DIY Surgery

[McKenna]

That's class, EL!

I swear by tea tree oil for most things. I'll have to try lavendar oil.

My family uses "bag balm". I've heard it called udder salve, too. It's the stuff you use on a cow's udders to keep them soft and not chapped. My mom used that stuff for diaper rash to cuts and burns (it's antibiotic).

I grew up on a farm. (sorta). We were always performing minor surgery either on the animals or on each other.

I once pulled a whole passel of cactus tines from my brother's thigh after he did a cartwheel off his mountain bike into a patch of prickly pear (not on purpose).

Similarly, my mom pulled a passel of cactus tines from my hand after I had slipped and fallen while hiking into a patch of prickly pear.

I once lanced, then "popped" a BB out of my cat's thigh (popped it like a zit).

Ack, I can't think of more at the moment, maybe because it didn't seem abnormal at the time. About the only thing we didn't mess with was tetanus; if one of us stepped on a rusty nail or what have you, we always went to the doc for a tetaus shot.

 

[impressive]

Due to my son's medical issues, I've done a wide variety of "procedures" here at home.

Of course, I also threaten the hypochondriac diva child with wicked forms of medical torture in response to her complaints. Lately, though, I get the best results with Mojo:

http://www.alessiabrio.com/images/MoJo.jpg

... with which I replace the label on the biggest bottle of chewable Vitamin C I can find.

 

[buxxxom]

Mostly just the run of the mill splinter removal, loose tooth pulling, tick disposal, etc. Once, though, my hubby cut himself deep enough to need stitches. He didn't want to go to the ER and wait, so he started suturing himself. He got out a needle, thread, alcohol, anti-bacterial cream, cleaned things well and started sewing while I watched. Being the perfectionist that I am, I noticed that his stitches were a little crooked and convinced him to let me finish. Mine were much straighter. Removed some more stitches from a relative who, again, didn't want to waste time to go to the doctor's office. I'm not squeamish at all, I'd attempt most anything.

 

[SensualCealy]

Anyone who has elderly parents likely had lots of things done to them as a child. Once my dad used kerosene to douce lice from my brothers head!

We were always stepping on nails so my mom would at the begining of the year write the date of all 4 of our tetnis shots on the calendar to be on the safe side. This was before we had those handy shot cards that kept track of shots.

My mom had skin grafting done when I was about 8, so when the scabs came up, you had to soak them in alcohol or peroxide, cant remember which, then use tweezers to pull them off. Yup that was my job! YUCK!

I stabbed myself in the belly by accident with a knife trying to cut a piece of plastic, so since Id been to the drs often enough for small cuts, I took a piece of hockey tape, the stuff with the thread in it, and taped it closed, Im still alive!

Dad was always making whiskey drinks for us when we had a cold, or if he had rum, it was rum drinks, usually heated up with lemon and honey, Hot Toddy's I think they are called.

Oh and mustard plasters- they are great! NOT when you use straight dry mustard!!! My mom was an idiot at times!
C

 

[christabelll]

Hell - we had an Army Field Surgery Kit at Home...complete with lidocaine and morphine.
Between my step day and My Mom (Who stitched us all on occasion) we rarely went to the doctor -

I remember cutting the side of my foot open on broken glass in the garbage as I was taking it to the street... it was something like 3 inches long...
She was mad as hell that I woke her up - but once she understood that I wasn't doing just because - she propped my foot - stuck it full of 'caine then proceeded to sew it shut. Phew that was awful! and amazing...

The only time we went to Docs was for Pneumonia and Broken Bones (of which I was the champion....)

So no you're not a freaky family - we back woods country folk transplanted to the city tend to be self helpers to the Nth degree....

 

[buxxxom]

Dad was always making whiskey drinks for us when we had a cold, or if he had rum, it was rum drinks, usually heated up with lemon and honey, Hot Toddy's I think they are called.

This reminds me of the "medicine" given to me by my grandmother for coughs and colds. It was made of whiskey, honey, and lemon. I can't remember if it worked for coughs, it's likely it just made me very sleepy.

 

[Guest]

A kid in my highschool, who's dad was a doc, had his tonsils removed in his kitchen.

I remember reading of a Doc in a rural part of the country in the early 1800's, the only one for miles around, who took out his own appendix using mirrors.

 

[English Lady]

Due to my son's medical issues, I've done a wide variety of "procedures" here at home.

Of course, I also threaten the hypochondriac diva child with wicked forms of medical torture in response to her complaints. Lately, though, I get the best results with Mojo:

http://www.alessiabrio.com/images/MoJo.jpg

... with which I replace the label on the biggest bottle of chewable Vitamin C I can find.

Oooh, good idea I need some of these

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Little known fact : I worked my way through college as a Veterinary Assistant. Over the years I've sewn myself up on two occasions. Once out in the woods with a needle and fishing line.

Pain is 90% fear of being hurt.

