The Next Big Idea
Excerpt from a Twitter conversation earlier this week. I'd been describing infected wounds on my hospitalist service when the discussion became a bit more exotic. I believe we were inspired by Ramona's recent post, or perhaps we were feeling peculiarly entrepreneurial.
sarchet62
@ruraldoctoring so now I have to ask if you all use maggots? They use them at UCIMC in Orange
sarchet62
@ruraldoctoring one of the wound RNs is a "maggot herder"
ruraldoctoring
@sarchet62
No, we don't--yet. Wound RN would *love* to use maggots. Many homeless
pts come in with nice maggot-cleaned wounds. Effective tx.
ruraldoctoring
@sarchet62 Now that is an EXCELLENT job title: "Maggot Herder." My Wound RN colleague would love to have such a title.
sarchet62
@ruraldoctoring she also herds leeches, fun to talk to!! the maggot stuff is neat, they have to be clean and kept in the wound hense herder
ruraldoctoring
@sarchet62 I'd hate to hear the teasing she gets at the staff holiday party.
sarchet62
@ruraldoctoring there is a doc in OC who with his wife sidelines in growing maggots for wound care
ruraldoctoring
@sarchet62 I wonder if I can get into the maggot breeding business. Probably pays better than clinical medicine.
ruraldoctoring
@sarchet62 "Rural Doc's Maggot Farm, Where We Munch Flesh Like a Hot Knife Through Butter!"
sarchet62
@ruraldoctoring tears are running down my face as I fall off my chair LOL!! good thing there are lots of docs around here!!
dporter
@sarchet62 @ruraldoctoring You better get in fast - I'm guessing big Pharma has a patent in the works.
ruraldoctoring
@dporter Yes but *my* maggots will be ORGANIC! I want to market to the green wound care crowd.
ruraldoctoring
@sarchet62 @dporter "Rural Doc's ORGANIC, FREE-RANGE Maggot Farm! Happy Maggots Come From Rural Decay!"
sarchet62
@ruraldoctoring you probably ought to put this set of tweets in your blog!!
ruraldoctoring
@sarchet62 @dporter And I won't breed any genetically modified maggots either. Mine will be HEIRLOOM strains of maggots.
dporter
@sarchet62 @ruraldoctoring free range maggots? What's next? Maggots by the pound at Whole Foods?
symtym
@ruraldoctoring you'll want your maggots to be carbon-neutral as well; after wound care you can include a recipe for maggot casserole
sarchet62
@ruraldoctoring you will need Heirloom names for them, some maggots move faster than others so speed might be a name factor
ruraldoctoring
@symtym I have a good start on carbon-neutral status, because my house is solar. I bet I can fit a lot of maggots in my garage.
ruraldoctoring
@sarchet62 @dporter @symtym OK, maybe maggots have some cosmetic application, like dermabrasion. We could CLEAN UP!
sarchet62
@dporter @ruraldoctoring yes bought at Whole Foods for the green shopper to DYI debride (omg did I really write that??)
ruraldoctoring
@sarchet62 Heirloom names: Rural Wiggly Wonders, Rural Hungry Chuzahs (yiddish word, means piggish eater), Rural Low & Slow.
sarchet62
@symtym @ruraldoctoring @dporter maybe Martha can get in on the act with a great Heriloom Maggot cookbook it would be a "good thing"!!
symtym
@sarchet62 perhaps Maggot Stewart's Debriding...I believe the URL maggortstewart.com is available...
DrCris
@sarchet62 @ruraldoctoring @symtym Take a good hard look at yourselves.
sarchet62
@symtym @ruraldoctoring GROSS LOL disgusting LOL eeeeeewwwwwwww!!
sarchet62
from a FAQ on maggots: I think I ate a maggot. Will I die?
Yes, eventually; but probably not as a result of the maggot.
rlbates
@ruraldoctoring I had to click on your page to find the beginning of the maggot farm discussion. Funny
sarchet62
eating maggots seems to be for real...OMG
sarchet62
http://www.zetatalk.com/foo... how to cook maggots refreshing to the mouth, NOOOOOOOOOO...
sarchet62
OK so this is the last of it: Maggot- and Bug-Covered Strawberries http://is.gd/1nMp I have a search to finish so my maggot days are done
DrCris
@sarchet62 Don't make final statements, you never knwo when you will dabble in maggots again...
ruraldoctoring
Oh come on you guys, I think this is the blockbuster idea of the
future, & here you are talking about EATING the little dears.
sarchet62
@DrCris I rather like the idea and if I had a basement I would grow them among the mushrooms!
sarchet62
@ruraldoctoring there will always be those critters who are not fit for wounds but very fit for casseroles or covering lovely strawberries
jenmccabegorman
lmao over "Heirloom Maggots Low & Slow" coming to a Whole Foods near you courtesy of @ruraldoctoring, @symtym, @sarchet62, @dporter
ruraldoctoring
@jenmccabegorman I'll put you down on our Low & Slow waiting list. When the next litter of maggotlings are hatched, you'll get an email.
All queries from venture capital companies gladly accepted.
I love this conversation thread!
Posted by: rlbates | August 15, 2008 at 06:59 AM
Yum, yum. Nothing like maggots to get the appetite going ...
Bleagh.
Posted by: Jacob | August 15, 2008 at 08:04 AM
Whoa
Posted by: Doctor Anonymous | August 15, 2008 at 08:06 AM
I hope you applied for the patent before you posted this.
And I think you stand a good chance at this year's igNobels.
Posted by: Vijay | August 15, 2008 at 10:59 AM
That's too funny!
Posted by: Xavier Emmanuelle | August 15, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Gives a new meaning to "wormy"....
Howling.... (Wondering what Rachel Ray would concoct?)
Posted by: Robin | August 15, 2008 at 09:23 PM
This is cracking me up. I am studying for an Integumentary system final right now. I am going to read up on wounds now.
I tried to look up "stuffed maggot" on google, thinking I could link to it here and say how cute it was. Umm, don't google that term. Trust me.
Posted by: Hilary | August 17, 2008 at 08:34 PM