Life, Love, Long Hair, Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth, and other mysteries

All this and more, from a semi-Serbian, slightly sane, former editor for physicians and surgeons, who is the mother of seven kids.


Sunday 16 September 2012

I Stepped On A Rusty Nail

A couple days ago, I was driving to an appointment in a town 2-1/4 hours away.

I stopped along the way to take a picture of myself at a place that is special to me and my husband, with my tripod and remote. 

I was sitting on a log, but I found that the remote wasn't quite aiming at the camera, so I jumped off the log to move over, and landed on a rusty nail that was sticking through a piece of wood that I'd knocked off the log a minute earlier.

The nail went straight through my Birkenstock sandal and pierced the soft part in the middle of my foot about 1/4 inch deep.

Can you see the nail sticking through my shoe in the above photo?


I immediately grabbed my foot and applied pressure, as I was afraid it would bleed like crazy, but in retrospect I probably should've let it bleed to help let the bacteria out.

I took my sock off after a couple minutes and blood poured out of the wound.

I hopped back to my car and got some paper towel, folded it up, and put it against the wound, then put my sock back on.

My 3-year-old daughter, who was in the car, asked, "Why are you hopping on one foot, Mama?"

I disguised my pain and fear with a cheerful voice and said, "Mama just got a little owie.  I'm okay."

She was fine with that.

I hopped back to the log to get my shoe.  That things was stuck good and it took some yarding to get it off.

I grabbed my camera, folded up my tripod, put it all and me in the car and drove off.

I was in the mountains, at least a half hour from cell service, so all I could do was keep driving.

When I got in cell phone range, I called 911 and talked to ambulance staff, asking if they figured I'd be okay to keep driving a further hour to the nearest town with medical care.  (I had no idea how fast tetanus could set in.  I was thinking like snake bite or something.)  They said as long as I felt fine, I should go for it, but if I wanted an ambulance, they'd come get me.

Then I called a walk-in clinic in that town where I was headed.  They told me the soonest they could see me would be 4:00, and that I could call one of the other two walk-in clinics or the hospital emergency room.

I used to live in that town.  I'd been to one of the other clinics a few times and I knew their waits were always long, and in a town of that size and busy-ness, I couldn't imagine the other one being any different.

And the hospital was out of the question.  Their wait times are notoriously long, as I've experienced at varying times of night and day with friends, family members, and myself.

I had an appointment at 1:30 with my counselor, and had to get back home by 5:00-ish so my husband could take the car to work.

I called my homeopath, and asked her what I should do.  She said Ledum 30 c, but that it was my call if I wanted to go for a tetanus shot.

After my counseling appointment, at 2:25 pm, I headed to the health food store and asked if they had Ledum.  They did not.  I told the guy that my homeopath had some up in my town 2-1/4 hours away, and that I was headed there right away.  I asked if he figured I'd be okay to wait that long, or if I should go for a tetanus shot.  He emphatically said that I should go to my homeopath for the Ledum.

I bought fruit smoothies for my daughter and me, to go with the hummus and rice crackers we'd brought for our on-the-road lunch, and headed out to the highway by 2:45 pm.

I called my husband to ask if he could run over to my homeopath's house a few minutes from our place and pick up my remedy, but he had just gotten up and was getting ready for work, so I planned on picking it up on my way home.

Half an hour later, my husband called and said he could go get the remedy.  Whew!  That'd save me a few minutes.

I got home by 5:15.  I had a few quick things to do for the kids, and then I called my homeopath at 5:30, asking how many grains to take of the Ledum.  She said 3, so I popped them under my tongue, got my two youngest kids in for naps, took a bath, and then had a half hour nap myself, as I'd been up since 6-something and was dead tired.

By 8:00 pm, still very tired, I wrote about what happened and posted it on Gentle Christian Mothers - a message board with a lot of like-minded hippy-ish Christian moms like myself, many of whom are anti-vaccination - to see if I could get some opinions, experiences, and/or advice, plus I did a bit of googling to see what I could find.

The conclusion I reached was that there was no point going to the hospital for a shot.  If I was going to get tetanus, a booster would be too late to help me at that point anyway.  Besides, I'd already taken the homeopathic remedy, and I am praying that will suffice.  I have seen a lot of good come from homeopathy, from personal experience as well as in various members of my family.

My foot hurt all the next day when I walked on it, but today it's a lot better.

I'll be watching for any signs of my jaw stiffening up, but praying it doesn't happen!

And if you have any info on the subject of tetanus, please share it in the comments section below.

I thought, "The camera's all set up - might as well take a picture anyway", so here I am in agony, seconds after stomping on that nail.


Tell me - have you, or anyone you know, ever stepped on a rusty nail?  Did you/they go for a tetanus shot?  Did it prevent tetanus?  Were there side effects?  Details please!


Dig my writing?  There's a lot more listed chronologically in the right hand column of this blog.  Here are a few quick picks:





6 comments:

  1. I'm generally no/selective vax due to our allergies, and tetanus is one I've really wondered about. Our backyard keeps yielding rusty nails, no matter how many times we clean it up!

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  2. work boots work boots work boots in the bush

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    1. If I was on-purpose heading into the bush, yeah, workboots, or at least hiking boots. But this was a quick stop on the side of a highway, and while driving - or for pretty much anything else during non-snow months - I wear my Birkenstocks.

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  3. I'm cautious about vaxxing (I'm actually one of the ones who had a nasty reaction to the Pertussis/DPT vaccine in the late 80's.) but tetanus is one that I definitely make sure I keep up on (and haven't had any reaction to it, but I have to make sure I get one that does not contain Pertussis!

    I've had good results with certain homeopathic remedies, but I can't for the life of me figure out how! It defies logic, I don't "believe in it", but I've actually seen it work. *scratches head*

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  4. Wow! Crazy story!

    Now that it's been awhile since this happened, can we assume you're okay? :) I'm cautious about vaxs also, so I'm always glad to see homeopathic methods at work. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. It was two weeks ago today... and my jaw hasn't locked up or anything else unusual, so I think I'm okay. :) Thank you for checking!

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