I have hammered flat every nail in every plank on my plots, but the one I missed was trodden on by my lovely daughter-in-law this afternoon as she helped me move compost. A definite puncture wound, even if not deep. All my fault, I do realise that.
She's from Thailand and has never heard of tetanus and as far as she knows has had no injections since something she vaguely remembers as a child. I've sent them off to the local hospital to get an injection. Otherwise she couldn't see her GP until Monday, and he might not have the right stuff at the surgery. When I've had the children done, and my own boosters, I have had to make an appointment so they can order it specially.
Do you think I'm over-reacting? But it is such a classic combination: dirty nail in foot, allotment, tetanus........
DOn't worry!.......
After a bad cut a while back my doctor said that the advice now is not to give boosters everytime you cut yourself anymore - if you've had a full course you should be ok for life! So if she's had one she will be fine - but if in doubt - they may well give her one anyway to be on the safe side!
Thanks for that.....but she does not know if she had a full course ever, and has certainly never had a booster in her adult life. Hoping that - as you say - they send her away with an injection and we can all relax.
Except, of course, that her family in central Bangkok are awaiting disastrous floods on an unimaginable scale. Rice, allotments, everything drowned.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhMp8AnhDF4&feature=player_embedded#
Definatly done the right thing, wound needs cleaning out and they will have the up to date regime for tetanus.
If she live here now she should be given the same protection we do.
Let us know how she gets on :)
Absolutely right thing to do. I jumped on a nail on the plot last summer and went to the local walk-in clinic. Even though I've had all my vaccinations and boosters they gave me a booster AND the immunoglobulin vaccine too because it was an acute exposure - manured soil etc. Also got horse-sized industrial strength antibiotics as the wound couldn't be cleaned - deep puncture.
Ah. Thank you very much. Reassuring. NOT a panic reaction.
A few years ago I was dressmaking and stepped on a needle which snapped, leaving the thicker end in my heel. I limped about for a month, hoping it would come out, then went to GP who sent me to hospital. To my embarrassment I was triaged ahead of the whole waiting room. I did keep saying "This is not an emergency! It is a healthy wound, I just want te needle out eventually....?" but they insisted. X ray and senior surgeon delving into heel.
(Ramadan, very tired man, apologised for sitting down, I apologised for existing and wearing him out)
So I think they take foot wounds quite seriously. Am waiting to hear how son and wife are being treated.
PS Have told them to emphasise that it was allotment nail, rusty, old, dirty, manure around
Hopefully she will get seen before the drunks roll in ??? ???
I'm a member on another forum, completely different subject matter, and there's a member there called onefootdave who is positively evangelical on this subject when it comes up from time to time.
<<< Hopefully she will get seen before the drunks roll in >>>>
Yes, thank you, that's exactly what I said. Go now! 6.30.....
So where can I find onefootdave ???
I wasn't suggesting that you go looking for him, only that the reason he is onefootdave is because he didn't do the sort of sensible things suggested in this thread.
I remember doing that in '76... jumped down off a wall into long grass... got a plank and nail fastened to my heel...
it was a bank holiday so I had to hobble over two miles to the Dr's ... no buses,couldn't have afforded a taxi and Ambulances were for real emergencies... ::)
Hope she gets seen too quickly before the dross roll in... :-X
That's exactly what I am asking about..... ONE foot?
Sorry, do not mean to sound melodramatic, just a bit worried.....
Thank you, saddad. That is my approach to small wounds, but as this is my lovely d-in-law helping me, I got anxious.
Try not to worry. She's gone to hospital now so all will be well. Neccessary precautions taken ;)
Worse that can happen now is slipping on a pavement pizza deposited by a drunk on the way in. ;)
At the hospital they were polite but told her that she should go to her GP on Monday, as 72 hours was a safe period in which to be immunised after a cut. We had looked online but not found anywhere this 72 hours safe period, which I hope is correct. I hope my son managed to explain that she had no immunisation and had been working on an allotment.
