Tetanus Shots

We went to get tetanus shots over the weekend. Roger had not had a tetanus shot in about 14 years, and I had not had one in 8 years. Although I wasn't due for one for two more years, I went ahead and got one with Rog so we would be on the same schedule. It was becoming imperative we get them ASAP, because in the first two weeks of our living at the Helpful Gnome we have both managed to wound ourselves. Rog has so far: 1. cut his forehead open with a rusty nail, and 2. taken a chunk of flesh off his finger with a hammer. Chelsea has: 1. cut her hand open with a handsaw.


Some quick facts about tetanus, courtesy of the National Institute of Health:

The bacteria that causes tetanus is found in dirt, manure, and dust. It will usually only grow in your body if entered by a deep wound, such as a nail puncture or a knife cut.

Tetanus causes the locking of muscles, spasms, and fever. It is called 'lockjaw' because one of the first symptoms is the locking of the jaw muscles, preventing eating and sometimes causing suffocation.

10%-20% of people who develop tetanus die. Others will spend weeks in the hospital on a ventilator.

I read a blog from another homesteading farm, and they detailed the chronicle of one of them cutting her hand open with a rusty knife. The first picture was of a particularly nasty wound, which they washed out. Then that night it began to swell, and by the next night she had red lines shooting up her arm from the wound. One again, they took pictures to document for the blog. They called the doc and he said go to ER ASAP... where they had to put her on an IV of antibiotics plus a round of oral.

Oh, bacteria.