This is serious. I say that because I tend to be a little on the humorous side. I bought a 46 Ford that was originally built by an Illinois HAMBer. The subsequent owner left it sit out side for several years. A family or two of mice (s) took up residence in the rear seat. I am redoing the interior and tossed out the old seat last week. While I was installing a new headliner last Friday I wore shorts and received two small puncture wounds on my right knee. Three days later the leg got stiff but only showed minor swelling. Then all hell broke loose. The leg is now red, swollen to the point it feels like it wants to explode and I am running a significant fever. I have a raging infection in the soft tissue of my leg. When did you get your last tetanus shot?? I didn't know either but I knew it was at least 16 years ago. So I have to keep my leg elevated abouve my heart 20 hours/day and loose time off work and my project. So much for BTT50's this year. Wear full jeans not shorts and use knee pads and NEVER over look the seriousness of a puncture wound- regardless of how minor it might seem at the time. I wrote this not looking for sympathy. I just wanted all our guys to think about safety. Kermit
Reminds me of when I slashed my hand at a local junkyard. It was bad, but it never hurt. I was more pissed that I couldn't keep looking for parts. You KNOW its bad when you gross out the guys who work there. The emegancy room people asked me the usual battery of questions, so I got stitches and a tetanus shot. The cool thing is I made them let me watch all the scrubing and stitching, which I think kind of un-nerved them. But the best was I remembered a Simpsons quote and said, " Oh, fiddle dee dee. That will require a tetanus shot," and started giggling which got me even weirder looks.
Had my tetanus booster last year, when I showed my doctor a picture of my car!! She insisted! Kermit, hope you feel better soon. Tucker
You should have a tetanus shot every 10 years at least OR everytime you injure yourself and can't remember the previous one. A staph infection can also result from a prick/puncture/break in skin......those are MAD nasty. My dad got one in his elbow from a cut from an old car. Almost lost him to it when I was a lil girl. What a devestating blow to a young girl to watch her father lay in a hospital bed fighting for his life. Appleseed......... I did that when I cut my knuckles off my right hand. Freaked the doctor out SO bad, he refused to take the stitches out after it healed.
Kermit sorry to hear about that ...my dad three years ago almost died At BTT50's because of the same thing he let it go to long ....Hope your feeling better I'll take lots of picks and give them to Howey !
Even though I had a tetanus shot a few years ago after punching out a scumbag I got blood poisoning and infection in my hand from a steel sliver.Guess I shouldn,t have taken it out at the grinder. Two days later I had a sausage for a finger.After the trip to the hospital and yes I took all of the anti biotics my hand is ruined for the rest of my life....I can,t close the hand tightly to grasp anything.Doc says it will never come back. So take this little tidbit of advice...if you get cut from steel while fixin your rod douse it with something to kill the bacteria.Too late for me....Ratmotor.
man, sorry to hear you are laid up, its them little ones you gotta watch out for, i always make sure if i get a good puncture it bleeds out, most the time i dont have a problem dripping blood all over my stuff though, i just remember my moms husband had a puncture wound from work when he slipped with a screwdriver, didnt think til his hand swelled and went in to the er, had some bad blood poisoning and almost lost it. i know i wouldn't be in a very good mood w/o my right hand...j/k
good point you never realy think to keep up on that sort of thing. lol if your like most of us and on a way teeny budget if you happen to be selling plasma for car money take a second look around, most of the time they'll PAY YOU to get a tetanus shot. just a thought tim
Several years ago I stepped on a board with a rusty nail in it, went right through my foot. I didn't have any health insurance at the time so I called every doctor's office around trying to find someone who would just give me a tetanus shot without treating my foot and charging $$$. I finally got one of them walk in clinics to do it, but I had to sign waivers and stuff. I cleaned and bandaged my own wound, but still lucky I didn't lose a foot. Kermit, get better. Tucker, your quote cracked me up - "Had my tetanus booster last year, when I showed my doctor a picture of my car!! She insisted!" - LOL!
Sorry to hear about that man, get well soon. those kind situations let you know how fragile we really are. I almost lost my leg to Methaciliin resistant staff last year. I was off my feet for a month and not able to work for three. Take car and listen to your doctor closely cuz those kinda things can get out of hand fast.
I've heard of Staph infections from the smallest cuts. Isnt that what the flesh eating disease is? Does a tetanus shot protect you from that? If I die from working on my car or screwing I'll die happy. I got to see and feel the doctor pull the stiches out of my eye. Not fun at all. So go buy gloves and glasses. And hearing protection. You guys that havent fucked yourselves up yet at least have a chance!
