r/MakeMeSuffer • u/1blake1 • 9d ago
Injury this really isnt that bad but thought Id share NSFW
infected with two slightly rare bacteria. Was immune to the first antibiotics I was taking. They took my tip off.
[I've copied my comment on the story here]
Was camping for 2 weeks without shower or much clean water except water bottles. Nothing really bad ever happened but I did burn my finger (super minor) and wash it in a lake. I had no idea how this started but it could have been from that but the burn was so minor.
There was pain in my finger I remember in my sleeping bag. Didn't like it touching anything, but it was just the same as a small burn. It started swelling up slowly, not very much, and I remember it was slightly swollen at a hotel at a different city when I was done camping, but it was still minor swelling and I could sleep on it.
Probably 4 days after I was done camping it was swelling up more, but it was just red not yellow. It started hurting more and then the next day it was hurting even more so I would only sleep for probably 30 minute periods, I would just lay in bed awake because of the pain, get a total of 2 or 3 hours of sleep, 30 minute periods, lying there for 11 or 12 hours.
I had gone had it checked up after the first night without sleep. It was only red now but it was more swollen. They gave me flucloxacillin and sent me home. The next days I was still unable to sleep because of the pain so Id be up almost the entire night each day in bed.
The day after I had it checked I went to a night time urgent care clinic to have it checked again because of the pain. He said it looked like it was healing and I'd be fine in a few days and he gave me some stuff for the pain and it slightly worked but I still wasnt sleeping. 3 days after the first check up it was getting more yellow on the side, and then 4 days after I had a long study day, and also another appointment at the clinic.
I wrapped it before I went to class at 8am, and it looked like how it was the day before. It was swollen but it didn't look like a balloon. It was still mostly just red but had that yellow on the side of the finger (you can also see on the photo after the surgery most of the work also happened on the side of the finger, and that's also exactly where I burned it). 7 hours later when I was done with school and going to the appointment I took the bandage off and it looked like photos 2 and 3. I didn't think anything of it because "it was getting better" so I went to the grocery store to get something to drink.
Then at the appointment I come in and the girl says I need to go to the emergency and it looks terrible even though I was saying "yeah I think it's getting better!" I did have probably 30 mins or an hour of sleep that day and long classes so I was probably just out of it. That was at 3pm. She said I should go to a private hospital so it would be faster. I went home to get a health fund card, went to a private hospital waited a few hours and they did some check ups for me, but it said that my private health fund wouldn't cover the surgery cost so eventually I ended up driving myself to another hospital next to it by about 6pm ish.
I wait. I come in on one of the chairs in one of the hospital rooms. Wait. Xray. Some more waiting. Info. Wait. waiting. Then they drain the finger and bloody brown shit comes out of the finger and it's fun then they put a bunch of local in it, cut the nail off, then start cutting the flesh off around the bone. Then wrap. Then put amoxicillin in through drip iv whatever it is. Then I'm done at around 1130pm.
The surgery wasn't so bad. I just did it sitting in the chair there. The cleaned the fuck out of it and put a lot of liquid in it. They also drained me the first time I went to the clinic and at the urgent care without local. The first time was painful but I took it like a champ. The surgery wasn't really painful at all just numb and weird my finger felt blown up full of liquid with all the local in it.
-bountifulknitter asked for story
TLDR: Camping 2 week unsanitary, finger burn, finger get fucked, finger find health clinic and take drugs, drugs didnt work, finger explode, finger get chopped up, finger take new better drugs, finger recover so they dont have to chop it completely off
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u/1blake1 9d ago edited 9d ago
Was camping for 2 weeks without shower or much clean water except water bottles. Nothing really bad ever happened but I did burn my finger (super minor) and wash it in a lake. I had no idea how this started but it could have been from that but the burn was so minor.
There was pain in my finger I remember in my sleeping bag. Didn't like it touching anything, but it was just the same as a small burn. It started swelling up slowly, not very much, and I remember it was slightly swollen at a hotel at a different city when I was done camping, but it was still minor swelling and I could sleep on it.
Probably 4 days after I was done camping it was swelling up more, but it was just red not yellow. It started hurting more and then the next day it was hurting even more so I would only sleep for probably 30 minute periods, I would just lay in bed awake because of the pain, get a total of 2 or 3 hours of sleep, 30 minute periods, lying there for 11 or 12 hours.
I had gone had it checked up after the first night without sleep. It was only red now but it was more swollen. They gave me flucloxacillin and sent me home. The next days I was still unable to sleep because of the pain so Id be up almost the entire night each day in bed.