 

[neonlyte]

I'm curious.

What dodgy medical procedures have been carried out from the non-sterile, yet comfortable setting of your home?

I just got a tick off the area of skin next to my dad's belly button with a burning cigarette.

A while back my mum got a gout-related lump on the side of one of her toes. She'd been to the doctor once about it, and he just lanced it open and squeezed all the pus out. So I repeated the procedure for her when she was watching Midsummer Murders on the TV. Apparently I did a much better job than the doctor, too.

When I was about 14 my mum pulled one of my teeth. It was a back one and she ended up having to use a pair of pliers from the toolbox.

So does this kind of thing go on in homes across the length and breadth of the world, or do I just come from a family of freaks?

Do please watch out for any change in your Dad, particularly rash or flu like symptoms. Some ticks carry Lyme disease.

I've given up 'home proceedures' since being assigned my own parking space at my GP's though I still administer yoghurt to the SO to help relieve her ocassional itching (and mine).

 

[McKenna]

...though I still administer yoghurt to the SO to help relieve her ocassional itching (and mine).

Which reminds me, yogurt is great for <cough> yeast infections ( ) and sunburn.

 

[neonlyte]

Which reminds me, yogurt is great for <cough> yeast infections ( ) and sunburn.

Absolutely... and best administered <cough> orally

 

[SeaCat]

LOLOLOLOL

Oh the medical procedures I have done or had done to me at home could fill books.

Cuts sewn up, nails pulled out of feet, fish hooks removed. Burns treated and broken bones set.

I still treat most of my injuries myself.

Cat

 

[jomar]

Cool stories, but I'm a bit disappointed. I thought this was was a "You might be a redneck" thread.

 

[christabelll]

I think most of us do .... take care of ourselves...
but then there are other times that well the Pro's have to step in...

so that said - heres to all the Doctor Moms and Dads out there.....



(hehhe I still bear the nickname - Dr. Mom)


oh and then there are the really freaky ones who go to the doctor to have hangnails removed...

 

[jomar]

Little known fact : I worked my way through college as a Veterinary Assistant. Over the years I've sewn myself up on two occasions. Once out in the woods with a needle and fishing line.

Pain is 90% fear of being hurt.

Or, as Patrick Swayze said in Roadhouse, "Pain don't hurt."

 

[tickledkitty]

Or, as Patrick Swayze said in Roadhouse, "Pain don't hurt."

You can't go wrong with anything Patrick Cheezy says. "Nobody puts Baby in a corner." See?

 

[sister76]

A family friend of mine needed an appendectomy and planned to do it to himself with the assistance of other doctors. He was in med school at the time, though. He ended up chickening out and getting it done in the hospital under total sedation.

 

[SeaCat]

Cool stories, but I'm a bit disappointed. I thought this was was a "You might be a redneck" thread.

LOLOL

I still qualify for that one.

The worst one for me was when I got hit by a piece of wood thrown out by the lawn mower. I hit me in the calf and in an instant I found myself with a one inch diameter piece of wood through my calf. (Part of a broomstick.)

My parents and I removed the wood from my leg then stitched me up. It hurt but what the hell, for me it was nothing more than something to deal with. (It hurt less than when I kicked the knife stuck in the barn floor while barefoot.)

Cat

 

[Stella_Omega]

My son cut open his eyebrow and forehead on a wire fence one time. The school called me to get him, saying he needed stitches. I brought him home, cut tiny butterflies from Duct tape to close the cut, and used a dab of Crazyglue in the one spot... healed up without a scar, which disappointed him. Duct tape is one of nature's miracles!

And I'm mentioning once more that Duct tape kills warts. But before I found that out, I tried cauterizing the one on my thumb with a soldering iron, I was so damn sick and tired of the thing.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Ahhh, shades of Zaphod.


I've had the tip of my finger put back on and bandaged so it grew back. Also cut a skin tag off with sterilized toe nail clippers and used peroxide. I dont remember much blood though it did hurt a bit.

 

[tickledkitty]

My son cut open his eyebrow and forehead on a wire fence one time. The school called me to get him, saying he needed stitches. I brought him home, cut tiny butterflies from Duct tape to close the cut, and used a dab of Crazyglue in the one spot... healed up without a scar, which disappointed him. Duct tape is one of nature's miracles!

And I'm mentioning once more that Duct tape kills warts. But before I found that out, I tried cauterizing the one on my thumb with a soldering iron, I was so damn sick and tired of the thing.

Stella? You super glued the child's head?

 

[SeaCat]

Stella? You super glued the child's head?

Super Glue and Duct Tape work wonders.

Cat

 

[tickledkitty]

Super Glue and Duct Tape work wonders.

Cat

Excellent. I will keep that in mind.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Stella? You super glued the child's head?

When I had a laparoscopy they did inner stitches then super glued the outer incisions shut. Worked great!