In Cyprus on a travel press trip I and fellow travel writers were being shown around the nearby landmarks before rushing to lunch. I asked to take a photo of something we passed. The driver said he couldn't stop because there was no parking. He double parked and I opened the car door to get out and take a photo. he then saw a car pull out just ahead creating a space and keen to capture the opportunity accelerated. My foot dragged on the ground. I shouted. He stopped. My foot was bleeding.
He insisted we went to hospital, which was the right decision. When we reached hospital I was told I needed a Tetanus jab. When did I last have one? Within the last year, the last ten years? I could not remember.
It's a good idea to list all the jabs and illnesses you have had and keep the record on your computer and/or in a printed out list in the folder of vital information in which you keep your passport which travels with you on every trip.
Because I could not be sure, the hospital decided to give me another jab, since having two was no harm, they said, just costing me time and money, whilst not having the jab if I needed it, they said, would be a health risk.
They bandaged me up and told me not to shower or swim for three days because I had to keep the bandage dry. I had a three day business trip in a grand hotel with a swimming pool.
When I got back to the UK, I went into my local chemist (with a pharmacy - in the USA known as a drug store) stocked a First aid Microporous tape, asking for a bandage or better still a smaller Elastoplast (the brand name used universally in the UK - known in the USA and elsewhere as a sticking plaster). The assistant offered me a choice of plain or waterproof plaster, but as the sticking plasters were too small, sterile wound covering, a roll of (sterile?) bandage and waterproof tape.
I later asked a hospital worker why they did not issue this as standard. Was it because they could not be sure the tape would adhere in water and they wanted to avoid complications or being sued? No. The reason was cost.
However, if I took in my own supply, the hospital nurse would use it. The cost was minimal. It was certainly worth my while spending under ten dollars to be sure I could swim - and shower, on holiday after a minor accident and skin abrasion.
The cost is small and the item is so small that it is easy to carry and store. You may never need it. I hope you and I don't. But that's the joy of first aid kits. If you don't need them, great. But if you do, you are prepared.
For several months afterwards I traveled with the small box of Microporous tape, for my own use; also to offer to a hospital if they needed to bandage me. I added it to my first aid kits in the car and kitchen.
In theory, if a hospital or first aid post or doctor gives you a bandage that is not waterproof, you could cover it afterwards with waterproofing. Check first with them that it is safe to do so, because your skin cannot breathe after you add the tape.
But even if you put the tape on during a shower or wash, to protect your wound from splashes when doing household chores such as washing dishes or clothes, or even outdoors, on a boat, or in a downpour of rain, or walking in sandals through puddles, you might find it useful.
If you are poor and obsessive, as I was at that time, you could buy just one and carry it in your bag or move it from place to place. If you are a control freak and want to look after the world, more like my situation now, you could get yourself a business name and cards, buy a dozen wholesale, place them in three or four places, one in each bathroom, in the kitchen and car, with a second set for your granny or grandad or son or daughter, and another set for any accident prone family member, friend, or your workplace.
Packing List
First aid kit
Waterproof plasters
Waterproof tape
List of dates of jabs and inoculations especially tetanus jab
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microporous_material
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author speaker.
He insisted we went to hospital, which was the right decision. When we reached hospital I was told I needed a Tetanus jab. When did I last have one? Within the last year, the last ten years? I could not remember.
It's a good idea to list all the jabs and illnesses you have had and keep the record on your computer and/or in a printed out list in the folder of vital information in which you keep your passport which travels with you on every trip.
Because I could not be sure, the hospital decided to give me another jab, since having two was no harm, they said, just costing me time and money, whilst not having the jab if I needed it, they said, would be a health risk.
They bandaged me up and told me not to shower or swim for three days because I had to keep the bandage dry. I had a three day business trip in a grand hotel with a swimming pool.
When I got back to the UK, I went into my local chemist (with a pharmacy - in the USA known as a drug store) stocked a First aid Microporous tape, asking for a bandage or better still a smaller Elastoplast (the brand name used universally in the UK - known in the USA and elsewhere as a sticking plaster). The assistant offered me a choice of plain or waterproof plaster, but as the sticking plasters were too small, sterile wound covering, a roll of (sterile?) bandage and waterproof tape.
I later asked a hospital worker why they did not issue this as standard. Was it because they could not be sure the tape would adhere in water and they wanted to avoid complications or being sued? No. The reason was cost.
However, if I took in my own supply, the hospital nurse would use it. The cost was minimal. It was certainly worth my while spending under ten dollars to be sure I could swim - and shower, on holiday after a minor accident and skin abrasion.
The cost is small and the item is so small that it is easy to carry and store. You may never need it. I hope you and I don't. But that's the joy of first aid kits. If you don't need them, great. But if you do, you are prepared.
For several months afterwards I traveled with the small box of Microporous tape, for my own use; also to offer to a hospital if they needed to bandage me. I added it to my first aid kits in the car and kitchen.
In theory, if a hospital or first aid post or doctor gives you a bandage that is not waterproof, you could cover it afterwards with waterproofing. Check first with them that it is safe to do so, because your skin cannot breathe after you add the tape.
But even if you put the tape on during a shower or wash, to protect your wound from splashes when doing household chores such as washing dishes or clothes, or even outdoors, on a boat, or in a downpour of rain, or walking in sandals through puddles, you might find it useful.
If you are poor and obsessive, as I was at that time, you could buy just one and carry it in your bag or move it from place to place. If you are a control freak and want to look after the world, more like my situation now, you could get yourself a business name and cards, buy a dozen wholesale, place them in three or four places, one in each bathroom, in the kitchen and car, with a second set for your granny or grandad or son or daughter, and another set for any accident prone family member, friend, or your workplace.
Packing List
First aid kit
Waterproof plasters
Waterproof tape
List of dates of jabs and inoculations especially tetanus jab
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microporous_material
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author speaker.
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