VOL. 36 • ISS. 18

56’ High Speed Stable Catamaran Halibut • Stripers • Rockcod

Captain Quang Vo

3508

I decided to beat the brutal Sacramento Valley heat with a midsummer vacation to the beach the last week of July. Courtesy of a friend, we scored a great furnished pad in Long Beach to call home for a week, so we packed up the kids, threw some shorts and t-shirts in a bag, and headed down I-5 with the goal of getting as much sun and ocean waves as we possibly could in seven days.

After conquering the relentless Los Angeles

evening commute, we rolled into our vacation home in the late afternoon. The skies were clear as a cool ocean breeze whisked thru our place. Highs that day were a very comfortable 72 degrees, a far cry from the 107 back at home. Our beach-bum plans were in full effect.

After breakfast the next morning, we suited up in swim suits and flip flops and lathered the kids in sunscreen. As we cruised down 101 towards Bolsa Chica beach, the surf was high and the beaches were only sparsely occupied with a few die-hard surfers and an occasional family sprawled out for a day in the sun. We basically had it to ourselves.

It only took a couple of minutes to lay out the blanket, cooler, and chairs to stake our claim in the sand, and we were off, into the cool water. The surf was perfect for boogey boarding, so after a couple of short

Stingrays conceal a sharp, serrated stinger near the base of their tail. The barbs on the stinger often break off in flesh. A membrane coating the stinger contains a strong toxin that affects the nervous system.

Photo by WES WARD, Fish Sniffer Staff..

GOLDENEYE 2000

Call for CRAB COMBOS!

Departs Daily from The Berkeley Marina www. goldeneye2000. com RESERVATIONS: 510-610-0888

Complimentary Barbeque!

Now Fishing STURGEON & BASS out of Martinez Marina New 34’ Catamaran hull- Fast- Comfortable- Seaworthy with Full Galley- complimentary Barbeque!

www. captainhooksportfishing. net

runs to show the boys the basics, I headed out about 30 yards to catch the big rollers.

Half way thru my third or fourth ride on the 6 foot waves, I felt a sharp piercing in my left ankle that forced me to roll off the board. As I my feet touched the soft bottom about 2 feet beneath the water, I felt another, much more piercing pain in the bottom of my left foot.

Immediately, I knew I stepped on something, and put all my energy on getting back to our blanket on the beach to examine the damage. Unfortunately, I couldn’ t make it that far. Within 30 seconds of the initial pain, my left leg began to burn and cramp up. I felt an intense pain shooting thru my hip, greatly hindering my ability to crawl out of the waves.

As I rolled on to shore like a beached whale, my wife and kids quickly informed me I was bleeding and didn’ t look so good. A lifeguard stationed a few feet from our claim, knew right away that I had been stung by a stingray and instructed me go to the triage station about a ¼ mile down the beach.

By this time, the pain in my left side was far beyond anything I had ever experienced in my life. I simply could not move my leg. It felt as if it was on fire from the inside.

I stumbled into to the First Aid office and collapsed into a folding chair nearly losing consciousness. A young man in the triage area immediately placed a bucket of near boiling water at my feet and placed my bleeding leg into it. The sting of the hot water was almost pleasant compared to the fire in my leg.

As I gained my breath and scanned my surroundings, I realized that there were at least eight to ten other people in the room, all with a foot in a bucket like myself. Some one in the room muttered something to the effect of,“ he got it good.” Someone else leaned over to me and reassuringly stated,“ it will get better very soon.”

Over the next 90 minutes, my pain subsided as my foot and ankle swelled. Every few minutes, new face would stumble into the room, writhing in pain as a familiar face recovered enough to walk

3426

out with minimal pain. All of us victims of stingray stings, including a couple of lifeguards who went into the waves.

Prior to this experience, I knew little about the potent weapon stingrays conceal at the base of their tails. The stinger itself is a sharp, serrated spear designed to break off after piercing flesh.

As if that wasn’ t enough, it is also coated in a mucus material that contains a very strong neuro-toxin that is capable of paralyzing large predators. Unfortunately for me, I received a double dose of the toxin. Once from the swipe on the calf, and once

Cortisone injections help relieve pain and minimize swelling and inflammation in a specific area.

Photo by WES WARD, Fish Sniffer Staff..

3X MUSTAD HOOK

REAL FISH IMAGE PRINT

WELDED RING

FOR MORE INFO VISIT: or call:

Aug. 18- Sept. 1, 2017

WIRED THROUGH RIGGING

HEAVY DUTY SPLIT RING

CHIP & PEEL RESISTANT UV COATED

WWW. AHIUSA. COM 1-866-264-1562 follow us

29

Closely related to sharks, stingrays can vary in size from 18” to nearly 7’. They frequent shallow water, concealing themselves by partially burying themselves in the sand.

Photo by WES WARD, Fish Sniffer Staff. from the puncture in the foot. The toxin dissolves quickly in hot water, hence the bucket treatment.

Within two hours of being stung, I was no longer in pain. Aside from a ¼” puncture on the ball of my foot and severe swelling, I was in pretty good shape. That evening, I removed two small pieces of the stinger from my foot, and felt positive that the worst was behind me. The family and I spent the next six days living the beach bum life as planned.

Two days after returning home from our trip, I began to experience severe cramps in the arch of my left foot. Two of my toes would go numb during the cramps, and would feel as if they were asleep for hours at a time.

An internet search of similar stings depicted horror stories of remnants of stingray stingers causing severe nerve damage. Some cases led to amputation of toes and feet. I’ m not one to jump immediately to worst case scenario, but

was definitely inclined to seek professional medical treatment.

I made an appointment with my primary physician about 10 days after the original sting. By this point, my toes had been asleep continuously for days, and the bottom of my foot was swollen considerably, affecting my ability to walk.

The doc prescribed an antibiotic, and referred me to a pediatrist. Luckily, the pediatrist was from Hawaii and was well versed in stingray stings. He ordered an MRI to see if there was any portion of the stinger still in my foot and to examine the muscle and nerve structure.

The initial prognosis was that the stinger, which entered the ball of my foot and nearly exited between my second and third toes had severed large nerve that runs across the foot.

The MRI confirmed the doctor’ s evaluation. The stinger not only punctured the nerve, but also severed a small muscle that keeps the toes in line with the foot. On the positive, there was no evidence that any of the stinger was still embedded in the foot, eliminating the need for surgery.

As of today, almost two months after the sting, I have received cortisone injections to control the swelling, but still have considerable nerve damage and scarring of the tissue between the toes. The cramps are gone, but I still have little or no feeling in my inflicted toes. Time will tell if the nerve will heal enough for me to regain feeling in my toes.

I’ m not sure what the moral is here, or if there is a lesson to be learned from a freak accident, but if you find yourself surrounded by stingrays in the surf, try not to step on them.