Okay, so SPOOFE (that’s me) is writing a story in which one character gets a pretty grievous wound and starts bleeding profusely (in case you must know, his wrists get cut). I’m not going to go into the details (well, okay, they’re self-inflicted), but basically I need to know a few things just to keep the story as realistic as possible:
-Assuming that the cuts are just large enough to threaten his life (that is, they won’t clot over quick enough), about how long would it take for him to start losing consciousness?
-In the story, the character is given makeshift medical attention (his loony friend sews the wounds shut and wraps them in bandages). About how long will it take for the guy who was cut to recover the blood that he lost? Will he be awake and (at least somewhat) mobile within 24 hours?
I’m hoping that I’m not getting too grisly, but I swear it’s all for art, and I want this particular scene to be as realistic as possible…
let’s say, for plot’s sake, that your fellow was standing upright when the bleeding started. that way, he doesn’t need to lose as much blood to pass out.
i would give this fellow about five to ten minutes to lapse into unconsciousness. now, if he were laying (lying?) down, i think he would lose blood quicker, but more blood would be getting to his head. so his recovery would be severely lengthened.
but if he were to stay standing (or sitting- whatever you have in mid), it is not unreasonable that he’d be awake for about five minutes, and then pass out with a -clunk-.
his friend hears it, rushes in to see what’s up, and applies pressure, does some floss-suturing, what have you. dude’s condition is now stable.
given that scenario (and adequate fluids) i think he would quite easily be able to move around in a day. might be nauseous, probably anemic, definitely a bit slow.