Dangerous game, this gardening lark!

Sorry about the tetanus ~ I dont think we always realise the seriousness of it, a girl i was at school with lost her brother to tetanus;
apart from that what a lovely interesting blog ~ i am so pleased to hear about your rescued cat!

Ah, the tetanus debate - I've had 2 boosters since I was 30, but because I had a slight reaction to the last one, everyone's reluctant to do another, so we're hoping I had 3 whilst at school (might not have done, the programme didn't start all over Britain till the sixties). They're saying you need a total of 5 in your lifetime and no more, but they keep changing it - prior to ten years ago, they said you needed one every 5 years, then changed to ten yearly, and now a max of 5 in a lifetime... I currently have a thorn stuck in my index finger and can I get the blasted thing out? No, its still in there... so if I disappear, the tetanus has got me... Anywhere which uses horse manure (me, in gardens) has a higher risk of tetanus infection. Needless to say, my car has a first aid kit equipped with bandages, plasters, alcohol wipes, hand cleaners, disinfectant... as soon as I cut myself, I leap to the car and do the necessary immediately...

It doesnt make life any easier when the medics cant decide whats best!!

I have just checked my hands for any cuts etc. How worrying. I am more inclined to land on my bottom walking backwards with my wheel barrow. Och! I seem to do it each year.

The ones to worry about from the tetanus point of view are deep and narrow penetrations which become infected - rose thorns are a classic tetanus prone wound. Not to mention the risk of septacaemia from an untreated septic wound... Open cuts which bleed prolifically are not really a risk for tetanus.

Brumas sounds lovely. When I was little I had a teddy bear called Brumas lol.

I never had a teddy bear, Hywel (sob!) but my brother used to have a very well worn and loved one called Diddy (couldn't say "Teddy") which I used to steal from his cot once he was asleep. Could account for some of my strange character traits! I do remember the original Brumas baby polar bear at London Zoo, though: that's who our Brumas is named after - white cat, polar bear - get it?. Anyone else remember him(actually, "he" was a female)? Come on, there must be a few GoYs as old as me!

Yes I remember about him.
Actually the 'teddy bear' I had was really a polar bear, and apparently moddeled on the original Brumas.
I put him in front of the fire to keep warm and he got all the fur burnt off his head lol.

Aaaaaahhhhh! That is so sad. How do you write the opposite of Lol?

:-( will do for sad or unhappy, Gattina - look at it sideways on...

what a lovely success story for your Brumas, Gattina, he is very happy now. Oh Hywel, your poor bear.

I had a rusty nail embedded in my thumb in February 2009 ... the wound bled profusely and the Nurse recommended an innoculation of Revaxis once a month for 3 months. She said that should 'do me for life' ! As I had not a booster within the previous 5 years it was fine to have the course. Historically, 5 doses of Tetanus have been recommended to be sufficient for life. However, travellers to areas outside of Western Europe, North America and Australasia are advised to have booster doses at 10 -yearly intervals.

Ooh, sounds very painful, Shirley... not surprised they gave you treatment, but I am surprised they didn't use any anti toxin for tetanus as well - Revaxis takes a fortnight to work, doesn't it.

I really have no idea, Bamboo, I was just glad to have the rusty nail removed at the time! ... :o)))

I can believe that - I'm desperate to get this thorn out of my finger, its been there nearly 2 weeks, so I can only imagine what a rusty nail must be like...

My Nan used to make a paste from baking powder & water, apply it to the area with the splinter/thorn ... plaster it overnight & it would be ready to come out in the morning! ... Old wive's tale which seemed to work for her ... :o)

Yes, I had magnesium sulphate paste on it for 4 days and nights -no luck. But it does work sometimes.

Oh dear, it must have gone in really deep then ... :o(

Yep - its forming a lump now, but isn't septic, so I guess my system is dealing with it. It think it surrounds it with white blood cells and they form a sort of envelope round it and it either gets ejected, eventually, or the body absorbs it. Personally, I'd rather it got ejected, thanks, lol!

LOL, Bamboo ... I was going to say fingers crossed it comes out ... but that would not be a good idea at all!

I never used to garden in gloves as I used to like the feel of soil on my hands, but after having my lymphnodes removed from my arm after having breast cancer, I now always wear gloves. Also we have foxes come into the garden and they often leave us a present.

OOh, take great care then, Rose - I have a friend who had the same trouble, and she's had to stop having her nails done in case of damage to the hand...