Recovery time for gun shot wounds

[elisheva_m]

About how much time would it take for someone to partially recover from three gun shot wounds, including one to the abdomen and a fair bit of blood loss? The character is around 30 years, in very good shape physically and was treated quickly, although not in a hospital. Partially, in that he's able to get around on his own alright but not fully fit again, with some concern for aggravating the injuries.

Also, about how long before there's little reason to worry about aggravating the injuries? I need to put a scene in that window and some details of their conversation will depend on how far along the bigger timeline they meet up. It doesn't really matter but I'd be happier if I had a reasonable time frame to ground this in.

Given the state of AI generated slop, I'm appreciating the need for a community like this all the more. This is something I know nothing about so AI could certainly take me for a ride. Another subject I do know more about has gotten so polluted. Thanks for being here and for any help.


Edit: You've all convinced me that he won't survive the organised crime trope of having their own doctor/surgeon and avoiding hospitals, so he must have gone. That information is black-boxed from us though for narrative reasons, so hypothetical readers can add in whatever makes them happiest for tropes or medical accuracy. I only mentioned it because it's narratively important his recovery not go too quickly and I thought blood loss + less supply for transfusion might affect it. My working assumption was that he received whatever surgery and antibiotics were needed but not top tier care.

This period of the story is crucial for the main characters' emotional arc so the timeline there is what's important rather than where he was treated. Six weeks works well.

Thanks for all the replies. Much appreciated.

Comments

[white_aster]

I don't know if it gives recovery times, but one book on my shelf that I went to look at immediately was this: https://archive.org/details/bodytraumawriter0000page, a book for writers about traumatic injuries. it's about 25 years old, so it's not up on the latest medical practices, but it should give you a sense of the damage your injuries might involve. You can borrow it free with an archive.org account!

As other responder said: abdominal injuries are nasty. Gut shots or gut wounds were OFTEN fatal without modern surgery, because it's so easy to hit something that either bleeds out internally or puncture the gut which spills bacteria into the abdominal cavity and kills the person of sepsis, or god forbid the bullet even nudges the pancreas wrong. So it will depend on what non-hospital treatment he got. If the only treatment he got was "put some bandages on it"...I honestly don't think it's realistic that he would recover from an abdominal wound at all, and if he did, anyone with any knowledge of abdominal wounds would be like, "you should be dead". Now, media has skewed peoples' views of what's "realistic", so you might be able to fudge it and most people wouldn't notice, but anyone with any knowledge of medicine or science or anatomy would kind of have to roll their eyes through it.

[elisheva_m]

Thanks for the link, archive.org is a treasure. I'll check it out.

The genre is tropey x 2 (Thai lakorn and organised crime) so medical reality is optional, though this thread is giving me an appreciation for what might happen if I share it publicly and it's read by those outside the genre.

Whatever he does receive is certainly more than bandages. Fortunately his treatment is black-boxed from our view for narrative reasons and we *can't* know those details. I'll keep in mind to write what we do see, or he recounts later, so those who want to go tropey can read that into it (organised crime having their own doctor/surgeon and avoiding hospitals) and those who need greater realism have room for that too.

[full_metal_ox]

KinnPorsche by any chance?

[elisheva_m]

No, more Ch3 than one31 and original. It comes from observing a handful of lakorns like Game Prattana negotiate female sexual agency and desire in a culture where that is heavily constrained, FLs are expected to be reserved and a "not ready yet" night is requisite. There's more leeway for a woman who's already outside the social norms, so that's where the underworld aspect comes in. For ML, start with a mix of Alek Teeradetch, Nine Naphat and Winai Kraibutr.

[white_aster]

aha, well, genre expectations definitely can make things easier. In that sort of case, I think you're probably fine. I mean, wherever he went would need a surgery, and he'd definitely need a whole slew of antibiotics, but I would think "eh, the organized crime folks would definitely be the type to pay for a tiny but good private hospital that specializes in bullet wounds if they want". It's more about him having access to a dedicated surgery with someone who knows what they're doing, and that doesn't need to specifically be a whole hospital.