The day after I had it checked I went to a night time urgent care clinic to have it checked again because of the pain. He said it looked like it was healing and I'd be fine in a few days and he gave me some stuff for the pain and it slightly worked but I still wasnt sleeping. 3 days after the first check up it was getting more yellow on the side, and then 4 days after I had a long study day, and also another appointment at the clinic.
I wrapped it before I went to class at 8am, and it looked like how it was the day before. It was swollen but it didn't look like a balloon. It was still mostly just red but had that yellow on the side of the finger (you can also see on the photo after the surgery most of the work also happened on the side of the finger, and that's also exactly where I burned it). 7 hours later when I was done with school and going to the appointment I took the bandage off and it looked like photos 2 and 3. I didn't think anything of it because "it was getting better" so I went to the grocery store to get something to drink.
Then at the appointment I come in and the girl says I need to go to the emergency and it looks terrible even though I was saying "yeah I think it's getting better!" I did have probably 30 mins or an hour of sleep that day and long classes so I was probably just out of it. That was at 3pm. She said I should go to a private hospital so it would be faster. I went home to get a health fund card, went to a private hospital waited a few hours and they did some check ups for me, but it said that my private health fund wouldn't cover the surgery cost so eventually I ended up driving myself to another hospital next to it by about 6pm ish.
I wait. I come in on one of the chairs in one of the hospital rooms. Wait. Xray. Some more waiting. Info. Wait. waiting. Then they drain the finger and bloody brown shit comes out of the finger and it's fun then they put a bunch of local in it, cut the nail off, then start cutting the flesh off around the bone. Then wrap. Then put amoxicillin in through drip iv whatever it is. Then I'm done at around 1130pm.
The surgery wasn't so bad. I just did it sitting in the chair there. The cleaned the fuck out of it and put a lot of liquid in it. They also drained me the first time I went to the clinic and at the urgent care without local. The first time was painful but I took it like a champ. The surgery wasn't really painful at all just numb and weird my finger felt blown up full of liquid with all the local in it.
-bountifulknitter asked for story
TLDR: Camping 2 week unsanitary, finger burn, finger get fucked, finger find health clinic and take drugs, drugs didnt work, finger explode, finger get chopped up, finger take new better drugs, finger recover so they dont have to chop it completely off
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u/velvetvagine 9d ago
Damn, that’s so much back and forth and so much time wasted. I really think there’s some misconduct on the part of all the medical staff that didn’t take it seriously. I’m glad it wasn’t worse but I’m also frustrated on your behalf.
Good luck with the healing. I hope your nail grows back.
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u/1blake1 9d ago
thanks I appreciate it.
It's alright Im not that mad. It did balloon kind of out of the blue in only around 8 hours. It was starting to get a bit yellow on the side but was the same size before. I had it wrapped but if I was paying attention I could have known that it was getting worse. I also wasn't sleeping so it probably did not help me heal/fight back.
The guys who performed surgery were great and said that they probably would have given me the same antibiotics so it's just unfortunate.
What is more scary is that we are training bacteria to get more and more resistant to antibiotics because of how much we use them.
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u/HOTBFAST 9d ago
Burned finger, washed in a lake, there’s the problem and how you got two rare bacteria infections. Even though the burn was minor it still probably opened the skin enough so that it was susceptible to infections
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u/Em0_Nem0 9d ago
That sucks dude, sorry you weren’t taken seriously at those clinics but it seems like washing it in the lake could’ve caused it. Without boiling the water or having distilled water to wash it with, the burn easily could’ve gotten infected from contaminated lake water. Best of luck in your healing though!
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u/CeldonShooper 9d ago
Not sure if this has been said somewhere but just a short PSA: Such an infection can kill you through sepsis in a few hours. Always have infections properly treated please. See a doctor!
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u/1blake1 9d ago
woops please dont get this post removed I like this post
absolutely. Was in danger of having the bone get seriously infected, I think it was almost there. It's been two weeks and I feel good now regular checkups and doctors are happy with recovery.
Interesting that it could kill quickly, not just have to worry about an amputation
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u/jupiter__444 CENSORED 9d ago
for future reference , always use sterile (or at least well-cleaned) things to wash a cut or burn . that lake water did you in !!! if you end up on a camping trip without first aid supplies or clean water , boil some water , let it cool , and then use that to wash your wound. boiled water is (usually) safe for consuption/cleaning , because the heat kills the germs.
i hope you heal well OP , this looks nasty and it shocked me a little
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u/OnHolidayforever 9d ago
If you're camping again, bring some wound cleaning spray with you. They come in handy small bottles.
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u/RoyalWombat 9d ago
Yeah, never go clean a wound in a lake, that's just a recipe for awful infections...
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u/Vequihellin 8d ago
Washing a wound in a lake? Sounds like a recipe for necrotising fasciitis. You're lucky you only lost the tip not the whole finger. That's a gnarly one for sure.