Well with luck she will get a full course of treatment that way.
You still did the right thing.
72 hours? Crikey OH sliced his hand deeply with a lawn mower a couple of years ago. Dressed and tetnus jab done straight away. No argument at all, he hadn't been immunised for at least ten years.
Got to admit to leaving a glass sliver in for 2 months, then it came out by itself!
Sounds as though the hospital wanted an excuse. Maybe they didn't want to spend the money. I once had a tooth embedded in my lip after a motorbike crash. It popped out three weeks later.
Her GP is being very casual about this, and told her to come back for an injection on 8th November!
Fortunately, because they had been to the hospital last night and were told she was safe for 72 hours (even if this is not true) my son was able to quote this and as far as I know, she is to be injected late this afternoon.
Very disappointed in this GP practice, not to mention the Conquest, which MUST have had the necessary injections stored for emergencies.
Hope she is ok, when working on the buildings, went to hospital straight away if anybody trod on a nail, have been following reports on the floods in Thailand with teakdoor.com,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp3vQwlz5os
Up the road a bit from Bangkok
Sorry forgot to put thread on Bangkok up.
http://teakdoor.com/thailand-and-asia-news/98074-bangkok-floods-31st-october-2011-flood.html
Thank you for the Bangkok news. I am following http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/505531-where-is-it-flooding/page__st__1250
Our family is within central Bangkok which for the time being is untouched.
She came back from the GP this afternoon with a triple vaccination: "polio tetanus and diphtheria injection" according to my son. Is this usual? I have only ever had single tetanus boosters myself, when travelling in Uganda, Oman and Thailand etc.
Anyway, I am relieved that she has been treated after all. And thank you to everyone who has posted here, which encouraged us to persist in getting her some protection.
Patient.co.uk explains why it's given as a triple vaccine here:
http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Tetanus-Immunisation.htm (http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Tetanus-Immunisation.htm)
That is very clear and precise - thank you very much. It looks as if we have to make sure she gets the recommended five doses for someone with no previous record of tetanus shots.
Hope she is feeling better. Just to point out that I recently had my 10 year booster of DTP (Diptheria-tetanus-polio) - it is quite normal for her arm to feel very bruised and sore for a couple of days. They hopefully cleaned out the wound too, they have special tools for that type of thing. It sounds like they are a bit complacent to tell you the truth, a puncture wound can get infected easily. Not really very pro...
I keep up to date on that one as I use a lot of manure and you are always fidning rubbish that somehow makes its way onto the plot! Fingers crossed, I've not trodden on anything but regularly get stabbed with various plant life.
A couple of years back, whilst working in a wood, I managed to get a sloe thorn embedded in my knuckle. My finger swelled and throbbed so hubby took me to A&E. Their immediate reaction was to give me a tetanus jab and worry about the thorn later. The thorn is still in my knuckle and I have a lump to prove it - the surgeon decided that the damage they might cause to the joint in fishing around to get a small splinter out would be much worse than just leaving nature to take it's course.
The advice the surgeon gave me was to always err on the side of caution and have any dirty injury checked out. I have to be honest and say, as a working gardener, and allotmenteer, if I had every grotty injury checked out, I would spend most of my days in A&E.
I've had a splinter in my thumb for ten years or so. It doesn't matter; people used to walk around for decades with bullets in them. But yes, we need to be careful of dirty wounds.
I've been walking around with the same tenner in my pocket for years, I spent it the other day and its still hurting. :P ;)
Quote from: cornykev on November 04, 2011, 19:44:59
I've been walking around with the same tenner in my pocket for years, I spent it the other day and its still hurting. :P ;)
You were lucky then, often they get withdrawn ;)
I have a self tattoo on my right forefinger... I cut it on a paraffin heater about 20 years ago... didn't clean it out properly and it healed with the soot in the dermis... :-[