Bloody Blackthorn, but brilliant nurse

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Camelfarm

Well-Known Member
Had a good morning on Saturday and got a doe and kid but whilst gralloching on a hedge in the half-light managed to stick my left index finger joint with a blackthorn - by Sunday morning it was red hot, very swollen and unable to move, plus excrutiating pain. A quick trip to the local minor injuries unit yielded some antibiotics and advice to elevate and periodically soak in hot salt water - all much better now.

Just a timely reminder not to arse about with blackthorn - its nasty stuff, particularly when the splinter is over a joint.

The nurse practitioner who saw me was very interested in how it happened and mentioned how much she likes venison and game but can't really get it locally. She also keeps bees.

So later this week I should be delivering a bag of venison and returning with a large jar of honey.
Gawd bless the NHS

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bloody horrible things those thorns, they have had me a couple of times and hurt like hell, also love to infect you to top it off 🙄
 
Gamekeeper I know had to have his index finger amputated and large areas of flesh from his forearm removed due to a single black thorn causing an infection. He was hours away from losing his arm if not his life.

Never underestimate a simple thorn. If it goes bad seek medical attention very quickly.
 
mudman said:
Gamekeeper I know had to have his index finger amputated and large areas of flesh from his forearm removed due to a single black thorn causing an infection. He was hours away from losing his arm if not his life.

Never underestimate a simple thorn. If it goes bad seek medical attention very quickly.
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Good advice - my brother on the West Coast of Ireland got a thorn through his wellington and into his big toe about 20 years ago and it still gives him some trouble.
 
Good result with the swap 👍

Blackthorn is nasty stuff - remember as I kid going beating & getting on in the top of my head, hurt like hell. Remember to the pain of my Mum putting a hot poultice on it then squeezing to get the little bit out that’d broken off!! Followed by tcp on a bit of cotton wool - that stung a bit too 🤬
 
Used to do lots of electric line clearance, blackthorn, hawthorn, brambles and berberis were usually unsympathetic 😖
Still have several encapsuled thorn heads from 30+ yrs ago.
 
During the time Barbour wax coats were in a must have glory of its own, I pushed myself back into a blackthorn bush to avoid being caught out whilst pigeon shooting and this bloody blackthorn went through the barbour, through the furry lining through a jumper and 2 shirts and embedded itself under my shoulder blade and snapped off, week later it has to be teased out by the nurse with a scalpel in the local hospital and the gunk that come out from it.

I thought it was the size of a football like you do 🤣 apparently it had grown to the size of an acorn and left an hole in my back that size, that took quite a few weeks to heal up to what is now just a dent, they are terrible trees, certainly one that knows how to bite back, they nearly always go sceptic, must be something in the bark/ fibre in the point
 
Pyracantha is no better. I had one I fought every year. Usually looked like I had been wrestling with a tiger after I had shorn it. When shearing in NZ, the only way of dealing with legs full of gorse pricks was a long soak in the bath with several hands full of salt. Think the salt helped neutralize infection as well as lift the thorns out.
 
Last time I had a run in with Blackthorn I ended up a very fair representation of Jesus Christ after the scourging.
Totally worth it to get your hands on the king of stick shafts.
 
Overlay said:
I thought it was the size of a football like you do 🤣 apparently it had grown to the size of an acorn and left an hole in my back that size, that took quite a few weeks to heal up to what is now just a dent, they are terrible trees, certainly one that knows how to bite back, they nearly always go sceptic, must be something in the bark/ fibre in the point
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If you look at the thorn you will see a bloom((like a sort of dust) on it. That's the stuff that causes the problem. Dig em out straight away like my old lady always did, then applied some sort of magnesium paste to draw the bloom out. I had a rusty nail in my foot once, put some of that paste on under a plaster. When I took it off the paste was full of bits of rust, amazing stuff. Hydrogen peroxide is a good one to fizz out poison as well.
Used to use it on terriers when bitten.
 
I had a slow puncture that couldnt find down to ats tiny hole in the side wall tyre off and a very small piece of black thorn fell out £150 for a new tyre moral is dont drive to close to a hedge that has been recently cut
 
Used to fix my terriers the same way watered down syringe full in there mouths when mixing with mr fox 🦊 lot of sets in coal heaps or side of rail lines
Looked like old pitman white teeth & coal dust
Good on horses hoof for abbess fizzes on the dead flesh
 
Poxy B@#@#@#d things,l put a big one in the side of my kneecap going under a fence in Sept '19 on a Saturday.
It looked like a purple rugby sock by Tuesday morning when l went to the GP.
He told me off some for not going Monday,well l didn't expect Cellulitis and Strep infection.

This was Saturday and l was able to stand on it and bend my toes again.

Not fun.
 
Horrible stuff, I've had it in my hands a few times now. Once I thought I had got it out, then what must have been a few weeks later it flared up again, shooting pains all through my hand
 
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