I have been seeing a msg string on FaceBook about Julian “Hoppy” Hopkins’s treatment of his thumb infection from getting stuck while handling a crab for bait. A poster there highly recommends a Dr. Julia Haile, connected to Roper. Thanks to Britt Barnes for the recommendation. (The doc I was previously recommending to Boatfly is no longer practicing here in Charleston.) Sorry to go on and on about this, but I know from my own experience that these marine infections can be serious. Wishing Boatfly and Hoppy a swift recovery and alert all that these things can take several days to appear, but then they fester up fast, and then docs start talking about the possibility of amputating! I’m going to put a fresh bottle of peroxide on my boat.
Anybody who fishes is going to get stuck one time or another. If you get stuck and start to experience redness and pain, you need to see your provider fast. Cipro is the standard treatment. It has to be pretty bad for IV antibiotics.
Glad you guys are doing better!
“No individual raindrop ever considers itself responsible for the flood.” Anonymous
http://www.facebook.com/pages/HealthFirstCares
195 Sea Fox Bay Fisher
No problem NaCLH20. Glad I could help someone else from my experience. I actually made a post on here called “wash your hands”:
http://old.charlestonfishing.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=127197
My infection never presented with redness. Day one had a slight discomfort, like I needed to pop the knuckle. By midnight I was in the ER in excruciating pain. The next day the top of the knuckle was black. The following day it ws even worse, even with 2 days of antibiotics. Dr. Haile and Dr. Macilwaine (hand specialist) saved my thumb and quite possibly my hand and life. Dr. Macilwaine said if I had waited until Monday (when I had an appointment with a hand specialist) I would have been a walking dead man. My infection went into the knuckle joint of my right thumb. Knuckles do not get a lot of blood flow so the infection was very difficult to treat and cure. I was on IV antibiotics for 21 days at about $800 a pop. Then I waas on oral antibiotics for another 21 days. The end result is I kept my thumb. But the infection destroyed all of the cartilage in the knuckle and it fused together. End result is it will never bend again. If I hit the thumb or over use it, it is quite painful and can ache for while. As a gun carrier I had to teach myself to manipulate a left handed holster because I can’t use the trhumb to release the retention device very well. It’s better today, but will never be what it was.
19’ Sea-Pro CC
“Swagger Wagon”
Yamaha 115 - 2 stroke
14’ CMF Skiff
25 Johnson - 2 stroke
14’ Heritage Redfish
“There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.”
Ernest Hemingway
Iodine swabsticks, a must have. Widely used in remote areas and very effective. Cheap and easy to use as well.
have a staph infection right now that I can’t get rid of…been 3 months. On so many antibiotics I got seasick for the first time in my life a few weekends ago. Talk about miserable.
Finally going to see an infectious disease doctor at MUSC. Freaking sucks and fingers crossed they can figure this out.
Sorry to hijack the thread just needed to vent.
And people have laughed at my gloves for years…sure beats the alternative!
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NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
quote:
Originally posted by sellsfishAnd people have laughed at my gloves for years…sure beats the alternative!
Big sissy.
Macilwaine’s the man. You could not have been in better hands. Yeah, when it gets into joints or bone (osteomyelitis) it ups the ante considerably.
“No individual raindrop ever considers itself responsible for the flood.” Anonymous
http://www.facebook.com/pages/HealthFirstCares
195 Sea Fox Bay Fisher
Macilwaine reattached my left index finger Dec 21 2007. Finger vs bandsaw. Guess who won.
Thanks to all that posted their stories as warnings! I now carry a few additional items in the “boat bag” just in case. Neosporin now makes a spray in small bottle that’s easy to pack. Seems like someone cuts their foot on an oyster shell once or twice a summer when we beach at islands for family fun. Hopefully we’ll avoid a bad outcome thanks to the good folks on here willing to share their experience/advice.
I got stuck in the palm of the hand in March and ended up having a big, nasty, sore, red bump in my palm for about 3 months. Never took any antibiotics and it took care of itself! I should probably start carrying some anti bacterial wipes or stuff with me.