Arrow: Shoulder

The broadhead struck the joint square, split the socket rim, and glanced upward into the soft hollow beneath your collarbone where the great vessel runs. Blood comes in pushes, timed to your pulse. The doctor cuts the head out by lamplight with a thumb jammed hard in that hollow, ties off what silk can reach, and tells the room plainly that the night, not him, will decide whether you keep the arm or anything else.

• The left arm bound flat to the body, no use of it at all until a doctor says otherwise
• Bedridden and watched for fresh bleeding for 3 days, then upright only with a steady arm under you
• No riding, no lifting, no firearms for 3 weeks at the least
• /me lies gray and still, breath fluttering, a bloom of red creeping through the shoulder binding

Recovery Weeks abed, then a month in a sling, and the arm answers slowly if it answers at all.·Doctor, urgently

The head punched through the capsule of the joint itself and wedged against the socket, and every breath grated bone on steel. The doctor widened the wound with a scalpel, worked the broadhead loose with forceps while two men held you to the table, and packed the track with carbolic lint. The joint is opened, and opened joints on the frontier are won back by luck as much as by care.

• The arm splinted and slung against the chest, the shoulder not to move at all for 10 days
• No lifting, pushing, or reaching above waist height with that side for 3 weeks
• Fevers watched for nightly for a week, the wound uncovered and checked by lamplight each evening
• /me sits propped and rigid, the slung arm cradled like something borrowed

Recovery Three weeks bound, then slow raising of the arm by inches over a month more.·Doctor, urgently

The barbs would not come back the way they went in, so the doctor did the old grim arithmetic: he snapped the shaft short, set his palm against it, and pushed the head out through the back of your shoulder to draw it clean. Two wounds now where there was one, both flushed with carbolic and stitched with silk, and a shoulder that will remember this weather for years.

• Both wound mouths stitched, front and back, no stretching or reaching with that arm for 2 weeks
• The arm carried in a sling whenever upright for 10 days
• No riding faster than a walk for 5 days, the jarring pulls the stitches
• /me moves stiff and square-shouldered, careful of the dressings front and back

Recovery Stitches out in 10 to 12 days, full strength in the arm a month behind them.·Doctor required

The arrow went in at the front and stood out a hand's width behind, and you rode home skewered, afraid to touch it. The doctor cut the fletching away, drew the shaft through in one long pull, and let both mouths bleed a moment to carry the filth out before he stitched them. You have lost more blood than a man can spare and stay standing, and your body knows it.

• Weak from blood loss, no work of any kind for 4 days, beef broth and iron tonic on the doctor's word
• The arm slung and the shoulder bound for 2 weeks
• No firearms shouldered on that side for 3 weeks
• /me stands slow and pale, one hand finding a wall before the rest of the body follows

Recovery A week to get the blood back, a month before the shoulder pulls its own weight.·Doctor required

The broadhead buried itself full depth in the round muscle of your shoulder and stopped a whisker short of the bone. The doctor cut down along the shaft with the wound stretched wide, lifted the head out whole with forceps, and held it up to the lamp to be sure no steel stayed behind. Silk sutures now, and a muscle that will not forgive a hard pull for weeks.

• No lifting anything heavier than a coffee pot with that arm for 2 weeks
• The wound washed with carbolic water and re-dressed daily for a week
• /me favors the shoulder, the sleeve above it filled out square with bandaging

Recovery Stitches out in 10 days, the muscle sound again in 3 to 4 weeks.·Doctor required

The head struck the collarbone at a slant, cracked it, and skidded off into the meat above it where the doctor found it sitting shallow. The steel came out easy. The bone is the trouble. He bound your shoulders back with a figure-eight wrapping like a soldier at drill and forbade the arm anything more ambitious than holding a hat.