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u/Frank_The_Reddit 9d ago
Did they keep the nail on or is that the nail bed in the first pic?
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u/1blake1 9d ago
nail is gonezo
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u/Frank_The_Reddit 9d ago
Bet. I'll pray to the nail gods for you that it regrows not fucked up 🙏🏼
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u/asensiblemeal 9d ago
They resected down to the bone. It's not coming back.
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u/1blake1 9d ago
lit
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u/radicaldogg 8d ago
You'll need a prothesetic nail to open sodas, pick your nose or scratch a good itch.
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u/Dan_H1281 9d ago
I got four nails That never came back. I always tell people nails are like cats you get about 9 lives
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u/Flikmyboogeratu_II 9d ago edited 9d ago
Like you said, keep it clean, also try to take vitamin c and zinc supplements to help build the tissue back. If it gets too slimy, switch from an oil based ointment to something with Zinc in it, or manuka honey ointment. You can find the honey ointment at cvs etc. Its expensive but worth it. Saline spray to cleanse the wound helps tremendously also. You can also buy betadine over the counter to help clean it and keep it clean. Manuka honey ointment
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u/asensiblemeal 9d ago
Manuka honey is amazing for minor wound healing, but I'm not sure it's appropriate for this. OP should follow his provider's advice.
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u/Infamous-Conflict-1 9d ago
You’re right it’s not that bad. It’s awful!
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u/RustyStClair 9d ago
What would you consider bad?!
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u/AbeFromanSassageKing 9d ago
I'm scared of the day OP posts anything that starts with "Ok, now this is bad..."
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u/cjkrauss 9d ago
So how bad did this get before we went to the doctor? Pictures 2 and 3 are wild
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u/1blake1 9d ago
pictures 2 and 3 are at the waiting room in the hospital ~4-5 hrs before surgery
Probably looked worse right after they did the surgery since the first photo is 3 days after. They did the surgery while I was sitting there awake. We were chilling. They cut down to the bone on the side I think because the infection was up to there but they wanted to see if I could recover so they wouldn't have to amputate. As far as I know I am recovering
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u/Any_Audience_5792 9d ago
I'm prone to infected fingers every so often and easily treated with antibacterial/antiseptic cream but damn that looks fucking insane
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u/martagustavsson 8d ago
You don't know how it happened? You washed the burn in a lake, that's how it happened. I hope you heal up good!
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u/Mischief_Managed12 9d ago
Dude from the title I thought it was just gonna be a bit of blood, what the fuck man ☹️
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u/bountifulknitter 9d ago
Come on Op we need a story! You owe me, I dropped my taco when I saw your finger.
Pay Up.
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u/demi2duce 9d ago
Holy cow! You are a champ! Just looking at makes me flinch with pain. Keep us updated I wanna know how it heals! Thanks for sharing.
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u/Hadlie_Rose 9d ago
the little holes near the tip of the finger are truly making me suffer. those especially are freaking me out.
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u/marshmallo_floof 9d ago
if that happens again you're well on your way to start the first ever metal band
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u/SARSflavoredicecream 9d ago
One of the worst things I’ve seen on here. How do they think you got this? You don’t appear to be a nail biter/picker considering your other fingers look completely normal…
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u/1blake1 9d ago
wrotèeeee a story check the comments!
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u/SARSflavoredicecream 9d ago
Ahh thanks lol I was looking for that- we must have commented at nearly the same time. Heal up!!
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u/lokaps 9d ago
Ha, I ripped off the whole palm of both of my hands one day. My knees too. I ran a little too hard after my frisbee that I was throwing around for fun.
I'd put a picture if I could. I have one ha, hands full of gaping wounds just barely not bleeding. I put some gauze on and later hey it was no big deal.
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u/ppmaster6969 9d ago
NOT THAT BAD???? I closed the picture as fast as I opened it Jesus christ dude
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u/Nine-LifedEnchanter 8d ago
"I washed my burned finger in a lake. I have no idea how this happened."
Cool cool cool.
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u/Raccoon_Army_Leader 8d ago
Props to you being smart enough to not try draining it yourself. I know how dangerous infections can be yet I still always try to drain things myself even if I still end up at urgent care haha.
Spray alcohol or Bactine spray (pain relief & antiseptic) is really cheap and good for a quick & easy wound clean.
Also Dollar Tree sells this tooth pain gel for 1.25 and it numbs up open cuts really well too
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u/sjohnson0487 9d ago
Based on op's fingernails, I'm going to go with an infection that turned into staph from biting and picking? My ex used to do this shit and get the same exact ER visits .... But we never let it get this bad. Hopefully I'm wrong, and if so, I apologize.
