well, that was gross. (not for the squeamish)

I saw something last night that was really gross. I didn't want to post it on Pointless Announcements where monkie's over there talking about her wedding. Just didn't seem right. So I thought, maybe we should have a place where folks can come to tell about the gross stuff they've seen.

For instance:

Last night I watched the doc squeeze pus out of a dog's rectum. And not just a little bit of pus...quite a lot, actually. His anal glands had become very infected and had burst. It was a hot mess.

PSA: if you have a small breed dog, take 'em regularly to the vet (not the groomer!) for anal gland expression. this is something you want to do. trust me.

 

This thread is going to be good...

My wife has a more-than-mild obsession with pus and thoroughly enjoys squeezing zits and blackheads . For a long time I was a willing victim to this activity but have since put my foot down. I think my skin is also healthier than it was, hence fewer opportunities for squeezing.

I will also say one of her favorite pasttimes is watching YouTube videos of bot fly extraction and sebaceous cysts being expressed (I have two on my back that she's just itching to get her fingers on). She's also a sucker for a good pilonidal cyst (aka "back-gina") story.

For my part, I'll admit to being fascinated by teratomas.

 

teratomas are, indeed, fascinating.

as is maggot debridement therapy

i don't watch pus draining videos on youtube, but i will admit to watching nearly every maggot therapy video there.
it's kind of fascinating.
--- merged: Nov 2, 2012 at 1:18 PM ---
ok, I watched a bot fly extraction. man, kind of neat.

 

yes, you can't stitch shut wounds like abscesses and cysts or other injuries that have become purulent.
sometimes at work they will put drains into pets with these kinds of wounds. watching them being removed is sort of like watching the bot fly removal videos.
--- merged: Nov 2, 2012 at 3:08 PM ---
I appreciate you sharing that story, Baraka. I hope your mom is doing better.

 

Yes, I remember now you writing about her health troubles in your blog. Sometimes with these damn'd bodies stable is a pretty good thing.

 

I have a lot of friends who are doctors. They have stories. You can't imagine.

 

What about poultice of earthworm and leeches etc - opium for a cold does sound like it would take the edge off it -

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFaTVSJTXPc

 

hey! I almost forgot about this thread.

I watched an abscess on top of a cat's head be drained of its rather vile contents yesterday.
Plus, I sliced open my thumb with a hypodermic needle while I was helping. And I stood there for about 3 seconds staring at this needle sitting in the newly dug trough in my thumb before it started to bleed. That was weird.

 

S likes to watch bot fly videos. I don't mind pus or any bodily secretions (except poopy diapers), but living organisms inside the body horrify me.
We had to address Vex's anal glands once and Faust's once when he was really little. It was disgusting. But not horrifying. S nearly vomited, though.

 

The first time I took Simba into work with me, they expressed his anal glands and said that it looked like Hershey's chocolate syrup. I didn't get to see it, but I've seen the fluid come out of other dogs like that. (it's normally clearish brown, for the record). I had never expressed his glands before...I had no idea. Luckily they hadn't become impacted. The actual anal gland stuff doesn't bother me, even the smell isn't particularly bothersome, but I hate it whenever anyone calls it anal gland 'juice.'

ew.

 

Hah, your wife and my mum both. When I was a kid, I thought it was a natural part of growing up to be subjected to maternal zit-squeezing, blackhead removal AND ear-wax removal with a hair clip. It was a natural part of growing up that I hated. Instinctively, to me, it was just W R O N G. That predatory gaze, that heaving and puffing of the breath, and the official story that it was an essential thing that 'had' to be done. Blech.


Gross childhood memory is when I got a lot of concentrated sulphuric acid splattered on me. My arms had moon-like craters .. the bottom of which was greeny eith red-specle sub dermis thingy, which took ages to grow back, with scar tissue, to the level of the rest of the skin.

 

Well this was a long time ago, but I got a compound fracture in my left arm. It was just like the movies, complete break with bone exposure, concussion and 10days in the hospital. I. did not see the bone exposure, but apparently my Dad did. Yes he went down and out according to my mom. The scar is impressive.

 

One for the chaps -

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQWgUht-ObI

 

I was using a knife to peel the rind off a butternut squash when the knife slipped and the blade went right into my left index finger. Lots and lots of blood spewing everywhere, and it kept spewing for most the following day. I kept it tightly bandaged so I didn't really see the full scope of grossness, but think "skin flap."

 

I'm not trying to top loquitur in heinous finger injuries, but the above post did remind me of my "little incident" this summer. One morning, I was chopping lighter wood into small pieces when the hatchet slipped and did its damndest to take off the tips of my left thumb and index finger. I wrapped my gushing hand in a large towel and drove myself to the Emergency Room, and it was actually cool for once to get bumped ahead of all the other miserable people waiting in ER hell - I guess "hatchet injury" carries a little weight out there.

When I informed the first nurse that I am a musician, and deeply concerned about any injuries and/or treatments to my fingers, a large group of medical personnel huddled near my bed and discussed their options. They decided that I definitely should get stitches to keep the skin flaps together, but the stitches and resulting scar might impede my guitar prowess. Therefore, they settled on a different treatment option that involved gluing my fingertips back down and strapping them into place vertically and horizontally. They pretty much bled constantly for two days (like loquitur), and the results are mixed. Although I don't have any scars, there is a definite seam across my fingertips where the two parts don't line up exactly. Plus, there is some obvious nerve damage along the seams, and both fingertips feel somewhat tingly, as if they were asleep.

But I can still play guitar. If only it would have made me better.

I took this picture on the third day after the event. EDIT: I changed bandages four times a day, so this would have been the 9th set of bandages after the event in this photo.

 

what, no pus?