I had one of the most painful experiences of my life this weekend.
While swimming through the ocean, minding my own business, shuffling my feet (to prevent what was about to happen), I got stung by a stingray. For those of you that haven’t experienced this, imagine a rat sinking two little fangs into your foot, and then releasing venom into your bloodstream.
In short, it’s painful.
So it came as a great surprise to me when I checked the city of San Diego’s website this morning, clicked on their weekly web feature “Summer Beach Safety,” and found no information about avoiding stingrays or treating a stingray injury.
My personal approach involved immersing my foot in a pot of hot water, while grasping tightly onto my beach chair and taking a little general anesthetic – or Jose Cuervo tequila if you want to be technical about it. From the various medical websites I have perused, it seems that this might not suffice in terms of medical treatment.
Everyone in the office keeps telling me to go to a doctor, and my mom is adamant that I need a tetanus shot.
I’m thinking I’ll just tough it out, but if any of you loyal readers also happen to be doctors, feel free to drop me a line and let me know if I should go to the emergency room.