble put in, a silicon "scleral buckle" was placed around the eyeball to remain there permanently, and using lasers etc. the scar tissue and tears 
were repaired.

            At this time, 5 days post-op, there is no way of telling how things will go but generally they look good.  However, the Dr. was clear in
letting me know that my sight in the eye will not be what it was and 
there is no knowing how much sight I will get back.  There is a chance of
re-detachment among other things.

            I am off work for a month and have to maintain a face-down
position for two weeks post-op.  It will be 3 to 6 months before anything
can be determined as to what amount of sight I'll have, etc.  It has been
mentioned that I may not be able to fight again...I'll cross that bridge
when I come to it.

            Did my fighting at Warriors and Warlords cause this?  I 
think that, at most, it accelerated it.   Apparently a little bleeding in 
the eye from an injury can be absorbed by the eye, but a lot of bleeding 
causes problems that can eventually lead to retinal detachment.  After the 
injury I had a lot of blood in my eye.   Whether I fought at Warriors and 
Warlords or two weeks later at Simple Day, or at Pennsic, the retinal 
detachment would have happened sooner or later as a result of the original impact injury.

            The power and construction of combat arrows has increased
greatly to get people to acknowledge them, but they are blunts and it 
will always be a problem - that is why real arrows have points!  Arrows 
were used in real war to really kill - not in the tournament style melee that 
we do. This could have happened to any marshal or non-combatant near the field (non-combatant could be a royal observer, you know).

            If I can fight again I will steer clear of the melee field for a long time - and nothing at the size or level of Pennsic, and never with combat archery.   It adds nothing to the game for me and may cost me  a lot.

Istvan Toth (Doug Toth)

P.S.   Please feel free to forward this to anyone you wish


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