I sprang out of bed to see a commotion. Hands were gesturing. Rick was with our kids in the cockpit. And, then Paul turned around to reveal a fish hook hanging from his face.

He is lucky he still has an eye.

As the boys tell it, just before bed, Henry rocked in a hammock in our cockpit, and fishing rod fell from its overhead storage holder. Paul was talking to Henry at the time. We had asked the boys to remove the fish hook earlier in the day. Unfortunately, we didn’t follow up to see that it had been done. A fish hook entered Paul’s skin just below his left eye.

It was a large, barbed double-hook.

We are in Munda, Solomon Islands. It was dark, and we are anchored out in the harbour. The harbour is reached by traversing two reefs.

With no hopes of finding a medical professional, we were faced with removing the hook ourselves. We texted a friend who is an emergency room doctor, Dr. Pamela Petersen. She is an American who now lives in Denmark. We met her when she was sailing with her family in the Bahamas.

Meanwhile, Rick cut off one side of the exposed side of the fish hook using 18″ bolt cutters. He also used the cutters to remove the curve of the double fish hook. Because he was concerned about causing nerve damage he wanted the remaining, embedded piece of fish hook to be as straight as possible. He had to be careful as he was using the cutters very close to Paul’s eye.

Our friend (Dr. Petersen) suggested we could either push the barb through his cheek, cut it off, and then back out the remaining hook. Or, we could use a scalpel. She felt that nerve damage was unlikely because the hook would be traveling the same way that it had entered.

Paul’s pain was managed with Tramadol and tooth numbing gel, which was blue and applied liberally to his cheek. Paul lay on a yoga mat with his head propped up on a pillow. Rick was planning to remove the fish hook by pushing it through his skin. He used a black marker to draw on Paul’s skin where he thought the pointy barb might exit.

Henry’s job was to steady the bolt cutters. My job was to hold Paul’s hands.

We dabbed at the hook with alcohol to keep the area clean. At first, Paul’s cheek was very stretchy and resisted being pierced. At one point, we lost our nerve. Then, I discovered that there is a small hospital called the Helena Goldie Hospital on shore. After several attempts, I reached the hospital and someone answered with “Who this?”

I tried to explain my situation. There was a language barrier. Then, my cell phone ran out of minutes. They called me back and asked me to call them. We tried several methods to reach the hospital, but we gave up because we were delaying the hook removal.

The hook had to be removed to avoid infection. So, we took it upon ourselves to proceed.

Henry held gauze over Paul’s eye. Rick guided the fish hook with vice grips and used a large washer to push against Paul’s cheek to allow him to pierce the barb through. The piercing took about two minutes.

Then the barb was removed using bolt cutters. Finally, the longer end of the fish hook was pulled upwards out of Paul’s skin. This part of the fish hook came out very easily.

Paul slept well and is now taking oral antibiotics to minimize the risk of infection. We have since removed the overhead fishing rods. Paul’s feels no pain and his wound looks so tidy I wouldn’t be suprised if it heals without a scar.

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