Fish Story and a First Aid Warning!

[Dan Sullivan]

It was August of ‘00. I had gotten a free pass from my wife to go fishing, so I cashed it in. I decided to go to the Salem Canal in South Jersey to catch some monsters. I was having a pretty good day at or about lunchtime when I snagged my jig deep in some cover.



When I finally got the jig loose I noticed that the hook started to straighten from pulling on it (I guess I was using some strong line). Without my pliers handy I tried to bend it back with my hand. In doing so, I sliced my finger right along the crease at the last knuckle of my pointer finger. It was a deep cut but it didn’t hurt and it wasn’t really bleeding badly so....FISH ON!



That evening it really started to hurt. It was getting to the point where I couldn’t bend it. I figured a little more Neosporin and a good nights sleep would do me some good. Boy was I wrong. Around 9:00pm I went to the emergency room. They admitted me right away.....And I mean RIGHT AWAY. The hand surgeon explained that if I had waited until the morning to come in, They would have at least been doing an amputation on the finger if not the hand. :blink::wacko:



With all the fish slime and lake water getting in the cut, it seems as though I got a little infection. Four days later I was back home with an I.V. line that ran through my arm, up to one of the main arteries near my shoulder. I had to administer the antibiotics myself for the next 2 weeks. And yes, I was fishing with the line in my arm a couple days after coming home. My wife loved that! :wub:



SO.....Moral of the story is? Don’t set the hook on a tree limb! Wait, no. Oh yeah. Always carry a first aid kit on the boat or with your tackle. Make sure you have peroxide or other alcohol swabs. Try to “bleed” any punctures or cuts and if your cut is as deep as a tendon, get off the water, treat it, and keep it dry.

 

[Christopher Laurencio]

Sully,



Sorry to hear of that, hope your feeling better. That happened to me once, the cut healed and the infection stayed inside, I developed what is called trigger finger, that's when the tendon does not slide thru the little loop in your hand freely. I had to go to a hand surgeon as well and get many injections of cortisone until it healed.



Let me know if your up for a trip to MC this Sunday. Oh wait I have to see if I can go, I have a tourney on Hopatcong the night before. :wacko:



CJL

 

[fatrap]

Sully

What was the infection Necrotizing Fasciitis? A lot of people lose their lives from that. Your fortunate.

fatrap

 

[Dan Sullivan]

Hey Chris! Yeah, five years later it's 100%. I was going to try to get out Sunday but didn't commit to any body of water yet. Let me know what you're going to do.

 

[Dan Sullivan]

Fatrap - it was a couple forms of staph. One of which they had never seen.:unsure:

 

[Christopher Laurencio]

Oh Sully, my bad, I thought it just happened recently, LOL @ myself.



I have a tourney on sat night, but that usually does not stop me from going fishing the next day . We have to hook up soon on MC. If not this weekend maybe next.



The SM are kinda MIA right now in MC, the LM are infrequent but of nice size when found.



CJL

 

[Texas Transplant]

Just as an added reminder to everyone, if you haven't had one recently, probably a good idea to get a tetanus booster. Just got one for my Canada trip.



Tex

 

[Barry Dufour]

I cut my finger opening raw oysters and it also got infected even though I cleaned it and bandaged it. Of course I went back to work opening oysters and I quess it got wet again. It wasn't that bad, but still it hurt and I had to have antibiotics.

Barry