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[Lordraymond]

So, my legendary, candy armored Swordmaster can kill FBs and even sub-Megabeasts solo, no issue. He is slowly dying. Why? Last goblin siege one lucky hammergoblin smashed open his thumb. For the last year and a half, he hasn't been flashing or showing any signs damage, but on the medical screen it says he has an infection and on his status he has "His thumb, left hand is broken. His thumb, left hand is smashed open."

So yeah, he's probably gonna die eventually but the wound isn't healing, he's had the infection forever. Is smashed open healing broken? I've had it refuse to heal on adventurers too, because I don't want to just see "Urist McSwordsmaster The Infinite Awesome has died of infection!"
suddenly because I didn't know how to fix his wound.

[i2amroy]

Once a wound is actually infected there is nothing you can do but hope and wait to see whether or not it kills the dwarf. You are sort of in luck in that the infected wound is so small though, since infections kill via internal bleeding. This means that if he does eventually die due to infection, it'll probably take him (assuming he is super tough and all that) several years to actually die of the infection. Other than that there is no way to "cure" an infection other than through luck.

[Nan]

Well, there is one way. It involves armoring every inch of his body except the offending hand. Then remove the hand with an upright spike trap. A legendary military dwarf can use his weapon and shield just fine with only one hand (I like to think he straps the shield onto his hand-less arm).

[UnHerpers]

"Doc the hand amputation has gone well, he's now in bed reco... Oh no the stump is infected now! We gotta remove that lower arm!"

[L0master]

So it is actually possible to carry out an amputation?

[Quietust]

I'm not 100% certain, but improving the dwarf's recuperative ability might make him capable of out-healing the infection - it'll never go away, but it'll never kill the dwarf either. One of my fortresses has several dwarves that have been infected for 20-30 years yet show absolutely no signs of illness.

[daggaz]

How do you increase a dwarf's recuperative abilities?  Im gonna go out on a limb here and assume it involves more alcohol than magma. 

[Sutremaine]

"His thumb, left hand is broken. His thumb, left hand is smashed open."

Which bit of the thumb? Nails don't heal or bleed but can still get infected. It doesn't seem to cause any problems. Do you have (non-hospital) soap and a place to wash in your fortress?

[Telgin]

I've been curious about this too, since I've had a soldier in the hospital with an infected foot for months.  It's been sutured and dressed, but she just isn't getting any better.

Do infections prevent healing too, or just cause bleeding?

Also, I have a soldier with a rotten pancreas.  Information on exactly what this does is... lacking.  I understand that the pancreas isn't a vital organ in DF, but I've read that the rot can cause an infection that could kill her.  Is this true?  If this is the case, is there anything that can be done for her?

And is the only way to keep track of whether a dwarf has an infection or not to get them diagnosed by a doctor?

[Sutremaine]

And is the only way to keep track of whether a dwarf has an infection or not to get them diagnosed by a doctor?

You can track it in the Health screen, though I'm not 100% sure what allows it. I think it's having a Novice or better Diagnostician as CMD, which I know allows you to view hunger / thirst status on the Health screen. They might have to be non-rusty as well, based on Rusty Novice Judges of Intent being unable to judge a trader's mood.

[Lordraymond]

It just says the thumb is smashed open, nothing about a nail.

Also, I don't think I've gotten around to making soap, maybe that has something to do with it? Like I think I've said, I've had adventurers where this wound has never healed either, I dunno why. I'm tempted to just change the tags in the init so smashed open heals at the same rate as cut open or something.

[Telgin]

Oh, cool, didn't realize that the health screen was linked to the CMD that way.  I figured since the rot doesn't actually show up in the dwarf's health screen that this wouldn't show up anywhere.

Actually, come to think of it, I don't think the rot shows up in the general health screen either.  Will have to check this when I get home.

My experimentation thus far shows that a rotten pancreas doesn't do much, if anything for a few months at least.  If it does do anything, it probably depends on the dwarf's attributes, and she is quick to heal so she may just outheal any damage from infection, if she ever even gets an infection from it.

[i2amroy]

Do infections prevent healing too, or just cause bleeding?

Just bleeding. Other than that infections don't really do anything at all.

[Telgin]

Alright then, can rotten organs actually get infected?  If so, how dangerous is the infection?  I believe I've only seen a single dwarf die of infection, and he had like 4 infected limbs.  I'm guessing that a rotten pancreas is extremely unlikely to actually kill a dwarf?

[i2amroy]

As long as its a tough enough dwarf, then they will probably be just fine if they have an infected pancreas. At worst they will die, but will take several years to do so, giving you plenty of time to make an elegant burial chamber/kill them in more interesting ways.