"I got catfished…. But not how might think!"

I was on holiday in Florida with my family back in October 2024. I decided to do a spot of fishing in the estuary out the back of our accommodation. I managed to snag what looked to me like a small shark. I’ve later learned that it was a Gafftop Sail Catfish or Hard head catfish. Having never caught anything like this before, I decided to try and release it. I went to compress the large dorsal fin in order to get the barb out of its mouth, not seeing the massive hypodermic lacerated needle on its back. I plunged my hand down onto of this barb and it almost went through my right hand. The pain was like nothing if felt before. These fish carry a poison and I can tell you it works. The spike also contains barbs that splinter off as they enter their target. Much pain and swearing later, when I returned home to Belfast the pain was still considerable.

I have a fused left wrist from an old rugby injury and so my right hand is really important to my general functioning and quality of life. This albeit obscure injury was causing a decent amount of stress and frustration. So I decided to go to minor injuries at the ulster who after some odd initial looks eventually referred me for an ultrasound.

The ultrasound revealed a number of foreign bodies in the hand, likely those aforementioned barbs. It was decided that I would be referred to the plastics clinic for further assessment. The lovely surgeon in the ulster agreed to open my hand up to try and find and remove them. However they were so tiny that it proved unsuccessful and they couldn’t see any of them. Rather than potentially cause more trouble by hoking around the inside of my hand, they referred me to the hand therapy clinic in the ulster hospital.

I was a little nervous before my hand therapy appointment, simply because of how ridiculous the injury was and how obsolete it felt in comparison to some of the patients at the clinic who had experienced significant trauma. However Michelle, the consultant hand therapist, didn’t make me feel that way at all. In fact I felt validated and listened to. We acknowledged how rare the injury was and that the treatment would have to be a little different as a result.

We agreed to a number of sessions of an older technique (the name of which I can’t remember), but involved using magnetic pulses to help with pain and swelling. By this stage I was willing to try anything, particular to regain better function in the hand and to be able to continue to look after my one year old son, in the absence of having a fully functioning left wrist. I’m delighted to say that the treatment worked amazingly well. I have almost no pain currently and I’m back to nearly full function. This wouldn’t have happened if Michelle hadn’t have approached the problem with curiosity, openness and most importantly compassion. Thanks to her and the staff at the hand clinic I’m able to put an end to my rather strange catfish story and have vowed to stick to sun bathing next time!