Always hurting myself

37 chief · Dec 16, 2023

About anytime I grab a wrench to work on my tractor, or anything else I end up drawing blood. Most old folks like me know what I'm talking about. As we get older our skin is not as tough as when we were younger. Yesterday I stepped on a nail that went through my shoe into my foot. I always thought a nail in the foot was about as bad as it gets, as far as wounds go. I did some checking on the net about Tetanus. I found I have 24 hours to get a Tetanus shot, or I could get lock jaw and a number of other dreaded things then die. I didn't want that to happen. My last Tetanus shot was over 20 years ago, so I got my shot Tetanus shot today. I don't know why a nail is worse than knocking off some skin some place else, but Ialways thought it was. Do any of you keep your Tetanus shot up dated? Stan

CaseChev · Dec 16, 2023

Yes.....I am always up to date on my tetanus shot at age 78. My doctor does a good job of keeping track.....and remembering all the stupid stuff that I do !!

Tgrasher · Dec 16, 2023

Growing up it seemed I would step on a nail every summer. Remember a ornery neighbor telling me all I had to do was drink some water out of a rusty tin can when I told him I had to get a tetanus shot. Anyway, mom would put a piece of bacon on the wound and wrap it to hold it in place overnight, and sure enough, the dirt that had went in my foot with the nail was on the piece of bacon in the morning. Yes, I keep my tetanus shot up to date as I always seem to puncture some part of my body with metal just doing normal things.

oliverplow · Dec 16, 2023

I stepped on a four inch ring shank about twelve years ago when the neighbors cattle got out and it was dark. In the process of trying to pull the 2x4 it was in out of my work shoe, I stepped on it again. Got a shot that day and in a week I could walk without too much pain again.

504 · Dec 16, 2023

Mom always made sure our shots were done. She lost a friend to an infection in a foot blister in the early 40s.

Hemmjo · Dec 16, 2023

Stepping on a nail is extra bad. It is a puncture wound and does not bleed much. In addition the making a hole in your foot, it also makes one in your boot, pushing a piece of the boot, all of the crap you had been walking on, part of your sock, and part of your dirty foot into your body. In there all of that bacteria has a safe , dark , warm, moist place to breed and make you REALLY SICK!

Dont ever try to be a tough guy with something like that.

Yeah, I have done it too!!

PJH · Dec 16, 2023

I haven't had a tetanus shot in 60 years, but I'll bet that I had a dozen from age 1 to 10. As soon as school let out I kicked my shoes off and went barefoot all summer long. There were crumbling buildings everywhere on our little farm, and I seemed to step on a nail every week. I'd try to hide it from mom, and sometimes I was successful, but usually her intuition would kick in and she'd discover the wound and off we would go to the Carbondale Clinic for another tetanus shot. Our present family doctor sez that you can take too many tetanus shots, but that was not the belief in the 50's. If one a year was good, five was better.

old · Dec 17, 2023

I seem to hurt myself a lot now days be it I hit something etc. But either way I seem to leak a bit of red stuff easily

Dave G9N · Dec 17, 2023

(quoted from post at 20:59:39 12/16/23) About anytime I grab a wrench to work on my tractor, or anything else I end up drawing blood. Most old folks like me know what I'm talking about. As we get older our skin is not as tough as when we were younger. Yesterday I stepped on a nail that went through my shoe into my foot. I always thought a nail in the foot was about as bad as it gets, as far as wounds go. I did some checking on the net about Tetanus. I found I have 24 hours to get a Tetanus shot, or I could get lock jaw and a number of other dreaded things then die. I didn't want that to happen. My last Tetanus shot was over 20 years ago, so I got my shot Tetanus shot today. I don't know why a nail is worse than knocking off some skin some place else, but Ialways thought it was. Do any of you keep your Tetanus shot up dated? Stan

shot every 5-10 years as I recall. Clostridium Tetani is a nasty little bug. It's a spore forming obligate anaerobe. Open air and fairly clean surfaces are very hostile environments for anaerobes, so it lurks under the rust and in things hidden in the debris on the ground. Puncture wounds get it far enough in to protect it from exposure to air.

If you walk on nails, you need spike protective Vietnam Jungle Boots: Genuine Government Issue NOS made between '65 and '70. Not many sizes left, and the soles crack when it's near 0, but they were never intended for winter.

MarkB_MI · Dec 17, 2023

Puncture wounds are dangerous, but it's good when they bleed because bleeding flushes out germs.

A few years ago a high school classmate of mine posted on social media how he wasn't going to get an unspecified shot. I jokingly replied that he didn't have to get a tetanus shot if he didn't want to; it's a free country and he could get lockjaw if he wanted to. Less than a year later he was dead, but not from lockjaw.

caterpillar guy · Dec 17, 2023

I'm not saying to not get them. Just if I got one every time I barked some hide,I'd live at the docs office. Every 5-10 years I think is the update span. I have not had one in many years. Probably something I should do though I don't trust them anymore since fauci flu and all the lies from that. How Do I know they didn't try to stick that in with any shot I get in the future or pill.

RobCons · Dec 17, 2023

Don't feel bad Stan I have similar injuries all the time. I'm not as sure footed as I once was resulting in bumps, bruises, scratches, and such everyday. My hands and arms keep a small injury on them all the time. A puncture wound can be much worse than an open cut since they typically don't bleed and wash themselves out like an open cut. Its a really good environment for an infection to grow.

M-MAN · Dec 17, 2023

Used to be it was a stand alone Tetanus shot. Supposed to be good for 10 years but anything over 5 the doc wanted to give you a new one. I've stayed in the window all my life. My last one was 2 years ago. Think there were 3 different vaccines in it.

Pete-IN · Dec 17, 2023

I keep my tetanus shots up to date through the VA. I am 75 and have seen many deaths from many causes as have most my age. It seems strange that I have never run across a situation where someone died from lockjaw.

JMOR · Dec 17, 2023

Not sure I ever had a tetanus shot when young....Mom would just soak my foot in a pan of kerosene for half hour after each nail puncture. Maybe it works or I just got lucky. Either way, it doesn't matter, I'm still here.

Nail driver · Dec 17, 2023

Had to update the shot about 4 months ago because I did a stupid little thing.

showcrop · Dec 17, 2023

regular tetanus shots have not been recommended for probably over ten years now. You go and get it after the exposure

rusty6 · Dec 17, 2023

Yes, all too familiar with weak skin that bleeds like a "stuck pig" to quote my dad. He had the same problem. Does not hurt much at all but looks bad with all the blood. I have no memory of ever having a tetanus shot. I do recall stepping on a nail as one of my earliest memories many years ago.

Apple Orchard tractors · Dec 17, 2023

This wont help with the stepping on a nail thing, but i usually look like I've been in a knife fight after working on just about anything. I bought a pair of Kevlar sleeves at Harbor Freight and those and a pair of cheap mechanics gloves have stopped most of my scrapes and cuts. The sleeves go from the palm of your hand to near you shoulder and offer really good protection from most sharp edges.

rrlund · Dec 17, 2023

The morning DJ on a local radio station back in the day was a farmer. He said he didn't know why God even put skin on a farmer's knuckles. I took my glove off yesterday and had blood all over the nail on my little finger. No idea how I skinned it up, but the skin was rolled back by the cuticle.

I think they probably gave me a tetanus shot 25 years or so ago when my appendix burst. I think I got one when I was 3 and a rabbit bit my finger.

Ain't modern medicine great? We can get cut without getting lockjaw or blood poisoning.

Always hurting myself

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