Every time I go to the doctor for an injury I ask for a tetenous shot. I don't go too often--once every few years it seems. My 10-year-old is more stitches prone than me, and I've made absolutely sure to get him the shot. If you've got a kid, take them in and get them a shot. We don't use anti-bacterial soap in the house on a regular basis, because I personally feel all the super-sanitary and anti-germ marketing trends are making the human body less resistant to infection. But I keep anti-bacterial soap on hand at all times to clean wounds. I heard once that a cat scratch will kill a bird because the bacteria on their claws is really nasty and creates an infection. (Same with victims of bear, lion and dog maulings--bad bacteria from the rotting meat stuck between their teeth causes horrific infections). When ever I got scratched by cats, the scratch would be a raised red welt along its entire length within several hours, and would take a few days to go away. When I adopted a stray cat, it climbed up on my shoulder the night I took it in, and when it jumped down it left two 8-inch scratches on my neck and jaw. I washed it with anti-bacterial soap, and there were only two small scabs from puncture wounds the next morning. I've since noticed that scratches and cuts heal much, much quicker (on my and Boy Wonder) when they're washed with anti-bacterial soap. -Brad
Its the unusally warm spring we are havin around these parts .... "short pants in june bah humbug" the ice just went out a few weeks ago!!!! Are there no wagon's... hearses... pickup trucks.. RODS WITH SNO MOBILE TRAILERS. ...empty railcars coming tp btt50;s from your area ? as long as you have to lay around might as well be in a gutter at fair grounds ON A CREEPER .... only the cool stuff is at that low a level any way... THE HIGH OCTANE FUMES WILL DO YOU GOOD..... WE HAVE DOCTORS/ UGLY NURSES AROUND HERE IF YOU NEED MORE PAIN MEDSIN TOO!!!!! MAKE A MOVE!!!! PAPERDOG
Staf infection is a fun one. I got a year or so ago. Went to sleep with no swelling, no redness, woke up and it looked like I had a third knee growing on my left leg. I gave it a squeeze and it looked like one of those playdoh noodle makers. Its an infection of the blood, can be really dangerous. Alls I needed was some pills and its good as new. Sorry to hear you got tetnus. I think Im due for a booster. Just look at it this way, more time for the HAMB. (It may not be as good as the real thing, but its damn close.)
Jeebus! You all got my attention! I'm due for a physical, tetanus shot time it is! I surely haven't gotten one since I was a kid.
this is something that i think about everytime i cut myself around the garage, i always stop what im doing and make sure i clean out the wound and put some sort of antibiotics on it. scary stuff, definitely an eye opener, and a reminder that i need to go get another shot, i hate the doctors but im sure i would hate getting tetanus alot more. take care
A few years ago when I was working at the junkyard I got a severe infection on my right knee which turned out to be Staphylococcus Aureus which is virulent and tough to get rid of. If it goes systemic it can overwhelm your body and you can die from septic shock. The poison this thing creates is nasty. Anyone can get it and it is commonly found. In fact it's usually along for the ride with you anyway. All it takes it the right events or environment. In my case I had banged the same part of my leg several times in one week, it had been raining and I was working and sweating in filthy coveralls. What started as an insignificant red spot became a whitehead and then I was down with a fever while this bastard was spreading on the skin surface and in my lymph system. It hurts like a MFing fire. I was out 4 weeks and it was gone after 6 weeks but left scars which appear as dark marks. If I had attended to it immediately I probably wouldn't have had a problem but it seemed so minor. This is the stuff that is resistant to many antibiotics. The first two we tried didn't work.The hospital had to run a full spectrum test to determine which antibiotic would work. Of a list of about 10 only one showed real results when tested in the lab. Fortunately it worked on me but it took a few days to figure that out. I'm a Kaiser patient but I later learned that there had been an outbreak of many cases in SF at this time that were treated at SF General Hopital. It's nothing to fool with. Being stubborn or stoic and delaying treatment can get you in serious trouble.
Did you try rubbing cheese on your wound .. before or after the problem was LAYIN YOU UP... HOW FAR FROM THE BORDER R U PAPERDOG
I probably need a tetenus shot myself. I'm guessing my last was the early 90s. A lot of stuff can bite you in the ass on an old car. I was cutting the floor boards out of an old F-100 a couple of years ago and bang. I found several 22 shells wedged down on a nook or cranny between the floorboard and the back of the cab. I hate being shot. Last week I managed to lay a header flangre against my forearm right after welding some tubes to it. I didn't notice it was burning me until I smelled it. I blew it off until saturday when the wife noticed it was inflamed. She peeled the top skin off and layed the antibiotic cream ot it. its getting better but it still looks nasty. tetenus shot,good idea. Hmmmm.
im always tearing up my hands. busting knuckles, gouges and gashes. i always watch close for infection and tetanus has been in the back of my mind. i really should start wearing gloves i guess... and a shot wouldnt hurt either
Speeking of nasty wounds... Human bite! In my younger days, in a bar fight, I got bit on the neck. It got infected, and had to have a Dr. clean it out twice. Still got the scar some 25yrs later. ...I'm a lover now.
One of my endevours is a Pet Crematorium, I got scratched on my beer gut by a claw on one of the dead dogs. Ended up with a nasty abcess.
Here's a bunch of info on tetanus from Medline plus: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tetanus.html It's a good general site, if you want to search other nasties that interrupt wrenching.
This could only happen to a HAMBer... I broke my arm (compound fracture) at the junk yard once. I still managed to get the grill I was after. The guy at the counter said I could have it after seing my arm. I thought he was going to ralph right there.
I will hardly even consider working on a car, that has the old rags of an interior still in it.... I suggest the owner dowse it wet with a garden hose and THEN remove it.... The bacteria from mouse urine and droppings can be serious not only on contact with an open cut as mentioned- but by inhaling the dust from removing a headliner or old seat covers filled with the dust containing same.... very serious stuff ,guys!
Good point--I hadn't thought about that. Mouse droppings are the source of the Hantavirus out in the south west (I think it's a specific type of mouse or pack rat) A few people each year drop over dead from having mice shit in their house and inhaling the fug from it. -Brad
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