diva-gonzo:

vivithefolle:

kingronw:

hillnerd:

And why the conditions when they camped had a worse effect on Ron.

I must preface this by saying I’m about to talk a bit about generalized cis people’s bodies in survival conditions, and medical stuff. This is contextualizing what happened if we were to apply what we know of the real-world conditions they were under, and how that affected them all, but especially, Ron. 

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THE EFFECT OF THEIR SURVIVAL CONDITIONS ON THE BODY

The conditions they are living in are survival conditions, and they are pretty dang rough. 

Weatherwise, it is getting colder, and would be terribly chilly at night. They each take a shift sitting in that weather at night. At least I’m assuming hydration isn’t as much of an issue, due to aguamenti. Food-wise, however, they are starving. They are getting starvation level of calories on and off again. Like, mushrooms? That’s like 4 calories for one mushroom. A grown adult need 2000+/- calories. You think they were eating 500 mushrooms in a day? Nope. Their bodies are starving those days. Many nights they only have a ‘berries and stale biscuits’. They are able to steal eggs and bread at times, but the issue of them not having food is a constant.

When you’re in survival conditions, muscle mass, body type and fat on your body can really be a big factor in your ability to weather starvation conditions of low calories, inadequate shelter, and possible dehydration.

The taller and more muscled you are, the more fuel you need to keep going and maintain your muscle mass. Women have a higher fat to muscle ratio, and fat is great for helping in these conditions. Your body can feed off the fat and not start breaking down your muscles to survive.

Then the inclimate weather takes a toll on a person’s general condition. The cold that plagues them makes their body have to work even harder to do things. You’re expelling extra calories with every shiver- calories you NEED to reserve for gathering firewood, finding food, maintaining your muscles, having the energy to think.

So Hermione, an unathletic woman of average height (to see my break down of heights see this post), would have a higher amount of body fat to survive off of. She wouldn’t require as many calories to have her muscle mass stay at the same level. She also is prone to not eating much when she’s doing things. There’s a reason Ron (and even one time Harry in PoA) are reminding her to eat. This makes her pretty prepared to not eat much, and still be relatively ok.

Harry is somewhat tall at this point, and wiry (athletic and thin) but is more acclimated to starvation conditions due to is upbringing, and almost half a foot shorter than Ron.

Then there’s Ron. He’s VERY tall, athletic, and thin. That is a terrible combo for surviving in the wild with starving conditions.

And then he’s gravely injured.

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RON’S SPLINCHING INJURY

Looking at this injury- it’s very severe, and I think a lot of people overlook it when taking in what injury Ron has gone through when he was splinched. Part of his body was instantaneously amputated with no aesthetic at all. He is bleeding profusely so that ‘blood drenched the whole of Ron’s left side.’ And that’s just seconds after landing in the forrest. It’s ugly, there are many arterial veins there- and then he bleeds so much that in only a minute or so he’s unconcious from blood loss.

That isn’t just a little flesh wound. Ron’s body has gone into shock.

Let’s look at how his injury and symptoms are described:

• in the few moments it took for Ron to give a low groan and harry to start crawling toward him, he realize that this was not the forbidden forest
• blood drenched the whole of ron’s left side and his face stood out, grayish-white
• His face drained of what little color it had left
• ron, whose eyes were now half-closed, strips of white eyeball all that were visible between his lids. “he’s fainted” said hermione
• Ron groaned and opned his eyes. he was still gray and his face glistened with sweat
• ron still looked pale and clammy. he had made no attempt to sit up and it looked as though he was too weak to do so.
• ron attempted to sit up and turned a nasty shade of green
  

Looks very much like the symptoms for hypovolemic shock to me.

There are 4 stages of hypovolemic shock, with 4 being the worst. He’s either stage 2 or 3

• By Stage 2, the blood loss increases to up to 30 percent. The patient may experience increased heart and breathing rates. Their blood pressure may still be within normal range. The diastolic reading, or bottom number, of their blood pressure reading may be raised, however. The patient may begin sweating and feel more anxious and restless.
• By stage 3, the person with hypovolemic shock will have had 30 to 40 percent blood loss. The top number or systolic reading of their blood pressure will be 100 or lower. They will have a significantly increased heart rate and abnormally rapid breathing. 

  The patient will begin to experience mental distress, including anxiety and agitation. Their skin will be pale and cold, and they will begin sweating.

Given those, I think he’s a stage 4.

Or here’s a list of mild vs severe hypovolemia:

Mild symptoms can include:

• headache 
• fatigue 
• nausea 
• profuse sweating 
• dizziness

Severe symptoms, which must be taken seriously and warrant emergency medical attention, include:

• cold or clammy skin
• pale skin
• rapid, shallow breathing
• rapid heart rate
• confusion
• weakness
• weak pulse
• blue lips and fingernails
• lightheadedness
• loss of consciousness

It’s up to you whether he is mild or severe- but he shows some symptoms of severe for certain. Hermione is thankfully able to staunch his bleeding with the dittany. But his aftercare from then on isn’t really what’s best for blood loss. They prop him up on pillows when he should have his legs propped up. He isn’t getting a blood transfusion. There is no pain medication/potions to manage his injury. Like… He’s lucky Hermione packed dittany, otherwise he would have bled out and died. He also is lucky he didn’t get a complication from it worse than he did.

So without a blood transfusion, without any medicine – his body has gone through a HUGE ordeal. He needs food and rest to get his strength back. He gets a negligible amount of both for however long he is with Hermione and Harry*. (2 months? Almost 3?). 

He then does not take time to heal at all. He’s doing the exact same tasks as the other two within a few days, it seems, as Ron is described as helping Harry with spells to get rid of divetts from the tent the very next morning, and is walking about with a sling.

Harry is described as “hungry and a little light-headed” the night Ron was splinched. Imagine how Ron was feeling having lost so much blood?

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IN CONCLUSION

Physiologically alone, Ron is at a great disadvantage the moment they are camping, just from his height build and their general camping conditions.

Add in his devastating injury, and he’s at an even greater disadvantage.

Add on top of that the horcrux targeted him specifically, and how his family is in great danger, it’s no wonder he experienced a worse amount of duress when they were camping. 

Anyone who gives Ron flack about it needs to sit and give it a think.

Keep reading

this is so amazing and thorough and I’m tagging anyone who hates on ron for leaving during DH in this post from now on

Spread it, and suck on it, Ron-bashers!

Thank you Hilly for your very thorough research! ♥

@hillnerd is on point in regards to Ron’s severe splinching. Reading the description of the injury, he is in level 4 hypervolemic shock. 40% blood loss is on the threshold of dying, regardless of whether it’s on the floor in the Forest of Dean or in St. Mungo’s.

Dittany sealed the wounds but it did nothing to replace he significant blood volumes required for suck a normally healthy lad. (I’m going to go with 5L of blood total, for a round number.)

40% of 5L is 2L of blood.

(Below is very long, medically in-depth, and might be boring as f*.

TL;DR

Keep reading

I am loving this entire thread. @hillnerd and @diva-gonzo make such good analysis here.