Visit to the ER..."ON Topic"

Jacwil

Jacwil

New member
So Friday late morning, my friend Firedog and I, are moving a large live rock together. I wasn't wearing any gloves...afterthought. Later that evening I notice a small puncture wound on my pinky. No big deal, was a little sore, fell asleep.

I ended up not sleeping very well because of the pain and inflammation in my finger, palm, and wrist. The swelling wasn't huge like Nirvana's was, (I've been referencing his http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1914675), but nonetheless painful.

Wife and friends talked me into going to ER tonight...amazingly I was in and out in 90 mins or so! ;)

Doctor said " Cellulitis (infected puncture wound with lyphatic erythama on forearm.

Taking 875mg of Aumentin 2x/day.

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Hard to see I guess. I'm looking for my bottle of 800mg Motrin's

Also...Firedog stuck himself and is having similar reactions.
 
wow just got yelled at the other day from my fiance who is in med school for doing the same thing. Just trying to get some stuff done to the tank while i was home for the holidays. theres another bacteria in our tanks that is very similar to tuberculosis and leprosy.
 
I guess it's time to buy some gloves as this seems to be happening more and more these days. What gloves does everyone use?
 
I use the yellow dishwashing gloves found in any grocery store cleaning aisle. I then put large rubberbands around my forearms so the gloves don't fill with water when my hands are submerged. I've tried latex and the blue nitrile gloves, but they always tore.
 
If you did not see an Infectious Disease Specialist MD or get a culture of the wound you need to return and have both done. Certain types of Vibro are extremely dangerous and most ER physicans have no idea how to treat it or what it even is which has lead to very unfortunate outcomes.
 
Im thinking the only gloves that would have prevented this would have been thick work gloves. The rock was very hvy and we lifted from the bottom.

The red streak has widened this a.m. and grown more prominent. Getting my script now and watching closely...if no signs of improving or if it worsens, I will return to hosp.
 
My suggestion as an emergency and acute care nurse, is to return to the ER. Read the stats on survial rates and window of oppurtunity to treat vibro and you will be shocked. Oral Augmention is not going to cut it, it is a rare instances when I encourage over reaction but this is one of them.
 
While simple cellulitis is USUALLY a "staff" (staphylococcus aureus) which is endigenous, this is LIKELY a tuberculin type, bacterial infection. Augmentin could do the trick, but you need to be on it for it to work.

Did they give you any oral or intervenous antibiotics in the ER?

As smtank points out, there are other more ominous pathogens that could be in play. Likelihood of this is lower than the "usual " stuff, but a possibility nonetheless. Discounting it as normal cellulitis is a mistake IMO. Though, the treatment may be similar. If its worse, I'd get back for at least one dose of IV antibiotics. That should tell you relatively quickly if the treatment of choice is working well enough to send you home on oral antibiotics.

Is this overkill? Perhaps. But it beats the alternative, of a necrotizing,or worse, nature.

Personally, I hate ERs. I don't have a lot of faith in them, PARTICULARLY, when it comes to things that aren't run of the mill. JMO.

Further, FWIW, our Infectious Disease (ID) Doc's wife is a big saltwater and coral geek, like us. I'll brow beat him a bit tomorrow. Though that wont get us far today.

If its worse, go back.
 
Sorry to hear about your battle wound Justin. Hope it heals fast for you.

I also feel that just going to the ER is not gonna help. They will just sign you up for an elephant dose of antibiotics and send you home. From what I have experienced oral antibiotics are not the way to go. Will not argue or disagree with the medical professionals but I personally do not freak out about injuries like this. Perhaps I have now built up an immunity or my system can handle this these things better and heal faster. Most of the time I just wash with soap asap and use antibiotic cream, the wound is healed within a week.

Safety and prevention should be stressed much more in this hobby. As far as gloves I think best way to go would be scuba diving, fitted gloves.
 
GM, I generally side with you to a degree. I've treated myself the same way on more than one occasion. But once you display the striations that extend proximally, soap and antibiotics ointments wont do it. Initially, perhaps, but not now IMO.

My comments are from a general medical perspective. Again, GM, personally, I do it your way. But I think, like you said, IV is probably best at this point.
 
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how are you doing this morning, J?

Vibrio is serious and present in most (all?) reef aquariums.
FWIW Rock collecters use heavy thick leather "work gloves" to handle LR and this might be a good option for many people.
 
You are right mark riding on the side of caution is wise. I may not worry so much about it perhaps because of it being such a common work injury for me. I have to admit that I have had a few much more serious injuries and illnesses from aquariums but overall have been extremely lucky with the ability to heal wounds.
 
creepy stuff. our car salesman got a cut on his elbow. a week later, he "moved on " guess it was flesh eating bacteria.
 
Watch that line. If it continues to move up your arm, go back to the ER. I was on like 4 different IV antibiotics when I was there for my cellulitis caused by a strep infection. The oral antibiotics didn't do anything to the infection.

Also, for what it's worth, every single one of my cultures came back negative, even the one where they cut open my thumb to try and drain it. Obviously there was something there though.

Get well soon, and make sure to keep us up to date.
 
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Justin doesn't like what's going on with him and is returning to the hospital....Said that he is getting pins and needles and that he is having tenderness in his armpit....I'll keep you all posted as I find out what's going on.
 
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