Brewster 'A Glimpse of War through a Private's Eyes', a retrospective account of experiences in World War I, 1915-1917 / John James Brewster - Page 252
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[Page 252]
the pain seemed most severe, in her effort to "clean" the wound as much as possible, a horrible lot of dark colored pus burst out about 4 Inches below the wound & splashed over the front of the Sisters clean white apron. It was a disgusting sight. The Sisters exclamation, caused the Sentry, who always had his head turned away during the process of dressing, – to turn his head to the front & he saw the effect & expressed his sorrow at the damage done to the apron, which of course had to be destroyed. However a very great relief was immediately felt.
On the return of the Sister she could not help saying, Poor Sentry! what pain you must have suffered & we thought it was all imagination. The amount of pus taken from the wound was surprising.
On applying the syringe to the top of the wound it was found that there were now two outlets the second one was very erratic. Two little spurts of water (really a mixture of two chemicals) would now "squirt out" sometimes 3 feet high the new one, so irregular in its course, that the Sister or any one near was likely to be splashed by it. The arm having always to be held by an assistant, the efforts of both the Sister & the assistant to dodge the spray, were such that every morning afterwards, when the arm was being dressed all the Walking Cases in the Ward would assemble to enjoy, what they called, "Seeing the fountains play".
Next day the Relief Sister was sure she felt, by means of a probe, a piece of foreign substance, probably a small piece of bone, in the new opening, & the Sentry could also feel it move. The Doctor was summoned to view the arm, & he now stated, an operation was saved by the "breakout".
The swelling gradually became reduced & the arm withered away till apparently nothing was left but the two bones. After a few days the Sister could not help remarking, Is that the normal size of your arm? but when the Sentry