Fish injury

k9reno

Recognized Leader and K9 Guru
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City
Punta Gorda
State
Florida
I cant believe it. After all these years I finally messed up. Yesterday I was just killing time catching catfish instead of watching tv. Believe it or not I got stuck by one of those spikey little sons of a guns. It felt fairly deep but it was probably not even a 1/4 inch. It bleed for long time for the small hole it made and the knuckles started swelling within about 20 minutes. My fingers got stiff and the knuckles ached. I went to an urgent care clinic, but by the time I got there the fingers were starting to feel better and I was told at least a 1.5 hour wait. I decided not to wait. I went home and followed some advise given, soaking it in hot water. I added Epsom salt and it made the hand feel so much better. I have been keeping it uncovered and the hole coated in antibiotic ointment.
Today everything looks pretty good. I have full grip, range of motion and only the tissues are still sore. The swelling is still present but has reduced some and I am not seeing any sign of infection yet. I am wondering if anyone here may have any further info on what to watch for. I have been hearing mostly horror stories from people I have spoken with except one older guy who said he had been stabbed a number of times and said it would probably be better in a day or two.
I dont know what to really expect, but it is looking good right now.

Dick
 
Sounds like you did everything right. Just keep an eye on it, and if anything gets worse, promptly go get some medical attention. The clear indication of a problem is a faint red line that begins to travel from the injury site up your arm toward your body. That requires immediate attention.
 
I wonder if there was something going on with the water quality where you hooked him (and he hooked you). :) Hopefully the antibiotic ointment will do the trick.
 
The hand is recovering nice. swelling is gone and is only slightly sore to touch. What I found out in speaking with some people here is that the venom on the catfish barbs cause swelling and affects the blood increasing the bleeding. They said that the real problem comes with the smaller catfish. The injury gets serious when parts of the barb break off in the wound. They told me the smaller the fish the easier the barbs break off and that if parts break off in the wound it is an ER trip. That all blends well with what I have been reading about the subject. Good learning incident with no major injury :)
 
Most of the ground fish (rock fish species) we have here also have venomous spines or barb's. We've become skilled at handling them without issue, but every once in a while we get nailed. Pain and swelling for 30-45 minutes then just a small, slightly irritated puncture for a few days. No big deal.

Once, we had fish all over the deck. I opened one of the fish holds and started pushing fish in with my muck boots. One spine went right through. The pain was beyond measure.

Foot is at the lowest point and blood pressure was up a bit (because of pain) so it really got bad. Looking back it was funny but it sure wasn't then.
 
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