Individual Summary: An unfortunate encounter with some badly-placed stinging nettles leads to a real life re-enactment of a famous scene from Byker Grove.
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The signs had been put all over the park, warning visitors to look out for the blasted plants, and flyers had been handed out to the crew and all the park staff regarding the first aid treatment for anyone who came into contact with the barbs of the plant.
Everyone was warned to be careful, but accidents can still happen.
On the way back up from that day's bushtucker trial, Ant and Dec were walking side by side on the trail - having passed up on the offer of a lift in one of the crew cars, opting instead for the walk (since it wasn't far).
Ant - being the clumsier of the two - had taken an accidental misstep and slipped off the main path and into the jungle undergrowth, landing on his front with his face in a very familiar-looking weedy plant.
At first, Dec had found this hilarious, and his hilarity could be heard echoing behind Ant's prone form. Ant had also initially found it funny: for about two seconds, and then the intense pain began.
"OW! Shit!" he gasped, instantly sitting up and bringing his hands up to grab at his face; looking like he planned on clawing his eyes out.
Dec - still grinning a bit - held out a hand and waited for Ant to grab it, smile dropping when he didn't.
"Come on, up you get" he coaxed, puzzled when Ant still didn't appear to respond - he just kept pulling at the skin around his eyes and whimpering painfully.
"Hey, what's the matter?" Dec questioned, smile now replaced with a look of pure concern.
Ant turned his gaze up towards him, and Dec had to suppress a gasp at the sight of his face.
All of the skin around Ant's eyes was red and swollen, his eyes themselves were watering madly and very bloodshot - almost so much so that the white of his eyes looked bloodstained. His eyelids were quickly swelling shut and, within seconds, they had closed up completely. The remaining skin around his cheeks, temples, and forehead were also red and appeared to be covered in tiny hives.
Immediately grabbing his friend's hand, Dec hauled him to his feet and pulled him swiftly out of the bushes, which is when he caught sight of the specific plant that Ant had stuck his face into.
He would recognise those leaves anywhere - after pictures of identical plants had been posted all around the office.
"Shit, that's a stinging nettle, isn't it?" he muttered, feeling his heart drop.
A stray hand flung out and grabbed onto his sleeve, and Dec's attention quickly found itself focused completely on his friend - who was now completely blinded by the intense swelling of his eyes.
Blinded? Oh shit.....
"Decs; I can't see, man" Ant whimpered, fist clenching convulsively in his sleeve.
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Bob was enjoying the set out lunch in the canteen when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Wiping his hands on his napkin, he took it out and raised a single eyebrow at the name on the caller ID.
Chris - their director - caught his eye and raised his own eyebrows. Replying with a silent "It's Declan", Bob swiped a finger across the screen and held the phone up to his ear.
"Yes, Dec?" he greeted, an uncertain feeling starting to uncoil in his gut.
"Bob! Oh thank goodness!" was the crackly reply over the static of the line. Bob immediately frowned at the sound of the younger man's voice.
"What's happened?" he asked, knowing that the boys would only call him if something had happened to one of them.
Sure enough.....
"Bob, I need your help: Ant took a fall into some stinging nettles and they got him on the face and in his eyes" Dec explained, sounding suspiciously calm - almost forcefully so, but Bob knew better, and he knew that Dec was actually freaking out on the inside.
Cursing the other man's clumsiness and the two's general magnet for attracting trouble, Bob sighed and then replied with "Where are you?"
Dec was silent on the other end for a few moments, then he answered "Not far - probably about half a mile from the tree-house, on the main trail down to the trial clearing."
Picturing their location in his mind, the medic assured them that he would be with them soon, and then hung up, grabbing his car keys from the table as he stood and excused himself from the meal.
Climbing into his car, he set off down the main trail, and quickly came across the two boys. Even from a hundred metres away, he could see Ant leaning heavily on Dec, and the redness and swelling in his face - which only became more apparent as he drove closer.
Leaving the engine running as he pulled up beside them, Bob gestured for them to get in the back - which they did, with some difficulty - and then Bob chucked a quick U-turn before driving back up to the clinic.
Completing the round trip in about a minute, they arrived back at the clinic in almost record time. Pulling on the handbrake and opening the driver's door, Bob clambered out and went around to help the boys out of the backseat.
He stood by worriedly as Dec shuffled across the seat and got out, before reaching in and taking hold of Ant's shoulders and helping him out of the car. Now that he was closer, Bob could hear the quiet whimpers of pain coming from the dark-haired man, and he winced visibly as the full extent of his injury appeared exposed.
Taking his other arm, he and Dec helped Ant slowly into the clinic, where Bob guided them into an examination room and pulled out a pair of gloves, a gentle soap, an eye wash bottle, and some aloe vera gel.
