[- seb]

Well I decided this morning that my shin-wound from Innerleithen (10 days ago) wasn't healing very well. I put this down to there being loads of mud in it, so thought I'd pull the scab off and let it start again. The smell and colouration (brown) of the pus that greated me was far from pleasant, so I hopped off to the A&E Minor Injuries unit...

...where a very serious looking doctor said to me in no uncertain terms that if I don't look after it it might result in me losing my leg

The reasoning being that it's right on the bone, so any infection will go into the bone, which is "A Bad Thing".

So I have a round of antibiotics and penicillin and need to go in every couple of days to have it examined. He drew a line around the infected area so he can see if it's spread or not.

And now ladies and gents, here's a pic for you

Neither of those show you the depth of the hole really, it was about 6mm x 8mm x1" - quite a large amount of flesh that had rotten away, given that it started off a lot smaller than that!!

On the upside he said I need lots of rest and to keep my leg raised as much as possible, so the boss has sent me home for a few days

- seb

 

[chillindrdude]

heal up dude..

osteomyelitis is no joke!

 

[- seb]

Originally posted by GiantDHRider
osteomyelitis

That's the one - I feel physically sick just thinking about the possible consequences of me not having bothered to dress this wound properly - it was hardly anything at the time, barely more than a scratch!

 

[SuspectDevice]

I yes, reason number 5000 that I prefer clipless pedals and moto knee/shins. Truly a burly wound!

 

[DRB]

Let me make sure you understand exactly how serious this type of thing is. YOU CAN DIE!!! The main reason I came to Ridemonkey in the first place was because of Jack Daub. He was a young man who lived here in North Carolina. He crashed and got stiches at Snowshoe in June. He died in October of a persistent staph infection they could never got under control.

Doctors fear infection more than anything else as they are completely and totally unpredictable from person to person. There is no telling what drugs will and won't work. Even from minor scratches you can catch sh!t that DRs can't keep up with.

Anytime you get scratches wash them with soap and water as soon as you can and get some neosporin on them. Since Jack died I have been a little obsessive about it but the funny thing is my cuts and scratches heal twice as fast now that I take care of them when I get them.

Just keep doing what the doctor says and you'll be fine.

 

[- seb]

Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhh I want my mummy

 

[- seb]

Another scary quote from another forum:

A bloke down my road lost his leg 2 months ago because of a small cut he got while working on his car.

Very scary stuff.

 

[Jimmy_Pop]

Staph infections are serious as you know. my doc said I had a 50/50 chance of loosing my foot IF it had reached the bone. Thankfully it did not and I'm near back to normal, or atleast my version of normal. i was on a heavy Vancomycin treatment for 6 weeks through a IV that went in at my arm pit and damn near into my heart. Great fun. During my 5 operations, the surgeons had removed so much infected tissue that I have to get a muscle/skin graft to fill the hole. That was and still is a very attractive area. BARF ! there are pics floating around on this site, not posting them again.

anyway, take care of that and i think you'll find that the doctors will be very aggressive in treating your stapf infection. IF THEY ARE NOT AGGRESSIVE, get another doctor TODAY !

joel

 

[eastcoastzigzag]

damn man, rest up. best wishes to u

 

[HGR Frucci]

I just puked on my keyboard and had to call IS for a new one.

I actually had a similar injury a year and a half ago at the end of the 2002 season. I was at Plattekill for the AMBC and came off a slick drop a little sideways. Needless to say I crashed.

Anyway, I got up and felt like I had a charley horse in my left thigh. I pulled my shorts up to find that I had a 2" by .75" deep hole in my left thigh where my bar had punctured my leg.

So, I showed my buddies and jumped on my bike to get down the course and see a medic. Ended up getting like 10 stitches to pull the "flap laceration" together, spent a couple of weeks limping around, and all was well. Luckily I had no issues with infection.

Heal up!!

