about a week ago, i had an ovation guitar amp headpiece preamp come in.
while i was wrangling it apart to see what was wrong with it, i squished my finger a little bit. in doing so. a couple hours later, where i'd squished it and broke the skin slightly on one of them sharp solder blobs sticking out of the bottom side of the circuit board,
i had a little "zit" appear there a couple hours later.
by the next morning, it was a HUGE zit. by the end of the day, they started popping up all over the place. went to the dr, got it treated, probable mrsa.
got the results in. definite mrsa. from breaking the skin messing with an old circuit, a barely perceptible poke/scratch.
a week later on multiple antibiotics, this is where i'm left half way thru treatment.
scary shit for a guitar player. i may still be able to avoid 10days on iv antibiotics, if it keeps improving. its about 1/3rd the area it was, and 90% of the swelling is gone...
(https://i.postimg.cc/RN9kQZ4d/mrsa.png) (https://postimg.cc/RN9kQZ4d)
obviously, lead etc isn't great for us, but remember please to WASH YOUR HANDS when done tinkering, cuz ya never know what environment old gear has been in, and what it may contain.
so far, i am lucky. don't let this happen to you!
but if it does? get to a dr right away, this shit can KILL you dead.
a PSA from a dumbass who never worried about this shit.... til now
Glad it's improving. But if it starts growing a white beard, WORRY! :icon_wink:
Holy crap dude, get well! That reminds me of when I put a pulp hook thru my arm! Just from a dirty solder blob???
A lot of barn finds....mice pee on everything....ack...
Yikes :icon_eek: Glad you're okay man, hope it goes back to normal quickly. After years of being told to wash my hands after soldering (and use a fume extractor, and keep the workplace tidy, etc. ::)) you may have just scared me into it!
it's 1/3rd the size it was yesterday, and about 90% bigger than the original "zit". it WAS 1/2 way to my knuckle 3 days ago.
huge improvement.
was sick as a dog for a couple days too.
yeah... from a sharp solder blob, sticking out of the bottom of a board while i was finessing the chassis out of an almost tuck-n-roll kinda cabinet, just kinda barely caught it with the hand kinda thing, and it got between my finger and the cabinet, not even enough to really hurt. felt slightly bruised. you know the drill. crazy. tiny little hole that didn't even bleed!
i bet it is indeed from barn finds and old estates and crap, and mice and bugs that get into all kindsa stuff.
i'm lucky i didn't get this before, with all the old unwanted organs i parted over the years that sat in garages and dank basements and barns and crap for years. hell, i used to go to the dump to swipe electronics outta their electronics scrap heap and get stuff from the swap shed.
so.. be careful.
and thanks for the good wishes.
mark, when it winked at me, i poked its eyeball out :icon_twisted:
:icon_eek:
:o
:-X
::)
8)
all i need, a mini me like what happened to bruce campbell in evil dead ;) lol
i'm gonna keep a pump-bottle of that hand sanitizer stuff on my bench i think from now on.
Jeez man that was bad bollocks Jimmy. just goes to show what shit is lurking and ready to mess with ya life. Take care and recovery soon.
Quote from: pinkjimiphoton on February 06, 2019, 02:38:46 PMwhen it winked at me, i poked its eyeball out :icon_twisted:
(https://i.giphy.com/media/DsdVe5jhHWNC8/giphy.webp)
(https://www.writeups.org/wp-content/uploads/Ash-Evil-Dead-Bruce-Campbell-c.jpg)
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UOOGD4DLy-0/maxresdefault.jpg)
Quoteso far, i am lucky. don't let this happen to you!
but if it does? get to a dr right away, this shit can KILL you dead.
You mentioned you had an infected finger in the other thread but I didn't realize you did it on that unit.
When the red spreads you know you could have some trouble.
Those of us who collect antique radios live in fear of hanta virus since mice tend to live among things in storage. I hadn't heard of mrsa before this and wonder how I ever avoided it. Hope for a swift recovery!
Wow, that is spooky. Glad you are getting better.
guy I work with got pricked en mass by a computer motherboard. Every single puncture got infected
nasty... gross..
Get better Jimi!
wtf!! that's called a "superbug" round these parts, and hospital wards are closed off because of it. glad you got seen to quickly, Jimi.
...and i thought the only thing to be phobic about with music electronics repairs was athlete's foot. lol
took 6 days to get this far. tonite, when i changed the dressing, most of the redness is finally gone. i feel incredibly lucky, my son gotta mrsa infection in his hand at work <he's a welder in maryland> and almost lost his hand over it. 200 g worth of surgery later, they saved the hand, but the function is seriously impaired.
i sent a pic to my "family dr"... the one who told me it looked like nothing. sumbitch said, well, jerry garcia only needed 9 fingers.
i was like... bitch.... wrong freekin hand!! lol
its a good thing he's one of my best friends, cuz right now he deserves a quick rochambeau. lol
thanks guys.
(https://thumbs.gfycat.com/ThatUnimportantElephant.webp)
but, i feel MUCH better NOW!!
Crikey. I had no idea this pedal lark was so freakin' dangerous! :icon_eek:
.
.
.
BTW, who the hell is "Mrs A"? I know who "Mrs B" is... :icon_wink:
Hope you make it through the antibiotics OK, Jim. I've been fighting mrsa infections in my feet for going on two years now. I've gotten to the point where my digestive system can hardly stand antibiotics. Lotsa fun!
MRSA from a amp....wtf. hope you get better soon dude.
Hope you are better now.
QuoteMRSA from a amp....wtf. hope you get better soon dude.
Solid State amp, most likely :)
mac
Quote from: pinkjimiphoton on February 06, 2019, 09:17:58 PM
but, i feel MUCH better NOW!!
