TREAT THAT CUT!

[VWPANZER1]

  Just like you I have endured 1000?s of cuts, punctures, scrapes and burns while working on cars with nary a problem.

  Last Tuesday I nicked my left index knuckle with a cut off saw-no blood at least not for a good five minutes. Then it bled, but not much and I as usual didn?t pay any attention to it.

   The next day it was fine, healing nicely.  Later that day in the garage, I banged the cut hard enough to start it bleeding and again I paid it no mind. Two hours later I came in washed it off put some NeosporIn and a band aid.  The next morning it was sore and had  gotten infected. Nothing I did seem to help so on Friday I went to the doctors. He prescribed anti-biotics and told me to come back Monday if it didn?t get better. We were away over the weekend and during that time the hand got worse. My left hand swelled up and looked like a monkey paw and I could not bend my finger. Under a hot shower I broke open the wound and drained it the best I could. The hotel only had alcohol-no peroxide. I was warned that if I was red streaks start coming up my arm to get to an emergency room quick as that indicated a staph infection, that could lead to the loss of a finger or hand.

  So I took my pills three times a day and soaked the wound every two hours washing the open wound with alcohol. Slowly the swelling went down. But even today it?s still red and a little sore. I?m watching it closely.

  When I told my story one of my old hot rod buddies he said the same thing happened to him last year, never had a problem with cuts and bruises. He scratched his index finger and let it go. The next day he got the red streaks crawling up his arm and was rushed to the emergency room where they lanced his finger to clean the wound. Then gave him a shot of penicillin and put him on  high dose anti-biotics.  He came close to losing his finger.

   So be warned, clean any cut as soon as it happens and apply antiseptics and cover it.
There are some nasty bacteria out there.
   

[kvbug (karen)]

...and , if I might add one thing,   especially   if you're a diabetic.  Small wounds become extremely serious very quickly.

Be careful out there!

[vwtrike (Rich)]

I'm sorry to hear about your hand.

[kvbug (karen)]

Yes,  is it better??