 

[BigMike]

Damn Dude. dont lose your leg, then we'd have to figure out some kind of quick release foot to snap into your pedals

 

[buildyourown]

Originally posted by GiantDHRider
heal up dude..

osteomyelitis is no joke!

I had it when I was 12. Surgery....a week in the hospital....4 weeks on crutches....long term IV antibiotics....bathing with a garbage bag on your leg....

All from a little bitty scrape


Heal up bro

 

[ChrisRobin]

That's gnarly...

I took a spill on Sunday which left me a gouge just above my ankle on my shin (just below the Dainese armor). It's not as deep but what sucks is for work, I have to wear dress socks and they don't breathe so every hour or so I have to tear my sock away since my scabs are constantly fusing with the cotton. That'll never heal! I hope yours is in a better spot.

 

[buildyourown]

Originally posted by ChrisRobin
That's gnarly...

I took a spill on Sunday which left me a gouge just above my ankle on my shin (just below the Dainese armor). It's not as deep but what sucks is for work, I have to wear dress socks and they don't breathe so every hour or so I have to tear my sock away since my scabs are constantly fusing with the cotton. That'll never heal! I hope yours is in a better spot.

Dress socks! Now that's gnarly. Eeewww

 

[steve45]

damn hereing all these stories are quite a shock to the system, i've never and i mean never bothered about injuries no matter how small or big, i dont even bother to clean it up properly, if i get a cut while out riding i'll leave it, when i get home i'll wash the area over with water and leave it, i dont bother covering it or anything.
it just goes to show how incredably lucky i have been over the years to have never got an infection.
i am now going to radicly rethink the way i treat cuts, graises gouges etc. make sure i clean them thourghly put a good dressing over the open cut/wound. i'm certainly not going to take any chances in future, reading this has definitly had an impact on me.

 

[dromond]

Yeah I got an infection from some road rash I didn't clean out well enough. It wasn't dangerous, but scary how fast it apears.


I'm wearing my knee/shins to bed now

 

[Repack]

You need maggots. They're cheap, and won't screw you over like an HMO.

I had my shin get gouged out by a broken sapling at Sunday River a few years ago. It got infected (but not that bad) and took weeks to heel. I had some greens and a funky smell, but no major pus or black stuff.

If you lose your leg, you should sign up for every ass-kicking contest you can find.

 

[stanky_dlx]

Originally posted by ChrisRobin
That's gnarly...

I took a spill on Sunday which left me a gouge just above my ankle on my shin (just below the Dainese armor). It's not as deep but what sucks is for work, I have to wear dress socks and they don't breathe so every hour or so I have to tear my sock away since my scabs are constantly fusing with the cotton. That'll never heal! I hope yours is in a better spot.

Go to the local drug store and look in the first aid section. There is a new type of bandage that works great. BandAid makes them and I think they are called Advanced Care (there are a few generic brands also). They are a soft thick vinyl and completely cover the wound. There is no cotton area to suck up the pus/blood. Waterproof to boot! You would think that they would stick like crazy to you but as the wound starts to pus up it creates a small pocket under the bandage. Basically it's a fake scab. The wound heals faster and once the pus pocket is in place the wound is almost painless. They work awesome...used it last on my hip when I crashed at the bmx track. Scrape was right on my hip bone where the elastic band of my boxers ride.

 

[Tenacious Doug]

Originally posted by stanky_dlx
Go to the local drug store and look in the first aid section. There is a new type of bandage that works great. BandAid makes them and I think they are called Advanced Care (there are a few generic brands also). They are a soft thick vinyl and completely cover the wound. There is no cotton area to suck up the pus/blood. Waterproof to boot! You would think that they would stick like crazy to you but as the wound starts to pus up it creates a small pocket under the bandage. Basically it's a fake scab. The wound heals faster and once the pus pocket is in place the wound is almost painless. They work awesome...used it last on my hip when I crashed at the bmx track. Scrape was right on my hip bone where the elastic band of my boxers ride.

