On my trip to the Coco's last month, I got my first sea urchin stings. I got swept into a rock ledge by a current, and although avoinding most of them, I got stung in the hand about 8-10 times.
No big deal, did the hot water soak, vinegar wash, all the right things, and all but one or two of them were gone by the next morning.
Whe I got back, I had developed a tender spot on my pinky and some swelling in my ring finger. A quick trip to the doctor, xrays, and a prednizone med pack and I was off, swelling went away most of the tenderness left, and I felt great.
Than the prednizone ran out, swelling came back, tenderness, etc. I called DAN who suggested I see a hand surgeon and have a soft tissue xray done, that there was probably some of the stinger left in, and that no it would not go away eventually.
I did that yesterday, result.....I will be having a pretty complicated surgery on my hand on Friday. Aparantly, the urchin stingers on these two fingers worked they way into my tendon sheath and have started a mirocbactrerial infection that is travelling up my tendon sheath through my hand and up my arm.
He is hopeful that the infection has not spread very far and that it can be scraped out and treated with a coupl of 1-2" cuts into my finger and palm. But he told me of one person who went six months before treatment for a similar problem, and ended up with a 16" cut from his finger to his elbow.
Anyway, I post this story as a caution to all of you, #1 Dont get hit by urchins, #2 if you do get hit, of course do the immediate treatment, but DO NOT treat a persistant small pain lightly, if it doesn't go away, call DAN, get treatment, and if you doctor doesn't know what an urchin is, find another or ask them to call DAN.
My left hand will probably be out of action for 6-8 weeks. YUK. Be safe, dive safe...and trust me, no potential shot is worth what I am going to go through.
