How cleaning hull=4 days in hospital

[Jaxfishgyd]

I had my A/C scupper clogged by growth 2 weeks ago so just went over the side, took 10 mins to get all the stuff out and get back onboard. Something I usually have to do a few times each summer.
It's also not uncommon to get a small or very minor cut from the barnicles from the dock and/or posts.
But this time it added to a bad combination.
I woke up this past Friday about 3AM and was shaking so bad I thought I was going to break a tooth. Plus I was so weak and dizzy I could barely get out of bed.
Being the MACHO MAN I am, I woke the admiral up and she took me to the ER room.
I had a 104 fever and had to be helped from the wheel chair to the bed. They did an EKG, Echo KG, CT of the brain and took a lot of blood. Then they put in two IVs and started a lot of fluids.
The main concern at this point was my "just installed" mechanic valve and if it had been affected. (It wasn't).
On Saturday my daughter noticed my left leg had swollen, bright red and a lot hotter than the right leg (helps to have a daughter who's an RN at the local Level One Trama hospital!).
Now I was taken back to the lab to check for a blood clot but there was none
Now mind you, about ever 3 hrs some demonic person would come in and stick me for blood. This includes all night long the entire time I was there (midnite,3am and 6am)..It was the fact they would stick me, then twist the damn needle if they missed the vein. That happened about 30% of the time. We're talking a painfull time for me (notice it didn't bother them).
And let's not forget having someone come in at 2am to take your BP and at 5am to take your bood sugar (least that one isnt really painful) so sleeping is out of the question plus I love how when they barge in they just throw on the massive lights.
They "think" I have cellutitis (?) but as I have responded the the massive amount of "cocktail meds" they had given me, least I'm feeling a lot better. My leg is still swollen, red and sore but nothing like it was..
But as I was being discharged, the doctor not only gave me a prescription for meds but told me to hire a diver from now on....
Took my first shower since Thursday and also had the fun of removing SEVENTEEN of those damn sticky ekg and other sicky tabs they super glue to your chest hair.
But all I can say is.... Boat sweet Boat....
And the Admiral DID have a case of Miller Lite on ice for me......

 

[Pascal]

yikes...

glad you're doing better... i've been scrubbing my boats for years, gotten hundreds of cuts, never had an issue... probalby has to do with the quality of the water...

there was a thread on that last week on boatered... i was skeptical but someone posted a similar story.

good luck on your recovery !


PS... "Took my first shower since Thursday " you could have left out that little detail

 

[neosin]

good to hear ya back and drinking the real meds...

 

[SeaEric]

A customer of mine darn near died in a similar scenario. He fell off his boat and put a gash in his leg which became badly infected, presumably from the sea water (in Ft Lauderdale). Its now a year later and he still limps.

 

[Finalee]

Thanks for the story, and glad to hear your are recovering. Helps me justify paying the yard last week for doing the bottom.

Read somewhere that the stuff that grows in diesel can cause some real problems if that gets into a cut. We also heard stories of coral continuing to grow in the body after breaking off in a puncture wound.

In any event hope you make a complete recovery.

 

[Captned]

Two years ago, my left Knee starting swelling up and turning red, just so happens I had been cleaning the bilge for a couple of days prior. It got so bad that on Halloween night I went to the hospital (not a good night to go). The doc on call looked at me and had a INTERN come back and start shoving a needle under my Knee cap looking for fluid. :0 EGADS! They started me on IV anti's but by midnight had not moved me to a room. I left and went home. Three days later I saw a Knee doc, and he almost sent me straight to the hospital, but didn't. Three weeks later it started to get better. It had to be something in the bilge. Never did really find out what caused it. It was swollen twice its size, bright red and HOT! I wear Knee pads nowdays or long pants whenever I'm "in the hole".

Hope you get well soon.

Captned
Miami Beach

 

[Boss Lady]

look at this article

http://aphriza.wordpress.com/2007/06/14/theres-something-kind-of-alive-in-the-water/

If you are out in the big blue water you are probably ok, but in the cess pools we create near shore, which also wind up in the bilge, there is no telling what is in the water in the local marina. If you don't have strong tides or are in a basin that is very calm, you can have high levels of some nasty stuff.

Marine life have some pretty nasty bacteria of their own, and many a fisherman has been done in from a simple cut or scratch.

Don't be such a tough guy if you get a cut, boil it out with peroxide immediately. Better to err on the safe side, especially as we all get older.

Here is what the government is working on for our military, and biological issues are a concern. Is there something the government is not telling us?

http://www.natick.army.mil/about/pao/pubs/warrior/00/novdec/sealsuit.htm

 

[MikeP]

My SCUBA instructor was extremely vocal about any cuts from coral/barnacles - saying that left untreated they will become infected. He made it sound extremely important to be cautious about this - he said to always wear a wet suit/gloves if doing any work or diving where you will come in contact with coral/barnacles. He also said treat immediately with peroxide. Further, he said that if you are in an area where they don't allow you to wear gloves - some marine nat parks (Czumel and Cayman, for example - don't touch anything!

Again - that was his advice/training. Personally I have no idea but he sure was adamant!

Hope you are all recovered.

 

[Boatsb]

Believe it or not the toxins from the paint we put on our boats could cause a problem too.

My SCUBA instructor also warned us of the cuts and scrapes we would get and how they needed to be treated quickly. Although I agree with Dr. Jim on peroxide not helping the wound heal I use alcohol to cleanse any cuts I get while cleaning the bottom. Although it usually is a 2 treatment process. One on teh outside and one in a glass.

