When I flatline.....

I've got you buddy!

I'll bring one of these and a couple of soggy sponges. You'll be good as new in no time. After a couple of jolts, you can just "walk off" the rest. :D

https://images.thdstatic.com/product...064-e1_600.jpg

And that's the rub. We can be overly "macho" to our detriment by ignoring warning signs.

I had to take a Z-Pack (azithromycin) and antibiotics for my ankle and that was just a blister. Infections are no bueno. Doctor said I could have lost my foot or at the very least been on IV antibiotics if I hadn't had it treated.

Tough to reel in a fish with one hand...

https://www.assh.org/handcare/condition/splinters-and-other-foreign-bodies-in-the-hand

When Milt mentioned "the bill", it reminded me of the differences in health care. I have never required more than x-rays, blood tests, stitches and advice, but my wife has had plates screwed into her forearm and screws to fix a broken hip. No bills for any of it. I guess that's why I hear so much talk about health insurance.
Do you ever privately debate the cost factor before placing the yourself in the care of a medical practitioner?

:D:D


In all seriousness, working for the medical examiner all these years has made me kind of paranoid about my health. I've had too many cases with people that were never sick a day in their life, triathletes, etc..., suddenly drop dead.

.

.

Unless you have awesome insurance, you can pretty well assume that any ER visit is probably going to get pretty close to your deductible. For my hand issue they gave me a horse pill and a prescription, I was in/out in under 30 minutes and it cost me something like $1300.

In the US, pretty much any ER visit will be $1000-2000 after insurance. If you get admitted, well there goes the family vacation. My daughter was hospitalized for six days for what was finally decided to be an ulcer, $15,000 after insurance. I had my gallbladder removed outpatient, $14,000 after insurance. People flip out over so-called greedy drug companies but what actually forces people to forgo care or puts them into medical bankruptcy is hospital and physician charges.

Shaun's pic sets the bar for an ER visit.

Correct answers for his situation are:
A. ER/Stitches
B. Duct tape

Anything more than his situation- you REALLY need to go.
Anything less than that, you need to hang tight/ tuff it out.;)

I don’t want to be an alarmist, but knowing your habits of fishing and catching and eating random aquatic species, you have exposed yourself to God knows what kind of critter-born deadly pathogens. I would have a full body MRA, cat scan (use a fresh cat, not some tired old one trying to get out of the lifestyle), and definitely a deep prostate probe.

Infections. I'm prone to UTIs so I can't mess with those.

when youre done..my truck is getting sluggish at startup...next!

I wasn't ignoring the signs, I had a pretty good idea of what was going on in July. This was back in 2020 and Covid was on the run with the prospect of being in a hospital with really sick people was only adding to the angst. I hired my neighbors gardener that day in July with the understanding he wouldn't tell my wife the reason why.
Just walking up the driveway bringing in the trash cans was a struggle. I paced myself for 5 months, then that December night the 'pain' wouldn't go away so I cried uncle and had my wife take me to the hospital.
In a way I'm glad they had to do the quad bypass rather than a stent. I don't have to take any med's now other than a baby aspirin every morning.
And yes, the costs did enter into the equation of whether or not to go to the ER.
It cost us $199 I think for the ER visit. Other than that I don't think we've had any other costs out of pocket, unless my wife has been hiding them from me. I don't think she has or would. Hospital accepted the payment of the insurance company as full payment.

Thanks Shaun, it's appreciated.SmileWavy

When the injury wakes me up at night...

https://forums.pelicanparts.com/8945924-post1.html

When ya need to visit Dr. Quincy is not the correct threshold....

Holy carp! And you know that there are plenty of folks that would have continued to sit on that until part or all of their hand had to be removed (if it didn't end up much worse).

I have this ointment that was prescribed to me. it is like that stuff Katniss put on her wound in the hunger games. magic.

I used it, and ointmented up. it is so much better.

I sent a pic to my doc and she said it looks like my body is about to spew forth the sliver. she suggested epsom salt water soak to loosen it. later today.

swelling is down and there is a small tiny bump with a black sliver in it.

I've heard about the salt thing. I was told you get a bunch of salt and a slightly damp, hot cloth over the top of them.

My route is a pointy, sharp knife tip and tweezers, but if the Doc that that was necessary, I'm sure she'd have told you to come in.

Maybe a good squeeze with some channellocks or vise grips!

Post a pic of your hand, and a pic of what's in your fishing tackle box, showing all the hook removers and stuff.

We'll talk you through this.

One of my vintage race friends cut his foot at a race weekend and it was wet most of the time....

He ended up with a nasty infection. Hospitalized a couple of times. It took them months of various antibiotic treatments to clear it up. After watching him go through that, my threshold is lower.