Support Notes for Chapters 1 and 2
Author's Note: Listen, I can't answer a question if you're not logged in. Bella is dying because of infection to her burns, which, according to an encyclopedia, is possible. Also, she is dying because of the 'shock'. I know I said that Carlisle treated her for shock, but there are different types of shock, and this one is giving her a fever and putting her into a coma (this is the bit which I am saying is not very medically accurate).
Some (selective) Evidence:
"… the patient lies in a condition of profound shock, and consequently feels little or no pain."
Didn't work as well. Bella still felt pain – even if it was numbed. Shock settling in?
"If death results from shock, coma first supervenes, which deepens steadily until the end comes."
Coma, because, I didn't mention it, but Bella doesn't wake up except for the first time in the ambulance. I said Carlisle sedated her, but then Bella still didn't wake up after it wore off.
"… when the effects of shock pass. Considerable fever is present, and the tendency to every kind of complication is very great. Bronchitis, pneumonia, pleurisy, meningitis, intestinal catarrh, and even ulceration of the duodenum, have all been recorded."
I could have used this. I used the fever.
"Death may result from … or from the wound becoming infected with some organism, as tetanus, erysipelas, etc. The prognosis depends chiefly on the extent of skin involved, death almost invariably resulting when one-third of the total area of the body is affected, however superficially."
Carlisle gave Bella an injection, but 'something went wrong' I believe.
Other Information
"You can throw a match into one room and nothing happens while you throw another match into a gas-filled room and it will explode in your face…"
A room will explode if you fill it with gas – therefore the unclosed gas valve.
"An explosive material is a material that either is chemically or otherwise energetically unstable or produces a sudden expansion of the material usually accompanied by the production of heat and large changes in pressure (and typically also a flash and/or loud noise) upon initiation; this is called the explosion."
Not very scientifically correct either, but the theory is the same.
"First-degree burns are usually limited to redness (erythema), a white plaque and minor pain at the site of injury. These burns usually extend only into the epidermis.
Second-degree burns additionally fill with clear fluid, have superficial blistering of the skin, and can involve more or less pain depending on the level of nerve involvement. Second-degree burns involve the superficial (papillary) dermis and may also involve the deep (reticular) dermis layer.
Third-degree burns additionally have charring of the skin, and produce hard, leather-like eschars. An eschar is a scab that has separated from the unaffected part of the body. Frequently, there is also purple fluid. These types of burns are often painless because nerve endings have been destroyed in the involved areas."
Burns information. Bella should have quite a few (or many) third degree burns (been lying in a corridor for too long) and some second degree burns.
Information extracted from Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica and some sites you no doubt can find on the web with the help of a handy search engine.
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Oh, and I'm not studying to be a doctor. This really isn't necessary for my education…
;P
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