Sting Ray Woes (Thursday 9/24/09)

Well, it finally happened. Shuffle, Shuffle, SHUFFLE... I keep telling the children. Here in Mexico in the shallow water, you shuffle your feet... you DON’T step. Sting rays bury themselves in the sand and gravel. You can tell a child to shuffle, but you can’t make him dance. Actually, you CAN make him dance... and jump up and down, shimmy, shake and hop on one foot! Just ask Tim. He stepped on a sting ray in Bahia Los Angeles. It’s barb stuck him in the foot between the third and fourth toes.

Tim was rushed back to ‘Windfall’ by friends where I had a hot water in a plastic dish pan ready for foot soaking (I had been alerted on the VHF radio). Tim was in serious pain; his face was both ashen and green at the same time. He felt nauseous, but didn’t toss his cookies. I gave him some Benadryl and Ibuprofen. Within minutes, he was feeling better. Only when the water began to cool did he have more pain, so we continued to soak his foot for over an hour in hot water... as hot as he could stand.

The danger of getting an infection at sea is very serious. Sting rays are not deadly (except in very rare cases), but they are very painful and prone to infection. Luckily for Tim, the damage was a laceration and not a puncture wound. We cleaned it often with hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol, and treated it with antiseptic for several days afterwards. He wasn’t allowed in the water for a few days, which he wasn’t very happy about.

Tim is adamant that he never wants to step on a sting ray ever again. I will guarantee, though, Tim is the king of the shuffle now!