I can’t believe I haven’t told y’all this story, but I’ve searched my blog high and low, and somehow, I have not.
Like many folks, I love the beach. Give me a beach umbrella, a chair, and a book, and I am one happy camper. I used to swim in the ocean, or perhaps more accurately, bob around in it, and ride the waves on anything that would float. That was before my close encounter with a stingray.
The waters off the coast of South Carolina have a fair amount of sand and such stirring around in them courtesy of the rivers 
flowing into the Atlantic in the vicinity. Disclaimer: I’m not a scientist who studies such things. This is the reason I’ve been given since childhood when I ask why the water in South Carolina isn’t as clear as south Florida and the Caribbean. This could just as easily be something Mamma pulled out of thin air to keep me quite. I digress. The point is, you can’t see the bottom.
A few summers ago we rented a beach house in Garden City, South Carolina for a family vacation. It had a boat dock in the backyard and the Atlantic in the front. The first day—it was a beautiful day—Sugar, (my husband, aka Jim) my brother, and my brother-in-law took the pontoon boat out fishing. Daddy, my sister, and I were taking a late afternoon dip. Mamma was sitting in her beach chair watching us try to push each other down in the waves. We aggravate each other as a way of showing affection.
Suddenly, fish started jumping out of the water—lots of fish. They’d break the surface, hit the water and jump again. They flopped and splashed all around us. Now, I’ve always heard that when small fish do this, it’s because a bigger fish is trying to have them for supper. Naturally, I’m thinking, Shark!
“Run!” I screamed and bolted for the beach. We were almost out of the water when something got ahold of my foot and I just knew I was going to have a stump where my foot used to be. I expected gallons of blood. I’d have to be helicopter-lifted to the hospital. Would I ever walk again? Would I die on the beach from blood loss? These were the things that ran through my mind because it felt like something had chewed my foot clean off.
Imagine my shock seconds later when I reached the beach and my foot looked nearly normal—still attached and everything. It still hurt like blazes. But aside from a little redness and a mark just below my ankle, it looked fine—still attached and everything.
“A jellyfish must have gotten you,” my sister said. “I know those hurt.”
She sounded real sympathetic, but I knew there was no way on God’s green earth she could possibly know how bad my foot hurt or she would be calling 911. I wanted Sugar.
“Find Jim,” I wailed.
“Let’s put some vinegar on it,” my sister said.
“This was not a jellyfish,” I growled. My foot was now a brighter shade of red, and it had puffed up.
I limped towards the house. Someone called Sugar on his cell phone, and by the time I made it to the house, he was there. He put me in the car and off to the ER we went.
I am telling y’all right now, this hurt worse than childbirth. The pain radiated up my leg and the swelling spread. It hurt so bad I howled all the way to the hospital, which took only about twenty minutes but felt like days. I was scared.
I kept right on howling in the ER. They were busy, and wanted to shut me up, so someone brought out some hot towels and wrapped my leg in them. “Does that feel better?”
I stopped my caterwauling. “Yes—that helps.”
“A stingray got you. Heat breaks down the venom.”
Every time the towels cooled off, I started howling again and they’d bring more. I didn’t have to wait long. The doctor had to cut open my foot to make sure the barb wasn’t in there. Thankfully it wasn’t. After several shots and prescriptions for antibiotics and painkillers, I left on crutches.
I spent the remainder of that vacation propped on pillows in the screened porch or hobbling around. I still love beaches, but I have one iron-clad rule: If I can’t see the bottom, I don’t get in the water.
Y’all stay safe.
Susan
Wow! That is frightening! I am with you I hate to go in water where I can’t see he bottom!!
Wow, how scary! Thanks for sharing!
That sounds terrifying. As much as I have loved the ocean my whole life (I am 64, but still refer to myself as a beach baby) it is a frightening place. I cruise a lot, but am in denial the entire time about the possibility of sinking. I love to snorkel, but I am super anxious about the not-so-nice creatures that swim around. My favorite spot is Stingray City in Grand Cayman. I’ve been out on the sandbar twice and the water is waist deep and so clear you can see the sparkling white sand beneath. I feel safe there. Apparently the rays are not dangerous and I feel safe there. They are so soft to the touch and glide around gracefully.
I hope you can feel comfortable again in the ocean. That was quite an experience!
Keep writing and I hope to see you at Quarter Moon Books again!
Wow. I never knew they do that ( and I’m a biologist !) But I guess he couldn’t see you either, so struck out.
Sorry that happened. But a really good rule to follow. The older I get, the more I like pools to swim in, oceans to look at or snorkel in
We went to France on vacation a couple of years ago, and were having a great time. We went to the grocery store we were using and on the way out I slipped on water (it was raining) at the entrance and cut my hand on the sliding door to the outside. It didn’t look too bad at first but after we got back to our apartment, I realized it was deeper and longer than I thought. I didn’t go to the hospital but couldn’t get my hand wet other than showering so it would close up or even use it too much. What I didn’t know then was that if you are hurt in a store in France like I was, they will take you to the pharmacist or doctor and pay for your treatment. Our landlady told me when we were about to leave.
How horrible!! I’ve been brushed by a jellyfish and it hurt, but nothing like that! I won’t get in the ocean anymore either and I dearly miss riding those waves and bobbing around! I’m afraid of sharks and stingrays and jellyfish too!
Oh My Goodness!! I’m so glad that I read about you!! I will be reading your books…..they all are wondeful I’m sure!! So sorry this happened at the beach!
I had the same thing happen to me at Wild Dunes a few years ago. I was standing in calf high water and BOOM, I was barbed by both barbs in my inner foot. Nothing has ever been as painful and I bled like crazy. The ER doctor told me that something in their venom is anti-coagulant and that’s why you bleed so badly. You are right — heat is the only thing to alleviate the pain and it is soooo painful! My husband had a couple of heat packs in his car so the fireman who treated me put that on and instantly the pain subsided but when it wore off, it immediately started again and I could feel the venom travel up my leg until the second one was applied. At the ER, they put my foot in a bucket of as hot water as I could stand and it took a couple hours for the pain to quit. Thank goodness there was no barb left but a couple weeks after returning home, the skin was necrotic and had to be cut away and I was put in bed for a week with my leg inclined. It really did a number on me!
Wow! I am at Wild Dunes now and wondered if the water is like this because of the hurricane or if it is always this way. I usually swim in the ocean, but the murkiness has made me cautious. I think I will refrain based on your experiences!
Oh my. How terrifying. I can’t imagine the pain.
Wow! I had no idea that stingwrays stung! That’s scary. Glad Sugar came to your rescue.
I am with you about not getting in unless I can see the bottom! Pools or a few inches where only your feet get slammed wet from a receding ocean wave for me only. What were we thinking when we were younger and played in the ocean? I don’t remember us having much but a few Portuguese man of wars or a jelly fish or two washed up on our SC shores back then. Has it changed or were we just that dumb?😂😂
I’ve never been in the ocean, but we live near Lake Michigan. We have for almost 32 years and I rarely go in it! If I do, it’s just wading up to my ankles. I’ve seen so many dead fish washed up on the beach and I’m always thinking if I go in I will step on one! Weird, huh? There have been people washed off piers though and I’m afraid of finding one of them too.