A family vacation to Hawaii took a dangerous turn when a six-year-old boy ended up stepping on something that left him in agony for the next 24 hours.
Sadly, for an unfortunate few, injuries and illnesses can happen on vacation. According to a survey by price comparison website ValuePenguin, 28 percent of U.S. adults have gotten sick or injured on vacation.
While it’s one thing for a grown-up to get hurt or become unwell while holidaying, it can be a whole other level of stress should this kind of bad luck befall a child, as Megan, a mother-of-two from Alaska who asked that her full name be omitted from the story, knows only too well.
Last week, she was vacationing in Hawaii, enjoying the sunshine and scenery of Waikiki beach with her husband and their two kids, aged 12 and six, when disaster struck.
“There is a 95 foot long line of giant sandbags going out into the water on a part of Kuhio beach in Waikiki that is there to help with erosion, and kids seem to enjoy playing on it and jumping off of it,” Megan told Newsweek.
Her six-year-old had a life jacket on, but had taken his water shoes off as they were playing in what was a mostly sandy area. That was all fine until he jumped off the sandbags, into the sea and onto something that immediately sent a sharp pain up his leg.
“He came up to us on the beach, said it felt like he hurt his foot, and then looked down and saw all of the black spines stuck in his heel and immediately began screaming and crying,” Megan said. “He had kicked his foot right into a sea urchin.”
Sea urchins have only ever been linked to one recorded instance of a human death. According to the Divers Alert Network (DAN), injuries tend to take the form of “puncture wounds” or “skin scrapes and lacerations.”
“Pain ranges from mild to severe depending on several factors, including the species of sea urchin, the location of the wound on the body, whether joints or deeper muscle tissues are involved, number of punctures, depth of puncture and the individual’s pain tolerance.”
The DAN guidance did, however, warn that in “very rare occasions, immediate life-threatening complications may occur” so it is important to seek medical help. Though any mom in her situation would worry, Megan had more reason to feel anxious than most.
Megan said her son has always been the “more adventurous” of their two kids, but it’s come at a cost. “One of our last trips to his grandparents’ house. He was out in the yard bare footed and stepped on a bee, which stung him.”
“My youngest son has had several allergies,” she said. “After that bee sting he developed serum sickness, a delayed allergic reaction, one week after he was stung.”
A nearby lifeguard was alerted and her son’s wound was swabbed with iodine and sprayed with vinegar. Megan said they were told to soak the affected area “in vinegar, several times to break down the spines which are made of calcium carbonate.”
“They said if we can, use a needle to help push them out, because they will break apart if you just try to use tweezers,” she added.
Back at their hotel and with their son still in a considerable amount of pain, Megan started searching online for what to do next.
“There was so much conflicting information that we ended up finding an urgent care near us that was open,” Megan said. “When we took him in, they said their provider generally didn’t work with pediatrics though.”
Megan said by this point her son was “in a lot of pain and wouldn’t let us touch” the injured area so they were referred to Kapiolani Women and Children’s hospital nearby. With only the ER open, Megan asked them to help his son.
“I knew it wasn’t a true emergency, but in an unknown area and with half of the internet saying that a six-year-old needs medical treatment to avoid infection, ” she said. But, after an hour and a half wait, the doctor on duty sent them away. “He said that these rarely got infected, which was frustrating after reading so many anecdotes [online] from others who did get infections.”
It’s been over a week now and slowly but surely her son is beginning to feel better. “He still will barely tolerate us touching it mainly because of fear, but he was in so much pain for a good 24 hours after it happened,” Megan said.
The incident, while ultimately only a minor one, did impact the rest of their vacation. “It did make us wary of beaches afterward, but it mostly impacted our trip because we didn’t feel comfortable with him walking around in the sand and getting back in the water for a few days with open wounds on his foot,” Megan said.
Though she is being careful to monitor her son for “delayed reactions” or any potential infections, in the meantime Megan has taken to Reddit to share her experience. By posting her account under the handle Snoo_12724, she hopes she can encourage other parents to be vigilant and avoid going through what they had to or maybe even worse.
“Worst case scenario would have been an anaphylactic event right when it happened, thankfully he was ok aside from a ton of pain,” she said. “As a mom, I could definitely go down a rabbit hole of what ifs, but I’d go crazy living my life like that. All we can do is just use this experience to guide future decision-making, and share with others for awareness.”
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