Humor me please with a question from my son...

8 We were discussing my 7th grade experiences. I mentioned we had to read Johnny Tremaine. My project was a poster depicting the main character injuring himself by pouring hot molten silver on his hand in colonial times.

So what does my son ask? So how would they fix that today?

If a hand was encased in molten silver that hardened, (silver en bloc?) I'm guessing the tissue destruction from the thermal burns combined with the only way to successfully remove the silver would be to re-melt it. ( not a realistic option) then the only treatment option would be distal amputation? The risk of tissue death,compartment syndrome, etc would be very high it would seem.

Thoughts? Talk amongst yourselves.

Ah the conversations with a 12 year old who helped mom study in nursing school years ago...
Ha! I would at least attempt to use a cast-saw to remove the silver mold.

He sounds like a cool kid! Cast saw is good but amputation came to mind first.

I love mind blowing questions from kids. I'm curious to know the answer. I imagine the initial tissue and vascular damage would be too severe to have a usable hand if you did successfully remove the metal. I mean, literally it got cooked in the process, wouldn't you think? I vote amputate.

At least now unlike colonial times there are modern prosthetics that could be used and a planned amputation to preserve potential function. If I recall correctly, the story he had a fused hand that was useless and he tried to hide. He wasn't to work on Sundays as an apprentice but did it anyway and had he accident. They definitely weren't seeking medical accuracy in this classic novel. I remember the second book was Treasure Island , which I loathed

This brings back memories; I LOVED Johnny Tremaine. I'm going to have to find the book and reread...!Oh, and I vote amputation.

Quote from donsterRNThis brings back memories; I LOVED Johnny Tremaine. I'm going to have to find the book and reread...!Oh, and I vote amputation.

since Silver's melting point = 1235.08 K, 962 �C, 1571 �F and boiling point = 2485.15 K, 2212 �C, 3571 �F, I am going to go with full thickness burns, amputation, and eventual prosthesis. I have not read this book, am going to have to look into it!

here's a link to a relevant article that may help answer your last question... (maybe) Pediatric burn injuries

Tell him, the patient is becoming a real life Iron Man! Just joking.I agree with the others about full thickness burns and amputation, though, considering the age your son is, he might find those concepts fascinating.

OSHA would never let something like that happen!

Imagine if OSHA was around in the 1800's and early 1900's. John Wannamaker had a camp in NJ to train his minor child employees.

Off with his hand!