Re: 5 weeks off work
How my 6 hr fishing trip turned into a 24 hr ordeal. We headed out of port
Canaveral around 6 AM yesterday in search of kingfish. The plan had been a half
day trip with a return to the ramp a little after noon with a limit of
kings. Everything went off as planed at least in the beginning. Left the port
around 6 and headed SE for the 20 or so mile trip to pelican flats. We stopped a
few miles short of the flats and put the lines in the water. The plan was to
troll to the flats once we hit 70 foot of water. We ran a 5 lure pattern with
2 skirted ballyhoo in the prop wash then a skirted ballyhoo and a alien xl
on outriggers and a kingfish spoon trailing from the center rod holder on the
T top. We trolled for about an hour with no action. Then when we reached
pelican flats we turned south and almost immediately hit fish. The first fish was
a small mahi then we had a double hookup on large barracuda. Next we lost a
nice king and caught a good sized bonito. Things went dead for a while until
I hooked up with a smoker king. I landed the 20 pounder and after removing
the hook picked him up by the tail to put him in the fish box. Half way to the
fish box he got lively and I lost my grip. Twenty pounds of razor sharp teeth
came down on top of my foot and mangled it pretty good. The other 3 guys on
the boat (my oldest and youngest son and a good friend) wanted to take me in
to the hospital to get stitched up but I talked them into letting me bandage
it up tight and continue fishing.
Well I stopped the bleeding with a bunch of gauze and a half roll of medical
tape, or I thought I did. We went on fishing for another half hour until my
oldest son noticed the pool of blood beneath my blood soaked bandage and
insisted we head in. The others reeled in the lines and stowed the rods while I
sat in the transom seat of the 23 foot century. Got everything put away and I
started feeling woozy so I laid down on the floor of the boat for the long
trip in. Greg, the captain for the day must have been a little worried because
he had that century skipping on top of the waves on the way in. Got to the
ramp and got the boat out of the water and the blood flow had slowed to a
trickle until I climbed out the boat at which time it started gushing again. We
asked at the marina where the nearest walk in clinic was and the place they sent
us was closed so we decided to put my foot in a baggie and stop somewhere on
the way back to Orlando. I was still feeling light headed so I laid in the
back of Greg's Tahoe with my foot elevated. Somehow we made it back to Orlando
without spilling any blood in Greg's vehicle. But as they were getting me
out the baggie busted and dumped about a pint on his floor, sorry bout that
Greg. Anyway the doctor took one look at my foot and said I would have to take
it to the emergency room that he wasn't equipt to deal with that kind of
lacerations. He wanted to call an ambulance but it was only a couple of miles to
the hospital so my friends took me.
By this time it was mid afternoon and I sat in the waiting room for about 4
hours before they got me in. The emergency room doctor unwrapped it and said
he was going to have to call in a podiatrist due to the depth and location of
the wounds. When the podiatrist finally got there it was about 7 PM. She
looked at the X-rays and cleaned things up then asked what time the accident
happened. When I told her around 11 she got upset and said they don't like to
close a wound that is over 6 hours old and wanted to know why I waited so long.
I told her that I had been there 5 hours and if they didn't take so much time
they would have had it stitched up by then. This podiatrist said she had
started medical school in 2001 so you know she hadn't been a doctor long. She
decided to try to tape it up and let it heal from the inside. My wife and I
kept looking at each other while she taped it up thinking, this ain't going to
get it.
Well it was 10 o'clock before we left the emergency room and before I got
home the damned thing had started gushing blood again. The wife wanted to take
me to another hospital and I insisted no take me back there, they are going to
do this right.
I kind of intentionally made a scene when we got back there, busting in the
door spewing blood everywhere.. I told the nurse at the door that I had spent
all afternoon in the emergency room only to have them do a half assed job. My
rant worked because they took me right in this time. The emergency room
doctor confided in me that he too knew the podiatrists repair would never work
but he said he isn't supposed to argue with the specialist. I commented, well
lets see if we can get it right this time. He said he would be a little more
stern with the young podiatrist this time. She got there and consulted with
the more experienced doctors of her office this time. They told her to
cauterize the wounds and use some kind of silver nitrate stuff on it before wrapping
it up this time. They still agreed too much time had expired to stitch it up.
Anyway she did the repair and it was after midnight before I got home. And
guess what? Before my wife could help me into bed the thing busted wide open
again. Spent the night with my foot elevated and the bleeding has stopped now.
A little side note, everybody I talked to yesterday had no idea how sharp a
kingfishes teeth are. I had to go into an in depth explanation every time I
told the story. Next time I think I will just tell them it was a shark or
barracuda bite. I think that would be much easier to explain.
