Fishy Perils

Author: dunebuggy

Category: Safety & navigation

Created on Wednesday, 28 April 2010 00:05

Written by Stuart Whitehouse

A couple of weeks back I came back to shore with only one fish. It was a nice one though, a snapper at 52cms, and that's better than a doughnut any day. So when I got back to shore I did as one does and packed all my gear and loaded the yak on the car. The next job was, of course, cleaning my catch. The fish cleaning table at the Kings Beach boat ramp is not shaded and is often hot enough to cook your fish, never mind cleaning them. Because of this fact I chose to clean the fish at the waters edge with the waves constantly flushing the scales etc away.

While scaling the spined beastie I was distracted by my red plastic tub getting washed back and forth with the wash. I continued to scale the fish while this distraction continued. BIG mistake. The spine on the pectoral fin penetrated my right index finger. "OUCH" I said. Or something similar. So what? I hear you ask. Afterall, haven't we all been spiked now and then? Yes indeed, I'm sure most of us have been. No big deal, it will sting for a while and then it will be ok , I said to myself. Or will it?

After about a week and a half my finger was still sore and swollen. A day or so after this happened I started getting very bad joint pain down my right side and it started to invade the left side too after a few days. I took a couple of anti inflamatories which seemed to help and went to see the Doctor. It could be arthritis she said. We'll do a blood test. I might point out that this was on a Friday morning and she said my finger wasn't infected either. Swollen and red and sore but not infected? Ok, she's got the M.D. after her name so I'll take her word for it.

So today I went back for the result of the blood test, cholesterol too, and she said no, you don't have arthritis and proceeded to lecture me about the fact that my cholesterol was still too high. Ok I said, so what's with the joint pain? No clue! said she. Alright, well my finger is still sore and even more swollen. It's like when you have a sore toe and always manage to kick it. I think I have smacked my finger on everything possible lately. Off for an ultrasound you go said Doc.

Off I went, got in almost immediately, back to the Doc I go. How soon can I see her again? Long story short, Doc saw me again, I had already seen the ultrasound so I knew the score. One local aesthetic and a scalpel cut and forceps later
and I am now 7 millimetres of snapper spine lighter.

The downside; Doc doesn't want me to go fishing for a couple of days in case I get it wet or it gets infected etc...

The moral; pay attention to what you are doing

Meanwhile, the tuna are out there running amok without me. Grrrr!