Hello -

I wonder if anyone has advice about this. I was spear fishing in Rhode Island, six weeks ago now, and was helping my partner boat a fish. The weight of the fish drove a dorsil spine through my wet suit and into my leg, just above the knee. Hurt like the #^&#^&#^&#^&ens with tingling and numbness too, for a week or so. The pain and neurological symptoms have resolved completely, but the darn thing is still in my leg. Should I just leave it? Get it removed? Anybody experienced this?

Thanks in advance.

Royce

That's a great question to ask a doctor.
Seriously, I'd get to the Doc. now!
I wouldn't chance that. Good Luck.

F18
Great new avatar. Better than Spencers ugly sweater

You're just jealous :ss:

I'd go see the Doc on this one.

-spence

You have to get it out. Is it infected? If not you can wait and see if the healing process squeezes it out on its own. If it is infected you need to get to a Dr.

You are lucky you didn't get fish poisoning .I got spiked by a wee striper in the thumb once and it was %^&^*^% up for a couple of weeks . :scream2: You say the spine is still in your leg and you want to know if it should be taken out? umm.. yes it doesn't belong in there. If you leave it in there , you will start craving tuna fish sandwiches......that's how it starts. Then you will notice scaley growths on your back , progressing to difficulty in breathing unless in the shower,...it gets worse....get that thing out man!

I would think they would only leave it there if there was a chance the removal could cause more damage.

-spence

if it wasnt installed by a surgeon get it out ! its only going to get infected , cause it dont belong and your body knows it . It will get infected if not now .

Kinda ironic. You spear fish and fish spears you. Get it checked, can get nasty down the road.

Yes remove it. A friend of mine in Miami caught a saltwater catfish while fishing the Everglades one day, got the spine of the catfish in his finger around the nuckle. He is a dentist in practice with his father. His father removed the spine that evening and cleaned it up. Unfortunately, they did not get all of it, his finger swelled up, he could not bend his finger because the spine moved around inside of his finger. He eventually had to go to the DRs to have it removed, so that impacted his work. If he did not get it taken care of properly, who knows what could have happened, it was gross.

F18
Great new avatar. Better than Spencers ugly sweater
Thanks.
Why aren't you out claiming your rock?
Hows the heave? :)

Piemma, feel free to copy my avitar and use it.
It fits my new attitude, :nopain:

there is a doctor on the site....maybe he can help....his name is DR. Lickman I beleive

This same thing happened to me while landing a fish. The spine broke off under the skin right above my ankle. I went to the doctors the next day because i thought i could feel something in there. He said there was nothing and I would be fine. After 4 months of intense pain I went to the hospital and had one of those scans a pregnant women gets on there stomach. On the screen I could see a 2 inch spine about an 1" deep in my ankle. The doctors said they could probably just put novacaine in it and try and cut it open without anestia. They tried that and I watched them dig around my ankle and they couldnt find it. They figured it must me deeper so they put me under and finally got it out after about an hour. So alll in all I would say get it out right away so you don't have to get it anestia and be sick for a week.

Thanks everyone. I'll let you know what happens. I'd also welcome any other opinions. I'll see if I can find this Dr. Lickman (thanks Slingah).

Royce

you can heal fine on the outside but you will develope fish poisoning of your blood and that'll silently kill you easily.... get that s o b out of you pronto.

I got spined by a bass earlier this year, right thru my wader boot into my big toe. Anyway hurt like hell for a few days, then i noticed that under my left armpit it swelled up like a softball. Went to doc and he checked me out and lo and behold, spine was in my toe still :err: . Lymph gland swelled up to fight off infection. Was on anti-biotics for almost 6 weeks. Go to doctor bro, please.

as my title suggests, i am a doc and in my 'professional' opinion i would go and get that thing taken care of before your next post about how to fish with an artificial leg....

hey doc?

is it your lymph system that carries the poison from fish
...or your blood or both?

just for everyones general information so theres no mystery...

...at this point it would be unlikely that poison would be the problem...the main issue would be having a foreign body in the leg - that is usually a slow indolent problem that when addressed late can create a significant mess....fish poisoning or even flesh eating bacteria usually manifest within hours to a few days...