I am pretty sure thats the same stuff I got when I did my collarbone in when I was in France a few years back, I had pretty bad cuts along my back from the crash and the French doc gave me stuff like you described, I had never seen it before but it worked so good.

 

[GravityFreakTJ]

Originally posted by Repack

If you lose your leg, you should sign up for every ass-kicking contest you can find.

Sorry,but that's funny.



seb,heal up soon.

 

[Repack]

Originally posted by GravityFreakTJ
seb,heal up soon.

Oops. Forgot to say that.

I hope that nastiness is gone soon! Nothing like the smell of death coming from your own body:vomit:

 

[SprungShoulders]

Man, your leg looks almost exactly like mine did last summer! I slipped a pedal without shin guards on and the traction spikes tore a couple of holes in my left shin. When I got home and started to clean the wounds I was a little distressed when I was able to see my shin bone down through the tears in the flesh!

I meticulously cleaned the wounds between dressings and used those advanced BandAid bandages someone mentioned. Those things did indeed work well, though it still took about a month for the wounds to close completely. I have two nice scar tissue divots where the holes once were.

....I was lucky. From what I was lectured on post-injury, as well as what's been said here, anything that exposes bone to infection is a very, VERY bad thing. I feel fortunate I kept the wounds clean, Neosporin'ed them to death regularly, and covered 'em with those water-tight bandages. All that probably saved me from some nasty infection. I now never, ever ride flats (which I ride all the time) without shin guards on, no matter how hot it is. In addition to the infection risk, getting whacked with a block of spikey aluminium hurts like a mofo. I really don't want to experience it again if I don't have to.

Heal up!

Cheers....

 

[phillyvanilly]

I am the undisputed king of torn up shins, having riden trials for 4 years and being a regular pedal slipper. Last year I broke my fork and my collarbone and when I hit the ground the broken stanction on the fork put a real deep gouge in my wrist that took forever to heal. I never do anything to the wound regardless of size. From now on you can be sure I will keep an eye on them, the whole infected bone thing is not a nice thought.


Just for balance though, it should be stated that for every small wound that turns into a major infection, I would guess there are millions that do not. Still, better safe than sorry.

 

[Joe]

When i end up with cuts i use some anti septic ****.

Heres a tip. DOnt put ibuprofen gel over grazed skin! It hurts bad, burn burn burn.

I also go surfing quite a bit so any cuts which have a scab, the scab goes all gooey and has to heal again, bit of a bummer.

 

[DRB]

Originally posted by phillyvanilly
Just for balance though, it should be stated that for every small wound that turns into a major infection, I would guess there are millions that do not. Still, better safe than sorry.

Safe than sorry is the key. The little time it takes to care for wounds can save.... well... your life.

Acadian was right on the money with keeping a first aid kit with your bike stuff. A couple of bucks worth of first aid supplies, a tube or bottle of antiseptic and a zip loc bag are all it takes.

 

[- seb]

Originally posted by steve45
damn hereing all these stories are quite a shock to the system, i've never and i mean never bothered about injuries no matter how small or big, i dont even bother to clean it up properly, if i get a cut while out riding i'll leave it, when i get home i'll wash the area over with water and leave it, i dont bother covering it or anything.
it just goes to show how incredably lucky i have been over the years to have never got an infection.
i am now going to radicly rethink the way i treat cuts, graises gouges etc. make sure i clean them thourghly put a good dressing over the open cut/wound. i'm certainly not going to take any chances in future, reading this has definitly had an impact on me.

Yep, that'slike me - I guess this time I've gotten unlucky

 

[- seb]

Byt he way, how important is the doc's advice that I keep my leg raised - cos it's driving me crazy, cant do squat in bed

Really want to go riding on saturday too, I feel fine...

 

[DRB]

Originally posted by - seb
Byt he way, how important is the doc's advice that I keep my leg raised - cos it's driving me crazy, cant do squat in bed

Really want to go riding on saturday too, I feel fine...

The Doctor said..... You do.

Maybe the idea is for you not to do squat.