I just got home from a little three day vacation at our local hospital. Monday morning I had a small red itchy spot on the back of my right hand. Monday evening I had a hand about the size of a catchers mitt...but much more colorful. I went to the local Urgent Care clinic...you know, the one where all the doctors speak with accents and have medical degrees from colleges in Botswana or the small islands of the Caribbean.
Docs In A Box took one look and had me admitted to the real hospital. The one with real doctors. Lots of blood drawn, lots of big IV antibiotic bags hanging from two poles, lots of holes in my arms, and some really really good pain meds. Did you know that when they take blood for blood cultures now they put it in little bottles that look exactly like the small Tabasco bottles? I hope whoever took the blood didn't stop off at the cafeteria on the way to the lab.
They figure it was a spider bite. I don't know, could have been I guess. They put me in a room by myself, declared it an Isolation Unit and made everybody gown and glove when entering just in case it wasn't a spider bite.
It kept swelling and wouldn't pop on it's own so they finally did an Incise and Drain. Hospital people call it the Slice and Stomp. Among the other wrong turns I've taken in my life was becoming an EMT and I remembered the S and S procedure. Sometimes people would pass out from the sight, smell, fluid discharge and resultant high pitched screaming . Sometimes the patient would pass out, too. :msp_biggrin:
They sent me home this evening with a huge ugly crater on the back of my hand, more anti-biotics, and a whole bunch of those good pain meds, too.
Anybody ever have a spider bite? If so, how was it treated and how long did it take to heal up? Nerve/tissue damage? Loss of motor control or residual nerve dysfunction?
And a side note...it's really really hard to sneak off down the hall to the special hiding place where all the hospital staff go to smoke when your're dragging two wheeled IV stands, neither of which will track straight.
Docs In A Box took one look and had me admitted to the real hospital. The one with real doctors. Lots of blood drawn, lots of big IV antibiotic bags hanging from two poles, lots of holes in my arms, and some really really good pain meds. Did you know that when they take blood for blood cultures now they put it in little bottles that look exactly like the small Tabasco bottles? I hope whoever took the blood didn't stop off at the cafeteria on the way to the lab.
They figure it was a spider bite. I don't know, could have been I guess. They put me in a room by myself, declared it an Isolation Unit and made everybody gown and glove when entering just in case it wasn't a spider bite.
It kept swelling and wouldn't pop on it's own so they finally did an Incise and Drain. Hospital people call it the Slice and Stomp. Among the other wrong turns I've taken in my life was becoming an EMT and I remembered the S and S procedure. Sometimes people would pass out from the sight, smell, fluid discharge and resultant high pitched screaming . Sometimes the patient would pass out, too. :msp_biggrin:
They sent me home this evening with a huge ugly crater on the back of my hand, more anti-biotics, and a whole bunch of those good pain meds, too.
Anybody ever have a spider bite? If so, how was it treated and how long did it take to heal up? Nerve/tissue damage? Loss of motor control or residual nerve dysfunction?
And a side note...it's really really hard to sneak off down the hall to the special hiding place where all the hospital staff go to smoke when your're dragging two wheeled IV stands, neither of which will track straight.
