Healing Properties

There are little spots of yellow dust speckled along my iPad as I type this. It's some sort of healing powder that became the final step in the bandaging process of a sliced finger.

I had just opened a new exacto blade crafting tool. For a minute or two, I couldn't manage to get the protective lid off. Until suddenly, as the bright red blood indicated, I figured it out.

I reached for a paper towel. My future father-in-law reached for his tobacco.

Both I and my finger can attest that a pinch of tobacco pressed onto a wound works well to staunch the bleeding.  After a few minutes, however, you have to gently scrape it off. Hon and his mom gently washed the sticky tabacco off. I was slightly horrified that there were still leaves clinging to my finger and insisted on getting all the little bits off.  And thus reopened the then sealed wound. I guess a little residual tobacco won't kill me after all.

Finally, came the yellow powder: yunnan paiyao (which might or might not sound like the word for 'woozy'). Should I be right to trust my future father-in-law's wisdom on this, it has both coagulant and antibiotic properties.  And, that's not all folks..! It is also works as a tea for those who have internal wounds and for people with asthma.   However, the tea is made from pounding the foul-smelling, lumpy root and boiling it in water. And yes, Hon's parents have this substance in both whole and powder states.




Hon summed up the day pretty well: "I'll need a bigger first aid kit."