• Shoulders bound back in a figure-eight wrap for 3 weeks, the arm slung besides
• No lifting, riding at a trot, or roping for 3 weeks
• Sleeping propped on the good side or sitting up for the first week
• /me holds the shoulders squared and stiff, wincing at any jolt

Recovery The bone knits in 4 to 6 weeks, the wrap comes off when it stops aching to breathe deep.·Doctor required

The shaft stood in the outer meat of your shoulder and quivered when you breathed. Rather than drag the barbs back through, the doctor snapped the wood short, pressed the head on through the last inch of muscle until it cleared the skin behind, and drew it out barbs first. It is the old way, and it worked, and you will carry the two small scars of it.

• Front and back punctures dressed, no reaching overhead with that arm for 10 days
• The arm in a sling for a week when working or riding
• /me rolls the shoulder in small careful circles, testing where it ends

Recovery Both punctures closed in a week, the shoulder trustworthy again in 3.·Doctor required

You could not stand it in you and wrenched the arrow free yourself, and the barbs took their toll on the way out, tearing the wound twice as wide as it need have been. The doctor trimmed the ragged edges, packed the hole, and delivered a sermon on patience while he stitched. The tear is ugly and it will scar uglier, but it is honest muscle and it will mend.

• The torn wound packed and stitched, dressings changed daily for 10 days against infection
• No hard pulling, roping, or hauling with that arm for 2 weeks
• A measure of laudanum at night for 3 nights, no spirits taken with it
• /me keeps the arm close, the bandage over the shoulder wider than it ought to be

Recovery Two weeks for the flesh to close, a wide pale scar for the rest of your days.·Doctor required

It sat shallow enough that the doctor called it carpentry, not surgery. He snapped the shaft, eased the head out the way it came with a widening cut no longer than your thumbnail, and had the whole affair washed, stitched, and slung between two cups of coffee. You keep the broadhead in your pocket now. It rattles against your matches.

• Three silk stitches in the shoulder, kept dry for 5 days
• The arm slung for 4 days when riding or working
• /me pats a coat pocket, the broadhead inside clicking against a matchbox

Recovery Stitches out in 8 days, sore to sleep on for near as long.·Doctor required

The broadhead plowed across the top of your shoulder rather than into it, opening a furrow long as a finger and deep enough to want silk. It bled with great drama down your chest and back, ruined a good shirt, and convinced three witnesses you were dying. Half a dozen stitches and a strip of clean muslin settled the question otherwise.

• Six stitches across the top of the shoulder, no coat weight or heavy strap on that side for 5 days
• No overhead reaching or throwing for a week
• /me shifts a bag strap to the other shoulder without thinking, then thinks about it

Recovery Stitches out in 8 to 10 days, a clean straight scar after.·Doctor advised

The arrow was near spent when it found you and hung in the outer muscle by its head like a coat on a nail. It came out with a short pull and a shout, cleaner than anyone deserved, and the hole it left is small, honest, and already closing. Whiskey in the wound hurt worse than the arrow did, which you have said several times now.

• A plugged puncture in the shoulder, dressing changed daily for 5 days
• No hard swinging of that arm, axes and hammers included, for 6 days
• /me presses two fingers lightly over the small dressing at the shoulder, counting something

Recovery Closed in a week, forgotten in two, retold for years.·Doctor advised

It passed through the band of muscle between your neck and the point of the shoulder, in and out in the same instant, and was quivering in the dirt ten paces on before you felt it. Two small mouths, front and back, each took a pair of stitches. The muscle it went through has opinions now about you lifting anything, and it voices them freely.

• Two pairs of stitches, no carrying a load on that shoulder, sacks and saddles included, for 8 days
• Turning the head on that side kept slow and short for 4 days
• /me turns the whole body to look sideways rather than turn the neck

Recovery Ten days for the punctures, two weeks before the yoke muscle pulls without complaint.·Doctor advised

The arrow had crossed too much air to keep its malice and punched into your shoulder scarcely an inch before it stopped. You walked in with it still standing in you, calm as a man wearing a boutonniere, and the doctor pulled it straight out, syringed the hole with carbolic water, and told you to stop enjoying yourself.