 

[Imthebeachgirl]

Aaww, Charlie, sorry to hear of your bad situation. Glad to hear that you are back home and recovering.

 

[yachtsmanbill]

My SCUBA instructor was extremely vocal about any cuts from coral/barnacles - saying that left untreated they will become infected. He made it sound extremely important to be cautious about this - he said to always wear a wet suit/gloves if doing any work or diving where you will come in contact with coral/barnacles. He also said treat immediately with peroxide. Further, he said that if you are in an area where they don't allow you to wear gloves - some marine nat parks (Czumel and Cayman, for example - don't touch anything!

Again - that was his advice/training. Personally I have no idea but he sure was adamant!

Hope you are all recovered.

Hey Mike,
I agree with leaving stuff alone, but when we dive Cozumel, I wear gloves. Our friends that have the dive business there frown on it, but I stick them in my wet suit and don them below. Fire coral is ruff stuff and then dont even think about stepping on an anemone. OUCH ! keep the ammonia handy too for the MOW's... I got a small scratch on my forearm that took over a month to heal. All that, and I cant stand diving in Lake Michigan. Too damn cold! Hmmm ws

 

[34Hatt]

Wow Charlie that could have been real bad Infection with a new valve!!!
Glad your doing better..

 

[(Nobody You Know)]

Charlie,

You rare truly blessee to have a very talanted daughter!

You also gotta break the “hospital” habit. Twice in one year is enough for anyone! And you proved that the lack of bathing can expedite nurse care and hence, early recovery! LOL.

This thread and it’s responses have helped to make us aware of the possibility of new water born infections and what should be doen in the way of immediate treatment.

I hope you will not let this experience stop you from going under in the future; protective gloves, etc., withstanding.

Glad you have recovered - again!

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

I had been out of work due to the heart valve for 134 days and had only been back to work 4 days before this latest "incident". Know management is talking about it, but it's one of the few good things of being union- I got full pay the entire time for both......

I DID get a daily "sponge bath" in the hospital !

 

[Rickysa]

Charlie,
Glad to hear all is well...did they have an idea of the ID of the bacteria? I thought I posted here about an incident my Dad had last July but a search didn't pull it up...

We were fishing just of the beach for Spainish Mackeral, and he got nicked by one when removing the hook (really small on his thumb)...few days later his wrist was sore...then he noticed swelling/red lines from the nicked area...this led to surgery and a week in the hospital.

"Fish Handler's disease"...Mycobacterium marinum...now we keep a bucket of bleach water on the boat at all times when fishing to wash hands when handling fish.

Rick

 

[Paul45c]

Mike, I think I can back up what your scuba instructor told you about coral & barnacles. A friend that helps me with some boat maintenance showed up at the boat with a REALLY swollen thumb -- I mean, I'm talking about a Fred Flintstone thumb right after he whacks it with the hammer. Of course I told him to go to the doctor. He told me he did, and they gave him some antibiotics. Thumb was still really swollen, and now getting very dark red/purplish around his nail area, so he went back to the doctor after about 4 more days. There wasn't fluid to drain or a cyst to excise, so they sent him home with much stronger antibiotics.

Five days later, it's as big and sore as ever, so the doctor now has him meet at the hospital for an outpatient little exploratory work. They cut into it, scraped around some, couldn't find any foreign matter or anything to blame it all on, and in the end kept him on the antibiotics. It took about 6 or 7 weeks for his thumb to get back to looking normal. The docs suspect a very small piece of a barnacle. They said that marine organisms of almost all kinds, but especially crustaceans, are almost immune to standard antibiotics and always take a long time to deal with.

He wasn't diving my boat, but he might have scraped a piling or something. Ever since, I've been super careful, because I DO dive my boat fairly regularly.

 

[Angela]

Charlie,

Glad to hear you're recovering from the ordeal.

I've learned a couple of things from this thread: (1) Keep the diver who scrubs the bottom once a month; (2) Stop working in the engine rooms and bilges in a bikini (but, it's so hot in there.....!). LOL

 

[Boatsb]

Angela the bikini is just not for the engine room. Not enough material to wipe the hands on. Old T shirts are the best . They are absorbent and "disposable" so there is no need to wash them afterwards.

 

[CHECK 6]

Glad to here you are doing better I once had a cloged holding tank vent the copper screen turned green and pluged up and when i stuck my head in engine room got a good amount of methane gas, spliting headace . nausa and ended up in hosipital for 6 hrs till i felt better ...Cory

 

[spartonboat1]

Very timely post. I just returned from lengthy time at boat, during which was on hands and knees around the heads and in engine room, including good scrapes (broken skin) on shins and knees. Got back home with major intestinal issues that have been several weeks in calming down. Sorry for gory detail, but was like a major intestinal blockage had occurred...very concerning. Finally resettled back to "normal", but I will be more mindful of cleaning wounds and bandaging. He-man approach not so good.

I damn near died from a major reaction to volative chemicals in paints that was migrating into my skin, when I worked at the Ford Wixom plant in Wixom, MI (loooong time ago, when it had 13,000 hourly working 7 days a week and was the most profitable plant under one roof in the world. Now its fully closed I think, at least was down to 1,300 emps in 06, but I digress). At any rate I blew up like a balloon with blisters "all over"...was later fingerprinted by USCG for job sailing on commercial vessels on Great Lakes and had no fingerprints- only spiderwebs. Ford took a look and sez, oh, Poison Ivy...here's some Calomine lotion...wunnerful guys.

At any rate, excellent post/thread...