Open Sore

{This is a work of fiction, but such things do happen.}

The old man got up in the night, fell down, tore the skin on his forearm. Joe leaped out of bed and ran to the rescue. His father Bob, ninety years old, lay on the floor. Joe called an ambulance. They sat five hours in emergency. The old man was fine. They put dressing on his arm. Three days later, the dressings came loose and tore away skin, under his pajama, leaving an exposed open sore.

The skin of an old person is sensitive, dry, brittle and easily torn. A nurse came to replace the dressing and cover up the exposed wound. It looked scary but actually wasn't worse than a skinned knee or arm that a kid would get after falling off a bicycle. The freaky part was removing the adhesive from the fragile skin, without tearing off the skin. The nurse soaked the dressing with alcohol and was angry that anyone would apply such adhesive directly to the skin of an old man. It hurt when she removed the old dressing. She  patched him up. Bob felt OK was the dressing was changed.