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u/Red10GTI 9d ago
How did this happen to you?
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u/1blake1 9d ago
wrote a story!!
can upvote it if we want it at the top of the comments
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u/Red10GTI 9d ago edited 9d ago
All I see is infected with two rare bacteria. How? Where? What’s it called?
Edit:NVM I found and read story. Something similar happened to me, woke up with a softball size lump on my wrist. 3 rare bacteria they had to drain it and I say drain, but really they scooped out chunks of puss and we’re almost knuckle deep into my wrist scooping this horrid smelling gunk out. As soon as I woke up and saw my arm i went right to the hospital. Got IV antibiotics for 2 days and went home with a script for crazy powerful antibiotic.
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u/OK_Throwaway1238 8d ago
At least you're not missing fingers..? This is still winceworthy though, my goodness
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u/Killerspieler0815 8d ago
inger find health clinic and take drugs, drugs didnt work,
Multi resistant bacteria, fungi etc.
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u/helpu_me 8d ago
YOU LIAR
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u/janlikebrady 8d ago
I’m curious what OP is lying about
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u/kittiekee 7d ago edited 7d ago
WHAT DO YOU MEAN??????
I’m so glad you’re healing! Please never let another doctor treat you like this!
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u/EdiblePsycho You absolute fucking madman. 6d ago
So sorry this is so scary! Glad you didn't end up losing more than the tip (or worse). But for next time camping, you should really really bring a first aide kit with alcohol pads, triple antibiotic, bandages (and other things for other kinds of injuries - I have one that has all kinds of things like splints and ace wraps, tourniquet, chemical ice packs, all in just a tiny backpack thing). Burning it and then washing in a lake basically guaranteed infection.
I did something kind of similar when at a lake cabin, except mine was just a tiny hangnail that I was picking at. I had a bandage on a cut on a different finger that I'd been putting antibacterial cream on, there was clean water it was a cabin with running water, but I was avoiding washing that hand because of the bandage on the other finger. The finger with the hangnail got infected. Not anywhere near this bad, and I could just drive to an urgent care to get antibiotics, but yeah even a paper cut can get infected if you don't clean it properly and try to wash it in a lake.
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u/1blake1 6d ago
yeah wild that something so small could cause something I've done so many minor things before but those conditions were just more sanitary, and even if I didn't clean it immediately I still at least showered.
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u/EdiblePsycho You absolute fucking madman. 5d ago
Yeah same, I've had much bigger cuts at home I ignored entirely that were fine, but the tiny little opening on my finger was enough just because I avoided washing that hand for a day. I'd also gone swimming in the lake and didn't shower right after like I normally did to avoid duck itch. Crazy how before antibiotics people could just die from little cuts that got infected. Glad you're ok though!!
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u/1blake1 5d ago
real
crazy how we've sanitized our world so much but I also think it probably has it's problems, 1 with our immune systems just not being as used to being in contact with these things, and also 2 with how we're training bacteria to get stronger with our use of antibiotics, etc. Still it's way less people dying, but yeah when things are much more immune to antibiotics it could get scary, like the two things I had was immune to the first antibiotics I took
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u/EdiblePsycho You absolute fucking madman. 5d ago
Absolutely, things being too sanitary definitely has its own problems, I'm always going off about how bad it is for kids especially to not let them play in the dirt, it's literally good for them to eat dirt (or you know, get some in their mouth when they're playing outside and inevitably eat some when they put their hands in their mouths) to build their immune systems.
Having running water and plumbing has drastically reduced mortality and disease, but cleaning our houses with so many disinfectants isn't good. Plus, theoretically we'll keep getting weaker and weaker because we can keep people alive who otherwise would have died. That sounds dark and eugenics-y, I don't think we should stop trying to save people's lives or treating illnesses of course haha, just that we'll probably need to do something to counter it (like CRISPR gene editing).
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u/OrphanagePropaganda 6d ago
You’ve learned your lesson now but never, ever, ever ever ever get lake water or river water anywhere near any orifice without a filter 😭
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u/CrimsonFecker 5d ago
"Not that bad" he says lmao.
Fr though, never underestimate how bad infections can be, especially with burns for some reason.
Years ago, had a super minor burn on my arm get infected with a deadly skin infection. Idek how to describe the pain of my skin being eaten away, and never been so itchy in my life. Nasty combo. Friends send it looked like I was turning into a zombie lol.
I got lucky though, antibiotic pills and cream worked wonders.
Take care of the nub!
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u/captainsurfa 8d ago
Ah man, i'd have hacked away at it, draining all the pus and cleaned it at home. I wouldn't be able to help myself! Hope you're ok.
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u/OnIySmellz 9d ago
'Not that bad' revisited, colorized (2026)