First surfing mishap
Michael had his first surfing mishap this afternoon.
We were surfing chest high waves at the beachbreak beside La Punta, when a surfer paddled into Michael’s path as he was riding down the line. Michael kicked off the wave to avoid the other surfer, landing in the water, and the guy duck-dived his board into Michael. The pointy nose of the board tore a 2-inch long gash in the bottom of Michael’s foot. The cut was deep enough that you could see the layers of fat and muscle in there. Who knew Michael had fat feet? 🙂
A lifeguard in an ATV drove Michael to the nearest clinic, called Centro Salud, about 7 minutes away, and I ran back to our apartment to grab some cash. When I got to the clinic, Michael was in a room with a nurse, frantically trying to ask her in broken Spanish not to sew the cut up with all the sand that was still in there. We pieced together some bad Spanish sentences, letting her know there was still some sand in the wound (“Ha camina con su pie a la playa, hay mucho particulas en la laceracion!”), so the doctor came in and washed the cut out forcefully a few more times with a syringe.
The cut needed five stitches.
The care and medications (antibiotics and anti-inflammatories) all came out to around $11 US. Michael’s out of the water for the next 2 weeks, so expect to see more upcoming posts from him. He’s fine now, and still happy as a clam.
The strange thing is that our landlords had just recounted a story yesterday to us, about how a previous American renter of theirs had been surfing at La Punta when another surfer ran the nose of their board into his leg. He had only been in Mexico for two days, and was taken to the clinic in an ambulance and stitched up. I guess the moral of the story is: avoid surfing near people with pointy-nosed boards.
oh shit!!!
sucks to be out of the water but i reckon he got off easy
could have been much worse
when we got to nicaragua last may
we were informed that a surfer fell in the tube on one of his first days down there
and landed on his fin where the sun doesn’t shine
he spent the next few weeks in the hospital
and was lucky to be alive
flew back to the states later with having had only a couple sessions his whole trip…
get well soon michael!!!
congrats to you delphine you now have a full time personal photographer…
Ooooo! So sorry that happened.
I cut my foot years back on a piece of glass at a beach and didn’t get all the sand out… and I had to have it lanced open when it got infected!!! Good for you insisting to get it cleaned out first. Try and enjoy your down time.
Couple questions from the kids..
Ian want to know if you cried when you were getting your stitches, how long is your foot ..he thinks it’s long not fat… and could you see the color of your bone? He also wanted to know how long it all took to get sewed up?
Tati wants to know if you feeling better and where are you guys going next?
Love and healing energy
Lisa, Ian and Tati
Big Brooger. You ok???
Oh Michael!
Could you feel the sand in the cut or see it ? I hope they got it all. The story about the ride to the hospital on the motor bike sounded the worst part of the whole experience but maybe trying to defend yourself in Spanish from the doctor who wanted to stitch you up with the sand in the cut was worse. Kind of like when the little car caught on fire and you were trying to signal passing vehicles to stop. Did you have to resort to hand signals? Heal fast and do look after each other Sweeties. Momma
Glad You’re OK Michael! Eat more grasshoppers. I hear they help with fatty foot conditions.
You’re the fastest healer I know….and it’s safe to assume this minor setback will heal up just as quickly as all of your other little mishaps…you know, the broken leg, the stitches in Rockaway..actually, now that I think about it – the doctor’s office in Rockaway sounded much, much scarier.
xo Melissa