Hooray, tetanus!

So, earlier today I was working with my grandfather and because of a simple miscommunication, I managed to scratch my left hand twice in 10 seconds on the same rusty nail, drawing blood in both places. Hooray! I immediately stopped everythign I was doing and cleaned out both wounds with hydrogen peroxide, then applied triple antibiotic and bandaids. Then repeated these steps again after about an hour, since my bandaids weren’t adequately applied.

According to dictionary.com, tetanus is “An acute, often fatal disease characterized by spasmodic contraction of voluntary muscles, especially those of the neck and jaw, and caused by the toxin of the bacillus Clostridium tetani, which typically infects the body through a deep wound. Also called lockjaw.” But neither wound was deep. Just tiny scratches. I figure since it lives in an oxygen-rich environment (rust), the anaerobic environment created by hydrogen peroxide should have adequately prevented any infection from these tiny scratches.

Plus, I have no medical insurance or income to pay for shots. Here’s hoping I don’t start going into spasms and die!

Published by

Teel

Author, artist, romantic, insomniac, exorcist, creative visionary, lover, and all-around-crazy-person.

4 thoughts on “Hooray, tetanus!”

  1. early signs of tetanus are swelling in the area, overly red puffyness, seepage, and a red line tracing from the site of the injury and following the vein along your body to your heart. I would be more worried of a staph infection than tetenus. And remember, the best remedy for wounds is bleeding them, which is why we have all this nice high-pressure fluid running through us, to clean out injury and prevent infection.

    Go France.

  2. early signs of tetanus are swelling in the area, overly red puffyness, seepage, and a red line tracing from the site of the injury and following the vein along your body to your heart. I would be more worried of a staph infection than tetenus. And remember, the best remedy for wounds is bleeding them, which is why we have all this nice high-pressure fluid running through us, to clean out injury and prevent infection.

    Go France.

Comments are closed.