Stanch- to stop blood flow from a wound
Ex: The boulder had settled to rest on his right arm just about six hours ago now. He had a compound break near his elbow that he was able to stanch with a ripped off section of his left shirtsleeve. That would buy him some time, but he still had to make the ultimate decision: either to amputate, or to die. He thought about the many blessings in his life: his family, his job, his low-key friendships with the garbage and recycling men, his string of past relationships, many of them almost a decade in the rearview, his loyal dog, the recent uneasiness in his interactions with the garbage and recycling guys (his waves were now just met with nods), his decently sized house in a decent neighborhood, his baseball card collection, the untimely collapse of all amicable relations with the garbage and recycling guys after he proposed that they all get together for a game night, to which they both responded that they’d rather keep their relationships strictly professional, the futile last-ditch attempt at salvaging their friendship by filling up the trashcan entirely with those heart-shaped Valentine’s Day candies with the little love messages on them, just to be watching through the blinds as the garbage man opened up the lid, shook his head, told his driver to get out of the truck to take a look, and doubled up with laughter. The search party found his pale, stiff, lifeless body in the canyon five days later.