I can't stop looking at John Astins teeth, now. thanks, jimi. also, get well soon.
Best wishes for a full recovery. That is really scary.
It's not just a soldering issue, nor just a barn-find or storage-unit issue. MRSA - methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus - is found everywhere, even commonly on human skin. See https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/understanding-mrsa#1 (https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/understanding-mrsa#1)
I found it scary to think that it's possible to get an active MRSA infection from any skin break if the puncturing object simply carries the bug into the cut from the outside of my skin. I saw a news article recently noting that a golfer was losing a leg to MRSA after bumping into a cactus plant that stuck into his leg. Not exactly a dust-covered dirty object.
The older I get, the more I see the wisdom in rapid washing and disinfection of any skin break. Purell is our friend. So is betadine.
It's kinda doubtful that you picked up MRSA bacteria from the guts of an old amplifier. Nomally it won't survive outside of the body for more than a month. The bacteria was probably already on your hands or clothes or something else that you were in contact with. When you nicked your finger on the solder joint you gave it a backstage pass to your blood stream. :P
Be glad you didn't pick up Necrotizing Fasciitis or more commonly referred to as the Flesh-Eating Disease!!! :o No fun Rockin with a bloody rotting stump! :o
thanks dan,
man, that sucks!!
the hand seems to be clearing up, belly and chest too, but the one on my knee seems if anything to be getting worse.
if its not better tomorrow, i gotta go back to the hospital to be evaluated for iv antibiotics.
i gotta gig tonite. should be interesting. i've already got to the point i have some facility as a three finger guitarist iol...
i just want this shit done.
i totally feel for ya on the belly and antibiotics. get better soon brother!!! <3
I've never seen one, but there's definitely some kind of biting bug that lurks in old electrical equipment. I very often get a single insect bite near a knuckle after reaching into something that hasn't been opened for a while. Bite mark & discomfort disappears after a day.
Jimi's infection is on a whole other level. Hope it gets better soon.
yeah, back when i could still see, i could see 'em sometimes.. little red specks that would move around.
tiny spiders sometimes, too.
but this one's different. i have a feeling its not gonna go as easy as hoped. its clearing, leaving a lot of nasty dead stuff behind tho. makes me suspect any little red spot i see.
every day on this side of the dirt is a good one. and its always a good day to die. ;)
so i figure the odds be, like, 50-50 at my age. if it does not kill me, it will make me strong.
yeah,, right...
thanks for the well wishes bro
Quote from: J0K3RX on February 07, 2019, 11:22:21 AM
Be glad you didn't pick up Necrotizing Fasciitis or more commonly referred to as the Flesh-Eating Disease!!! :o No fun Rockin with a bloody rotting stump! :o
Necrotizing Fasciitis
Metal band name!
well, knock on wood, so far have dodged most of the necrotizing shit. it DID kill a lot of tissue on the finger tho
today, its mostly healed now, but i had to debride it, several layers worth last nite.
most of the area thats still red is where its healed back shut again, a lot of the skin will end up peeling off like bad sunburn.
its pretty nasty.
i used kinesio tape to keep the bandage on and clean, and it gives a subtle "squish" that helps it drain. that definitely helped.
i can bend it today, so i will be gigging tonite.
the show must go on, n all that. 5 more days of antibiotics as of today, both oral and topical.
i agree joker, probably not from the amp, probably already on the skin, tho the only variable changed in my environment, really, was the unit. i've been working in the same place with the same crap for years now. but it could have been on my skin, on the unit, random floozy or band-aid, pretty much anywhere. staph can live for a while. they can encapsulate, and survive in arid and harsh conditions
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC415010/
hey, beavis! i got me some pink finger!!
quick, scroll by, don't even look!!
(https://i.postimg.cc/tZzDvttg/pinkfinger.png) (https://postimg.cc/tZzDvttg)
it looks, umm.... "moist"er cuzz i pulled off the bandage to re-dress it. it looks much better after a couple minutes exposure to air.
gonna end up losing a good bit of skin most of the way to the knuckle tho. hopefully it will heal over time.
anyways,. enough grossing out everyone for today! sorry!
Quote from: pinkjimiphoton on February 07, 2019, 03:03:25 PM
quick, scroll by, don't even look!!
Since I know you will post more gross pix, you should know this trick.
Hack the PostImg code so instead of a thumbnail (!) image (IMG tags) it shows a text warning.
change:
[url=https://postimg.cc/tZzDvttg][img]https://i.postimg.cc/tZzDvttg/pinkfinger.png[/img][/url]
to:
[url=https://postimg.cc/tZzDvttg]Gross picture! Don't click![/url]Then you get:
Gross picture! Don't click! (https://postimg.cc/tZzDvttg)
thanks for the tip, paul!
now... WASH YOUR HANDS!!!
and don't forget to floss your mind ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmcYTShN4Fk
in a little white box that i can sell up town...
Wait what?? People don't wash their hands after working with pedals and the chems that comes with it? Maybe we are just super obsessed with washing our hands here in Sweden but I would never dream of eating food or touching stuff around the house with traces of solder, old board gunk or stuff like that on my hands. God only knows what cheap ass resistors from Asia has been dipped in / or lack of washing at the minimum wage factories.
I hope your finger have a swift recovery, Jimi.
lol... here i'm often multitasking. on the phone with peeps doing support, or building/repairing something, burning something one way or another, etc... not washing my hands was indeed stupid as hell. sometimes ya get so damn busy ya forget stupidly simple, yet important stuff...
ya only have to really worry if ya cut yourself i guess. regardless, keepin hand sanitizer handy.
+1 on who knows what that stuff gets on it!!
thanks for the well wishes. hopefully by next week it will be much better.