Hello, tetanus.

[rootofnewt]

Today, Ronan and I wandered over to Fifeville Park. I occupied myself picking up pieces of broken glass from under the play structure. Well, I thought I'd stretch for one piece, which was a mistake. I ended up with tiny shards broken off under my nail. OUCH. I tried to flick/draw them out out, but my thumbnails weren't much help (got a tiny piece out, but not the second) and it was bleeding copiously (that's a good thing, I suppose, given that the glass was all in mulch). I ended up wrapping my finger in a wipe, then a tissue, for the walk/ride home. Got home and had to dig my keys out. I finally got inside and washed off the rest of the blood and found the tweezers (the really good ones, not the cheapies that never actually meet properly).

I couldn't see the shard, easily, but I could see a spot under my nail which wasn't right, so I had to go by feel at first, until I realized I could HEAR the tweezers tapping the shard. Finally got it out. Encouraged it to bleed a bit more, rinsed it a bit, then put on a bandaid. Damn, that hurt, though.

And we went back out for a bike and bus ride to the corner. Ronan fell asleep on the shuttle, so I rode it the whole way around to let him sleep. Finally got off and he woke up at Fox Park, where he enjoyed snacks while I drank a cuppa coffee.

In other news, I need a scooter. Kid is already coasting fast on his runbike.

Comments

[hnybny.livejournal.com]

Has it been more than five years since you're last shot?

[krasota.livejournal.com]

I debated calling up. Thing is, my health problems were triggered by an adverse reaction to vaccines. I had boosters for everything at one time, plus started another series. And while we suspect one of them specifically, there's no way to know for sure and given my current hyper-allergic state (I'm covered in rashes), I doubt my doctor will want to risk it. The tetanus shot (and the Tetanus ig) is fairly non-reactive, but that doesn't mean I won't have a problem.

[hnybny.livejournal.com]

Well, it wasn't metal and you do have a bit of time you can wait.

[krasota.livejournal.com]

I also bleed quite freely and bled for quite awhile around it, so I'm really not that worried about tetanus. It's just a lurking fear. ;)

Metal has nothing to do with tetanus. Rust is generally hospitable for it to reside, especially if it's a piece of sharpy rusty metal in the dirt. Tetanus lives in dirt. Tasty, yummy, earthy dirt. This glass shard was in mulch, so there was probably plenty of tetanus lurking near it. Most of the injured skin was *not* under my nail, so I think that the free blood flow probably flushed it pretty well.

[hnybny.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree. It's just less common with glass. I guess it's a good thing to have low hemostasis ;-)

[paquerette.livejournal.com]

But it has to start from poop, usually horse poop.

[krasota.livejournal.com]

Thank god this was playground mulch and not the mulch-n-manure used in landscape plantings over by the university. ;)