Stung by Sting Ray

My wife and I had arrived in RP around 11:00 am Saturday May 30th 2008. Beautiful day!. We were both looking forward to a relaxing weekend on the beach in front of Las Palomas where we own a condo. Around 2:00, after a few drinks, we built up the courage to go parasailing. Upon our return, the tide was very low, the boat dropped us off as close to shore as possible. I jump into the water - knee high, took a few steps and boom - the pain was horrible. First I thought I had cut my foot on the submerged rocks, then I though maybe a jelly fish had stung me. I booked it back to my lounge chair on the beach, sat down to investigate the damage to my foot - blood was gushing out and the pain had intensified - worst pain I have ever felt - excruciating pain. By looking at the entry wound I guessed it was a Stingray.

Within a few minutes the Las Palomas security showed up and they called the paramedics. The paramedics were there in about 5 minutes. Very professional. Knew exactly what to do. They clean the wound, told me to let it bleed, applied iodine as a disinfectant and shot my foot with Novocain to reduce the pain.

My wife and I were aware of possibility of sting ray stings and jelly fish stings. We had prepared a first aid kit - as a just in case necessity. We had the instructions on how to care for the wound and what to expect.

Upon return to our condo, I soaked my foot in hot water - very hot - as hot as I could stand for 90 minutes. This worked beautifully - much better than the Novocain. During that time the wound bleed. I changed the water several times.

After the soak the bleeding subsided, I applied a topical antibiotic and a gauze bandage- which had to be change a few time during the night.

The wound seemed to be healing well for 5 days but on the sixth it started to reddened and became swollen. A trip to the urgent care on sunday confirmed it had become infected.

I had an xray taken - as recommended - no barb had been left in my foot.

I am thankful that I was the first to have been stung in our family. I would not of wanted my daughter and wife or parents to have the first experience with the sting. It was very, very painful. Now we now what to expect.

I highly recommend that you prepare a first ad kit to include treatment instructions, topical antibiotics, gauze, and fabric bandages. I found the fabric bandages work the best. I also recommend having a list of recommended doctors in Rocky Point - this is one list we did not have, and it would have come in useful. Third, I recommend that you visit your personal doctor immediately after returning to the states and request an xray to be sure no barb or venom sack was left in the wound. Lastly, watch out for signs of infection. Saltwater marine life do harbor harmful bacteria that can cause serious infections.

So that’s my story - by the way the Parasailing trip was wonderful.