crabcake
But wait, there's more...
I know some would say it's about time 
, but I'm concerned that I might have tetanus/lockjaw. I don't know when my last booster was, but I'm sure I had one at some point while I was in the military, but I got out 10 years ago, and don't know if I've had one since.
Yesterday, we were out working in the yard, and my arm brushed against a metal piece of fence, which put a good 9" scratch down my arm. It didn't go really deep -- only enough to have a little blood along the scratch -- but it did cut the skin, nonetheless. I washed it several times -- immediately after it happened and throughout the day -- as we were working in the yard from about 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The scratch happened around 10:30.
Around 8:30 or 9 last night, I started noticing that the left side of my jaw (at the joint) was feeling sore, and it's still sore this morning. I didn't do anything otherwise that would have hurt my jaw yesterday (minds out of the gutter, please
) so I can only wonder if it's related to this scratch. I looked on WebMD, and they said symptoms would start to show anywhere from a day to 14 days. Otherwise, I'm sore this morning (e.g. my back aches a little) but I'm chalking that up to the amount of work I did yesterday.
Are there other symptoms (e.g., funny marks on the skin) that would also show in connection with tetanus? I plan to call my doctor tomorrow to see if she did a tetanus booster when I had my physical last year ... I just don't remember ... and if not, and this pain in my jaw continues, I'll go in to have it checked out. Just curious in the mean time if there are other things I should be looking for. :shrug:
, but I'm concerned that I might have tetanus/lockjaw. I don't know when my last booster was, but I'm sure I had one at some point while I was in the military, but I got out 10 years ago, and don't know if I've had one since. Yesterday, we were out working in the yard, and my arm brushed against a metal piece of fence, which put a good 9" scratch down my arm. It didn't go really deep -- only enough to have a little blood along the scratch -- but it did cut the skin, nonetheless. I washed it several times -- immediately after it happened and throughout the day -- as we were working in the yard from about 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The scratch happened around 10:30.
Around 8:30 or 9 last night, I started noticing that the left side of my jaw (at the joint) was feeling sore, and it's still sore this morning. I didn't do anything otherwise that would have hurt my jaw yesterday (minds out of the gutter, please
) so I can only wonder if it's related to this scratch. I looked on WebMD, and they said symptoms would start to show anywhere from a day to 14 days. Otherwise, I'm sore this morning (e.g. my back aches a little) but I'm chalking that up to the amount of work I did yesterday. Are there other symptoms (e.g., funny marks on the skin) that would also show in connection with tetanus? I plan to call my doctor tomorrow to see if she did a tetanus booster when I had my physical last year ... I just don't remember ... and if not, and this pain in my jaw continues, I'll go in to have it checked out. Just curious in the mean time if there are other things I should be looking for. :shrug:
