Barnacle Boy

He calls them his casts, but really, they are just layers of bandages applied by me to the feet of my poor boy who did battle this weekend with some barnacles at Devil’s Elbow Fishing Resort in St. Augustine, Florida. Danny should have been wearing shoes — how many times have we told you to wear shoes outside? — but he wasn’t, and now he’s learning one really big and painful lesson.

"Those barnacles got the best of me," said Danny after sustaining his injury.

There are cuts all over the bottoms of Danny’s feet, mostly clustered on his heels, the sides, and on a few toes. At first, the gashes were filled with dark muck, and expert advice said it was imperative that we brush it out, so we did (ouch!), after he soaked in a hydrogen peroxide and water solution. A little Motrin, antibiotic ointment, band-aids, and wraps fixed things up, and somehow, the injured guy managed to run around docks and bounce all over boats the day after. He’s not entirely out of the woods — we’ll keep treating the wounds, wrapping them up, and watching for signs of infection, but we suspect Danny will be just fine. Ready for flag football practice Tuesday evening? Maybe not. But soon — probably when the casts come off.