• A shallow puncture in the shoulder, kept dressed and dry for 4 days
• No shouldering a rifle butt on that side for 5 days
• /me wears the pulled arrow tucked through the hatband like a feather

Recovery A week and it is only a story with a small scar for proof.·Doctor advised

The head skimmed the round of your shoulder and left a furrow a hand short of serious, shallow as a plow line in hard ground. It wanted washing, a smear of salve, and a strip of shirt tail, and it got all three from whoever was nearest. It burns when you sweat, which out here means it burns.

• A shallow furrow across the shoulder, kept clean and covered for 4 days
• No pack straps on that side for 3 days
• /me hooks a thumb under the shirt collar to keep the cloth off the shoulder

Recovery Scabbed by the third day, a faint line by month's end.·Doctor advised

It caught you at an angle and sliced the skin over the shoulder cap like a paring knife taking the peel, mean and shallow both at once. It bled freely for ten minutes, then quit and got on with its life, as should you. Whiskey washed it, a bandage covers it, and the shirt is the only lasting casualty.

• A shallow slice over the shoulder cap, covered when working dusty ground for 3 days
• No rifle recoil against that shoulder for 3 days
• /me rolls the sleeve to show a neat sliced line, then rolls it back down

Recovery Healed over in 5 days, a thin white line inside a month.·No doctor needed

The broadhead kissed the bony point of your shoulder and glanced away, leaving a nick and a bruise that will sing colors by tomorrow. There was more noise than harm in it, though the sound of steel touching your own bone is one the ears keep. Cold water, a dab of salve, and a stiff shrug are the whole of the treatment.

• A bruised, nicked shoulder point, tender under coat seams for 4 days
• Shrugging and overhead reaching kept short for 3 days
• /me shrugs the shoulder once, high and slow, like testing a gate hinge

Recovery The nick scabs in 3 days, the bruise takes a week to run its colors.·No doctor needed

The arrow tore through coat and shirt at the shoulder and drew a scratch you had to hunt for in the mirror. The clothing is opened to the wind and the skin barely opened at all, a red line the width of a straw. You will spend longer with a needle mending wool tonight than any doctor would have spent on you.

• A shallow scratch across the shoulder, washed once and left to the air for 3 days
• The coat shoulder torn open until mended, the wind finding it constantly
• /me pokes a finger through the torn coat shoulder and wiggles it

Recovery The scratch is gone in 3 days. The coat takes an evening of mending.·No doctor needed

The arrow took the loose fold of your coat at the shoulder and nailed it to the wagon board behind you, holding you like a note left on a door. You stood very still, worked the cloth free, and found nothing under it but your own hide, whole and prickling. The hole in the coat you have decided not to mend.

• A faint welt where the shaft slapped past, gone in 2 days
• The coat carries an arrow hole at the shoulder, left unmended on purpose
• /me hangs a finger in the arrow hole at the coat shoulder while telling it again

Recovery Nothing to heal but the nerves. A night's sleep does it.·No doctor needed

You felt the wind of it cross your shoulder before you heard the bow, and the fletching burned a thin red stripe over the muscle as it passed, close as a barber's blade. Not a stitch, not a bandage, just a stripe like a sunburn and a new habit of standing sideways in doorways.

• A fletching burn stripe on the shoulder, stinging under wool for 2 days
• Flinching at anything that whistles past for a week at least
• /me runs a palm over the thin red stripe on the shoulder, still half in disbelief

Recovery The stripe fades in 2 days. The story does not.·No doctor needed

It was loosed true and meant for the meat of your shoulder, and you turned for no reason you can name, some small errand of the eyes. The broadhead passed through the space your shoulder had owned a heartbeat before and buried itself in the doorframe by your ear, where it stood humming like a struck fence wire. You pried it out with a knife. It hangs over your bedroll now, and you tell it true, mostly.

• Not a mark on you, though the doorframe carries a deep fresh scar at shoulder height
• The pried-out arrow kept as a trophy, produced at every campfire for weeks to come
• /me holds the arrow up to the light, thumb on the broadhead, and starts the story over

Recovery Nothing to recover but composure. Allow one evening and two drinks.·No doctor needed