Make sure you have your Jabs up to date and wear gloves…..

[Tigger]

Hmmnn - our systems are very effective in dealing with many things but the most trivial can bring it down. A small, localised infection in a finger joint, such as a splinter which is untreated and becomes hot to the touch may result in septiceamia and the loss of that finger or - indeed - the hand. Timing is critical as the means of circulation is so small and therefore can be adverseley affected very quickly.

All of the examples given above endorse that and remind us that we should (firstly) protect ourselves and (secondly) act quickly if we are injured.

As a rule of thumb - at the scene of an accident, it's always the quiet ones we should worry about, the noisy ones have will probably survive without our immediate attention!

[Chantal]

Having read all that I just got a splinter in my finger! I've got it out but am now not sure if my tetanus jab is up to date (until Jerry's posting I thought I was OK for another 3 years) I could become seriously paranoid about all this whereas I never really worried before.

[peter]

Tetanus is associated with horses?
What did grandad always put on his roses?
What has more thorns than the average garden plant?

Perhaps that is why Roses........

[Pol]

Veering off slightly. I heard a tale at the weekend of an elderly man who was using some sort of chrome cleaner on his car. Apparently the warning on the can to wear gloves was very small and he didn't read it. He used a finger to rub a particularly difficult mark and forgot all about it. Then when he woke up the next morning the top inch of his finger had rotted away and he ended up having the whole finger amputated - I know sounds impossible but it is true! I don't use the stuff myself but just a cautionary tale for others who do!