I am sorry I am deliquent in posting my daily pictures. Internet problems, and I've been stung by a stingray. First, here are the pictures.
ANA RAQUEL FRANCO YARENY MONTOYA ARECELI MONTOYA
EL CARDÓN LAGUNA SAN IGNACIO
LEONARDO RAMIREZ MORALES SOFIA HIALI RAMIREZ MORALES
LA ESCUELITA LAGUNA SAN IGNACIO
GERARDO "JERRY" FREER AND FRIEND
LA FREIDERA LAGUNA SAN IGNACIO
A FEW EASY STEPS TO TREAT YOUR FOOT AFTER YOU HAVE BEEN STUNG BY A STINGRAY IN MEXICO WITHOUT DOCTORS OR NURSES, IF YOU ARE FORTUNATE TO BE ONLY BLEEDING AND NOT EXPERIENCING CHILLS, VOMITING, SUDDEN FAINTNESS, OR HAVING LOTS OF TROUBLE BREATHING (THEN YOU SHOULD GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM)
1a) Know that if you have been walking (rather than shuffling, which is what you are supposed to do, Jerry calls it the "Stingray Shuffle") through shallow warm waters you have almost definitely been stung by a stingray, though it may have felt like a shark just bit you very hard and though you may be bleeding profusely. If you weren't in so much pain and wondering who to go to, if it's major or minor or whether you will ever walk or run again, you would see that the actual cut bleeding place where the barbed stinger went in is very small and could definitely not be a shark bite.
1b) Tell someone or you yourself heat up enough boiling hot water to fill a bucket or tub that will cover your cut and foot. It is important to do this now, as opposed to later. I will tell you why in twenty minutes.
2) Run or squeeze or have someone else squeeze as much blood out of the sting as possible, as soon as possible, until it seems like there is no blood left. Though this may hurt and feel a bit contrary to the task at hand, it is GOOD if you are bleeding, because the blood is getting venom out, and you must capitalize by squeeze squeeze squeezing that blood out because the venom can rocket throughout your whole body and go to your head and elsewhere, and you need to get as much of the stingray's venom out as possible. The venom won't mess you up if you squeeze that shiznit out!
3a) Heat some limes/ roast some limes close to an open flame, when they are very hot, cut them, and for twenty minutes or so squeeze a bit of lime juice over the cut, and then rub the cut with the piping hot lime until the lime is not so hot anymore. This disinfects, continues to suck out venom, and actually feels good mostly.
3b) While the lime action is happening, take the water off the heater/boiler, put it in the bucket and let it start to cool.
4) After you're done with your limes, your foot is probably still going to hurt like hell, you may have cried, you may have not cried, you may have almost cried just because the sight of another young man, a fisherman named Octaviano, heating limes and rubbing them confidently on your foot combined with the sound of another young man, Jerry an ex- bullfighter, saying things like "That's what killed Steve Irwin, man," is just too overwhelmingly everything for words. Any which way you slice it, it's all good. You are probably going to be nearly pain free in about an hour or so. What you need to do now is put your foot into that hot water. And here is the thing, you need to put your foot in water
that is as hot as you can possibly stand, which is why at the beginning I said to start heating it, because hopefully by now it's cooled enough so you can put your foot in it. Now of course you don't want to give your foot a third degree burn, but the hotter the water is, the better it is going to feel I am telling you.
5) Keep your foot in that water for about 45 minutes or so and witness a sudden change in life pain weather you never thought possible. Here is why...
"Because stingray venoms are composed of heat-labile proteins, doing this will alter the tertiary structure of the polypetide protein molecule by denaturing and thereby deactivating the poison. "
-from WikiHow, How To Treat A Stingray Sting, Multiple Authors
Damn. In the States I'd say that is pretty fucking cool. In Baja, CHINGADERA. You will most likely be nearly pain free after you take your foot out of that water. BOOM.
