Chest & Ribs: Rifle: Lodged Deep

The round shattered a rib into needles and drove them into the lung with it, coming to rest somewhere near your spine. Nobody in the territory can cut that deep and leave a living man; the doctor plugs, props and dopes you with laudanum, and the rest is between you and whatever you pray to.

• Bedridden and propped for 7 days if breath holds; unconscious or delirious for stretches of the first 2
• Every breath crackles; speech is a whisper spent one word at a time
• /me lies propped and gray, each breath a small wet labor, fingers curled loose around the blanket edge
• Should you live, the lead and the bone chips stay, a lifelong stitch in the chest that halts you on stairs

Recovery 7 days on the knife's edge under constant doctoring, alone, you will not see the third morning·Doctor, urgently

The rib the round broke went inward, and now there are two kinds of splinter in your chest, bone and lead, and a lung gone half-slack around them. The doctor takes what shards he can reach, plugs the hole and leaves the round where it lies, because chasing it would kill you faster than it will.

• Propped upright and bedridden for 5 days; the lung refills by grudging inches
• A rattling, careful breath that anyone can hear across a quiet room for 6 days
• You carry the round for life, a deep ache under the shoulder blade before every storm
• /me pauses mid-sentence to gather wind, one hand braced flat against the strapped ribs

Recovery 7 days under a doctor's daily watch, or the fever decides for you inside three·Doctor, urgently

An hour under the probe and the doctor straightens up, wipes his hands and says it plain: the round sits against the big vessels behind the lung, and no honest man will go after it. The wound gets packed, you get morphine, and your chest gets a new permanent tenant.

• Bedrest for 4 days while the probing wound and the channel both settle
• Morphine haze for 2 days, slow speech, slow hands, no guns and no cards for money
• A deep-set ache when you lie on that side; you become a one-sided sleeper for good

Recovery 5 days of packed dressings with a doctor, twice that and long fever odds without·Doctor, urgently

The rib did not break so much as burst, and the doctor spends the whole evening picking bone gravel out of your chest muscle before he can even hunt the round, which he finally hauls out from under the edge of your shoulder blade, flattened like a dropped biscuit.

• Chest and back strapped for 5 days; no lifting anything heavier than a coffee pot
• The wound drains for 4 days and each dressing finds another fleck of bone
• A hollow in the rib line your fingers can find through a shirt

Recovery 6 days strapped with a doctor's tending, 10 and a crooked rib without·Doctor required

The round hit rib edge-on and tore itself in half, one piece spun out through the muscle where the forceps find it easy, the other drove deeper than probing dares. Half the lead comes out in the pan; the other half you will carry to the grave and feel in the cold.

• Bound chest and a probing wound; no hard riding or hauling for 4 days
• The deep fragment aches before rain, you become the camp's most reliable weather glass
• A cracked rib under it all; sneezing is punishment for 4 days

Recovery 4 days with a doctor's care, 8 if you tough the probing wound alone·Doctor required

The round is in there, deep in the chest wall behind the broken rib, and the doctor means to have it. Two candles burn down while the probe walks the channel inch by inch, and when the forceps finally grate on lead the whole room breathes at once.

• An opened, repacked channel; dressings changed daily for 4 days
• No twisting, hauling or long saddle days for 4 days
• /me grips the table edge two-handed, jaw creaking, as the probe walks deeper by inches
• You keep the misshapen round in a vest pocket, warm as a coin

Recovery 4 days of dressings under a doctor, 7 or worse without·Doctor required

Through the chest muscle, off the rib, and to rest deep in the thick meat beside your spine, a full hand's journey from where it entered. The doctor cuts fresh from the back to reach it, so you heal an entry, an exit that never was, and a rib crack all at once.

• Two dressed wounds and a cracked rib; chest bound for 4 days
• Sitting against hard chair backs is misery for 4 days; you take the wall bench sideways
• Twin scars front and back that read like a through-and-through with a lie in the middle

Recovery 5 days for both cuts with a doctor, 8 rough without·Doctor required

The round came apart on the rib and seeded the channel with lead flecks and shirt cloth. The doctor pries out the big piece, then hunts the rest with a lodestone patience, because any scrap he misses will fester into its own small war by week's end.

• Wound left open to drain and flushed with carbolic daily for 4 days
• Low fever the first 2 days; you are poor company and worse at cards
• /me sweats through a shirt in the shade, shivering once despite the heat

Recovery 4 days of flushing with a doctor, or an abscess and the lance without·Doctor required

The round buried its nose in the rib itself and stuck fast, like an axe in green wood. The doctor braces a thumb, works a narrow chisel around the lead and taps it loose, you feel it in your teeth, then splints the gouged rib with a strap and pad.

• A gouged rib; no lifting, brawling or hard riding for 4 days
• Deep breaths ache for 4 days, you learn to talk on the shallow ones
• A dented rib your fingertips will find at every bath from now on

Recovery 4 days strapped with a doctor's care, 6 aching days alone·Doctor advised

Fired from far enough that the round arrived weary, cracked a rib and quit, lodged against the bone with barely the will to bruise the lung's neighborhood. The extraction is short; the cracked rib will lecture you longer.

• Cracked rib; chest wrapped and no heavy work for 4 days
• Coughing bends you double, brace a forearm first
• A small stitched extraction cut over the rib, dressed for 3 days

Recovery 4 days wrapped with a doctor, 6 without·Doctor advised

In one long sitting the doctor probes, finds, grips and pulls, a whole rifle round out of the chest wall in under an hour, with the cracked rib beneath left to knit on its own schedule. You sweat a bucket and earn a scar shaped like a comma.

• A stitched extraction cut over the ribs, dressed daily for 3 days
• The rib beneath complains at twists and lifts for 4 days
• A comma-shaped scar that tells surgeons exactly where somebody went digging

Recovery 4 days with a doctor's stitches, 6 if you let it seal rough·Doctor advised

Half-spent, the round struck a rib at a coward's angle and slid around the outside of the cage under the skin, coming to rest a hand-span from where it entered. The doctor tracks the tunnel by its bruise and cuts down onto the lead where it waits.

• A curved, bruised tunnel across the ribs, sore to the touch for 3 days
• Two small dressed cuts; keep them dry for 2 days
• /me lifts the shirt to show the curving bruise, charging a look at the bar's expense

Recovery 3 days with a doctor's cut and stitches, 5 without·Doctor advised

The round sits shallow but snug against the rib joint, and after a long consideration the doctor sets his forceps down. Digging it out would cost more meat than leaving it; you are now a man who carries lead, and the entry wound closes over it inside the week.

• Dressed entry wound, changed daily for 3 days
• No brawling or heavy hauling for 3 days while flesh closes over the round
• A hard pea beneath the skin at the rib line, and an ache when the weather turns

Recovery 3 days for the entry to seal under a doctor's eye, 5 alone·Doctor advised

Nearly spent, the round dented a rib and settled a bare knuckle-depth into the muscle over it. The doctor has it out in the time it takes your coffee to cool, and the bruised rib is the only part still filing complaints tomorrow.

• A small stitched cut and a bone-bruised rib; no sparring for 2 days
• Sore when you lie on that side for 2 nights

Recovery 2 days with the stitches, 4 for the rib bruise to hush either way·Doctor advised

Whatever slowed that round before it reached you deserves your thanks, it sits in the first finger of chest muscle, plain as a bead under the skin. Forceps in, forceps out, three stitches, done.

• Three stitches in the chest, tender for 2 days
• Keep the dressing dry for 2 days, no bathing above the waist

Recovery 2 days with a doctor's quick work, 3 on your own·No doctor needed

The round caught the thick strap of muscle where chest meets shoulder and stopped in it, missing bone entirely. Digging it out stiffens the whole shoulder for a spell, but nothing that matters was ever touched.

• Stiff shoulder-side; no rifle to that shoulder for 2 days
• A dressed cut at the chest's top corner, sore when you reach across yourself

Recovery 2 days easy with a dressing, 4 stiff ones without·No doctor needed

Spent to a crawl, the round barely buried itself under the skin of your chest, a hard lump in the middle of a spreading bruise. A camp knife, a splash of whiskey and a steady friend get it out by firelight.

• A small dressed cut over a hand-width bruise, tender for 2 days
• /me holds the lantern steady with one hand and grips a friend's knee with the other
• A little scar and a rifle round for the hatband

Recovery 2 days with any clean dressing at all·No doctor needed

A ricochet off rock reached you tumbling and slapped into your chest sideways, spent flat as a skipping stone. It hangs half in the skin like a splinter and comes out with a fingernail and a hiss.

• A shallow scab the shape of the round's whole profile, sore for a day
• A bruise where it slapped you, gone in 2 days

Recovery A day or two of soreness, no more·No doctor needed

Your bedroll strap and coat seam happened to cross right over your heart, and the tired round spent its last manners on the leather. The nose of it just pricked the skin, a bead of blood, a bruise, and a strap you will never replace.

• A pinprick scab and a deep coin bruise over the breastbone for 2 days
• A scarred leather strap with the round's print in it, worn like a medal

Recovery 2 days for the bruise; nothing else to heal·No doctor needed

There is a rifle round in your breast pocket flask, and the whiskey is bleeding down your shirt instead of you. It hit hard enough to sit you down in the dust, you rose with a dented flask, a bruised chest and the best bar story in the county.

• A round bruise over the heart, fading in 2 days
• The dented flask with lead rattling inside, it buys drinks better than money
• /me shakes the ruined flask beside an ear, grinning at the rattle of the round inside

Recovery Two days of bruise and a lifetime of retelling·No doctor needed