Finally, he turned to the basin in the corner of the room. Humming in thought, he reached under the cabinet and grabbed the shower hose that he kept under there, as well as a large bucket. He attached the shower head to the faucet, and then instructed Ant to hold the bucket in his lap, and tilt his head to the side.
"Okay son" he began to explain gently, "I'm going to run some cool water over your face, and then I'll apply the soap to try and wash the nettles out of your skin, okay?"
Ant nodded shakily, giving another whimper as the pain and discomfort continued to plague him.
Deciding to waste no more time, Bob turned on the cold water tap and ran the gentle stream of water of Ant's face - smiling as he seemed to relax as the coolness began to soothe the pain. When his skin had been sufficiently washed over with the water, he squeezed a small amount of the eye soap onto his glove and ran his fingers in a stroking motion over the skin around Ant's eyes, cheeks, and forehead.
"Easy, son, nice deep breaths, that's it" he soothed while he worked, keeping up a constant litany of soft words of comfort to help the younger man stay calm.
Dec just sat silently at his friend's side, body pressed up against Ant's, with an arm looped around his shoulders and his hand rubbing comfortingly along his arm.
Slowly, as the treatment progressed, Ant began to relax as the intense burning pain eased and the nettles were removed. Bob then poured some more cool water over his face to wash away the soap suds, and then he grabbed a clean pair of gloves and moved in with the eye wash bottle.
"Okay Ant" he spoke up gently, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm going to try and clean the nettles out of your eyes now. I know it hurts, but I need you to try and open your eyes for me, so I can get the soap in there, alright?"
Swallowing hard, Ant tried to open his swollen eyes, but failed dismally - his eyelids were just too swollen.
"Can't" he whimpered softly, looking up at Bob with a sorrowful gaze.
"That's okay" Bob replied kindly, pouring some soap onto his glove.
"I'll just have to try and get this into your eye myself" he decided, putting one hand on Ant's forehead, preparing to prize open his left eye with his thumb and first two fingers, and then gently running his soap-covered finger along the inside edge of his eye.
Ant initially tried to pull away, yelping in pain as the nettles in his eyes were disturbed. But Bob and Dec managed to hold him still, the latter gripping onto his arms with his own hands and the former pausing for a moment before continuing to rub the soap into the injured eyes.
"Ow..." he moaned, trying again to pull his head away.
Dec raised a hand and started rubbing the spot between his friend's shoulder blades - the guaranteed comfort spot.
"Easy pal, try and stay still for us, okay?" he soothed, hand stilling as Ant reached out and gripped onto his free hand and squeezed it tightly in his fist.
Immediately letting the larger hand encircle his own, Dec let his thumb rub along Ant's shaking fingers - feeling immensely sorry for the pain his friend was in.
Sensing the building discomfort in the man in front of him, Bob made short work of gently cleaning out Ant's left eye, and then repeating the process in his right eye, and Ant had to admit that his eyes did feel a bit better after being washed out.
Giving his face a final wash with the cool water, Bob reached over and grabbed a soft, fresh towel and began to gently pat his face dry. Finally, he took the aloe vera gel and rubbed a generous amount onto the red skin on Ant's forehead, cheeks, and just around his eyes - taking care to avoid his actual eyes themselves.
"Right, now I'm just going to get a light dressing to put over your eyes, and then we'll wrap a bandage around them to keep them in place" Bob decided, stripping his gloves off and replacing them with yet another pair. "The swelling should go down in a few hours, so hopefully you'll be able to remove it later this evening."
Ant breathed a private sigh of relief at that - the last thing he wanted was to have to be incapacitated for more time that absolutely necessary.
Dec then piped up cheekily next to him, "And just when I was going to try to convince you to change your name to PJ McPartlin!"
Groaning at the poor attempt at a joke, Ant elbowed his friend in the ribs, hearing hearty laughter from the other two men in the room in response.
Chuckling at their antics, Bob picked up the treated dressings and placed them over Ant's eyes, before wrapping a light bandage around his head to hold them in place.
The final effect was something akin to Hawkeye Pierce in that episode of M*A*S*H, when he'd tried to tamper with a temperamental gas stove.
Deciding that neither of the boys would likely understand that reference if he were to bring it up, Bob finally stood back with a pat on Ant's shoulder to let him know he was done, and the two boys slid off the bed and went to make their way out of the clinic.
"Thanks Bob" Ant muttered gratefully as they walked past, and Bob hid his smile as the door closed behind them.
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END of this chapter......
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Next Time.....
There was an old bridge not far from the tree-house, that had been damaged so severely by the recent floods and torrential storms that people had been warned against using it. Problem was, nobody told Dec this, and he soon finds himself in serious trouble when he decides to take a walk on his own and ends up very, very stuck.....
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