It’s been a while since I dealt with maggots, but an experience I had this week reminded me why maggots feature so highly on the gross-o-meter. Quite a few maggot stories were submitted by readers in our recent Cringeworthy Competition also, so it appears I’m not alone in dealing with this crazy phenomenon.

The Scenario:

Elderly guy, some social issues, lives alone. Found on the floor out in a shed, unsure exactly how long he had been there. Brought into emergency by the ambulance guys, legs wrapped up in old towels.

Prior to my taking over his care, he had spent some hour+ in the shower with nursing staff trying to rid him of the incredible smells that were emanating over the entire department, with minimal success.

As I entered the bay where the man was lying, I could see some flickering movements on the floor by some of the miniature, writhing escapees – obviously they could sense what was to come & were desperate to make a break for it.

Now I’m pretty good at dealing with noxious gases and crazy hospital smells, however when I pulled back the sheets I could almost feel a gag coming on – not only did he have an ulcerated wound the size of his fist in his lower leg with tibia + tendons exposed, but inside this wound were literally hundreds of fat, writhing maggots. This wound was creating some crazy, off the chart smells that caused several people to collapse unconscious (nearly!)

Ouch!

The crazy thing was, he was quite oblivious to the entire situation – no pain, no comprehension of how many people he had taken out with the crazy death smells.

Operation Maggot-Removal:

So, armed with some hydrogen peroxide 3%, some irrigation fluid and forceps, I spent about an hour removing as many of the maggots from his leg wound as possible, flushing out the wound as best as I could. The situation was made a hundred times more complex as the maggots, keen to make their escape, were tunneling up inside the man’s leg and burying underneath the exposed tibia bone. Joy!

Crazy thing was, after I thought I was finished, I discovered a new stash of maggots in between his big toe & 1st toe (a cluster of like 30), then maggots between each of his other toes on that leg. The skin was kind of like when you go swimming for like a week or two straight, wrinkle toes etc, and there were little sinus areas where the maggots had buried in & were eating flesh.

So then I tackled the feet – I’m not quite sure I got them all, but I would estimate that in the leg wound & feet there were between 150 – 200 maggots all up. Good times!

Needless to say the smell got a lot better after the maggots were out & the wounds were flushed out & covered, and I strode out of the room with a gleam in my eye and some new founded respect – that day, I was….

The Maggot Whisperer…..

Got any maggot stories? Share them by commenting below

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Since my early teens I’ve suffered from a fairly mild dose of asthma, which improved greatly after moving from a high pollen area to a coastal zone.

After having allergy tests, I discovered that the things I’m most sensitive to are cat dander, dust mite and some particular grasses. Interestingly enough, I still have a cat in the house, and obviously have to mow from time to time, so I still have a moderate exposure to allergens! These tend to cause flare ups in allergic responses such as itchy eyes and sneezing though, and don’t tend to make me wheezy.

Exposure and Triggers

I’ve often wondered about other ways to minimise exposure. In the case of dust mite, it has been suggested to change from carpets to floor boards. Seriously, not going to happen! Maybe it depends more on how severe your asthma symptoms are as to the extent to which people go to minimise exposure to triggers.

I’m reminded of a recent lady who brought her daughter in, quite wheezy, and explained that the house was full of mould and damp wallpaper, but there was nothing they could do about it. Hmmmmm. Now I’d have to suggest that in this particular case, moving house is in order!

But I digress. Emergency departments treat asthmatics very, very frequently, with varying degrees of problems that range from a simple cough to near complete airway closure. In fact, according to the National Asthma Council, the prevalence of asthma in Australia is relatively high by international standards, with 14 – 16% of children (one in six) and 10 – 12% of adults (one in nine) being affected. Additionally, there is a strong link between asthma and allergy – more than 80% of people with asthma have evidence of allergic sensitisation.

I’ve often wondered about use of other methods, such as air purifiers in helping with reducing symptoms of asthma. Have any of you tried these or other methods? (You can find the profile of EcoQuest here, a company who makes air purifiers). I guess for me personally my symptoms are not severe enough to warrant any further preventative intervention, but for many it is probably worth trying.

What are your experiences with use of preventors to minimise allergic or asthmatic flare ups? Any things that you have found to work better than others?

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No, in case you’re wondering this is not a post that dictates the complications, studies the consequences or examines incidences of smoking and airway disease.

This is merely an observation.

The smoking culture continues to run wild. The tax benefits and money generated, social aspects, addictions and a whole host of other complicated issues have resulted in smoking remaining popular, still sucking at people’s wallets and lungs. Walking through the Queen St. Mall in Brisbane is hard to do without copping mouthfuls of air so thick with smoke you can carve it up with a knife.

I’ve been thinking of late that a big turn-off for me is seeing people with end-stage respiratory disease, emphysema patients and those with chronic airway disease. Struggling for a breath all day everyday must be one of the hardest things to live with.

And a large, large, large percentage of these patients were former smokers, smoked for many years OR are STILL smoking (how many people gasping for breath and hooked up to oxygen have you heard asking if they can just go have a quick smoke? It’s happened repeatedly to me!)

Throw in:

• some bleeding gums or mouth ulcers
• the occasional trachy or voice box removal
• full use of accessory muscles and one word answers

…and there you have some fairly good incentive not to smoke. But you have to see it with your own eyes to believe it. Because smoking is cool, isn’t it?

Of course this doesn’t solve the answer to the question “how to show this image to the rest of the world”, in particular kids at school, teens.

Campaigns of late have tried to show this image by taking photo’s and sticking them to the sides of cigarette packages, with labels like “Smoking Kills”. Initially I thought this would be a good deterrent, but now I realise that those images are not moving, struggling, smelling bad, fighting for life like the people who are long-term smokers are.

Thoughts?

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