be careful on the ice boys and girls (an injury story)

[addictedjerry]

two weeks ago (december 19th) i decided to take a run to mille lacs for the weekend. i arrived at the lake and got the wheel house set up. while i was banking the house i slipped and fell hard, landing on my left elbow.

I probably should have left and went to the doctor to get stitches, but heck, I had beer and i was seeing a few perch on the camera so I decided to fight back the tears and continue fishing.

after a day and night of trying to stop the blood flow i was making progress. the pain was almost tolerable and by wednesday, unless i smacked my elbow on something, i didn't even know I had hurt it.

On christmas day, my youngest son and I decided to head to mille lacs on friday and stay for the weekend.we left friday night trying to beat the ice storm, we didn't beat it. we got about 20 miles south of Isle and realized hwy 47 had become an ice rink. to be safe, our top speed never went above 15 mph. we passed 4 vehicles in the ditch but if we maintained our speed we would make the lake without incident.

realizing we were in the middle of nowhere and it would take a bit longer than expected to get to the lake i asked my son if he had to pee. he did, so we stopped. I opened my door and stepped onto the road, somehow i seemed to forget that we were driving on a skating rink, why would walking be different? i stepped out of the truck and fell directly onto the same elbow i had injured the week before. It really didn't hurt as badly as i thought and we proceeded on our journey.

we arrived at mille lacs and after getting everything setup i took a look at my elbow, didn't look too bad, a little swollen, but nothing a few busch lights wouldn't cure.

saturday morning arrived, uneventfully and after a bit i remembered my injury. I rolled up my sleeve and realized that sometime during the night a surgeon had sneaked into the fish house and transplanted popeye's arm where my normal arm used to be. I assessed the situation and realized that i may need medical attention, maybe tomorrow when I get home.

I filled a platic bag with snow (i needed a cold pack for my popeye arm), cracked a beer, turned on the aqua view and proceeded to fish the day away with my son. we saw about 12 big perch but only caught 2 or 3.

as saturday rolled by, i felt a fever coming on and by 6:30 I thought some evil force was trying to take my life. Chills, fever, headache, nausea and sick stomach. i managed to survive the night and by sunday morning knew i had fought off death himself. we packed up and made the journey home. I was becoming fond on my popeye arm and my new hulk hand really seemed to impress the girls.

we arrived home later that day and I, with no threats from the wife, decided it best I go to the hospital. The doctor didn't seem to be too impressed with my new superhero body parts and i could tell he was about to lecture me until I reminded him "I was fishing".

the doctor, after asking me about the fishing, decided the best course of treatment was a shot of antibiotics and a follow up visit monday morning. I returned home with a new outlook on life. If I was lucky, my new super hero body parts would lead me into a life of crime fighting and if i was truly lucky, I too might have a movie written about me.

monday morning, with a new found bounce in my step and a eagle eye look out for criminal activity, visited the doctor. after a short conversation, the doctor proceeded to inform me, my arm really wasn't supposed to be 'that big' and my hand wasn't supposed to resemble the hulk's hand. needless to say, I was disappointed and to make things worse, the doctor said he was admitting me the hospital.

it seems sometime during my adventure, i had contracted cellulitus, for those who have not attended medical school;

Cellulitis is a skin infection caused by bacteria. Normally, your skin helps protect you from infection. But if you have a cut, sore, or insect bite, bacteria can get into the skin and spread to deeper tissues. If it is not treated with antibiotics, the infection can spread to the blood or lymph nodes. This can be deadly.

according to the doctor I had made some bad choices, i reminded him "I was fishing" but even those powerful words didn't seem to phase him. maybe if i had been hunting, things would have taken a different turn?

Wednesday morning at 10:00 I was paroled from my incarceration and my dreams of leading the life of a super hero were shattered. According to the medical staff involved, a simple elbow injury had become something far more serious and if i had ignored it a few more days, things could have been far worse.

on a lighter note, we didn't pull a walleye through the ice. but we did see quite a few big mille lacs perch and went home with 5 or 6 of them.

be safe and take care of yourselves. even a little injury can become very serious.

[Lisa Almquist]

I'm glad that your story had a happy (even tho you lost your "super arm") ending and you lived to tell it! And you got some nice perch to boot. I'll definitely heed your cellulitis warning too. Yikes!

[snoozebutton]

Quote:

i reminded him "I was fishing" but even those powerful words didn't seem to phase him.

What kind of doctor are you going to?

Anyhow, glad to hear you're okay!!! (Nice story BTW.)

[SkinnyVinny05]

haha this story made me laugh just because we both think alot alike...but my girlfriend wants to remind me and you both that beer doesnt solve everything

[shizzy]

glad you are okay.

I actually figured this was going where it did as soon as you mentiond "I should have" for the first time....

[Sandmannd]

Good to hear you are OK, that's a little scary thing. I never used to want to go to a doctor but now days I go if the gas don't smell right. That ice is some hard stuff man, how weird is it you hit the same elbo twice.

[fishtrap3]

but nothing a few busch lights wouldn't cure.

THATS WHERE THE PROBLEM STARTED SHOULD HAVE BEEN MILLER HIGH LIFE

[late night]

I always thought alittle hard ligour could kill anything trying to get into my body.

[leech~~]

addicted, what no pix's

[epkirkman]

That was a great story man, very well written and even though I figured the ending out by the title. Glad to hear everything came out ok for you.

I had something like that happen to me with my right arm, it is amazing how big an arm can get in a short amount of time, when you have an infection.

[jhanks50]

Great story thanks for sharing and glad to hear that your doing ok!!

[Muskieguy]

but nothing a few busch lights wouldn't cure.

I thought some evil force was trying to take my life. Chills, fever, headache, nausea and sick stomach.

I don't think the Chills, fever, headache, nausea and sick stomach had anything to do with your injury...it was because you were drinking Busch Light! That stuff is terrible.

Glad you are ok.

[just_havin_fun]

Does anyone remember an oooold show about people doctoring themselves? I remember one carpenter that broke his ankle and made his own cast.............. out of concrete............ one problem, when concrete cures it gets hot. So he went in for the burns and told the doctor as long as he was at it to check out the cut that he had stitched up himself with copper wire!!!!

[blackdog1101]

A few years ago my wife slipped and rammed her knee against the door of the van. Similar story - cellulitus. It hurt, but heck, it's just a bruise, so she took a couple Advil and ignored it. When it swelled up and turned a nasty yellow/green color we took her to the ER. They didn't admit her, but they put a pick line in her arm and had nurses come to the house for a while to give her the antibiotics. Bad stuff. I'm glad you're doing better now. Buy a good pair of ice cleats so you don't fall on it again, might still be touchy.