The following is a guest post by my friend, Jay Tharp, and the ordeal he went through this weekend.
Black Widows
Check those winter sweaters and long sleeve shirts, especially hats,caps and boots. Spiders are hiding in these things you have not worn in a while.
Well I have been bitten!! It’s October and hopefully I do not see a transition between man and spider between now and the 30th.
Did you know the black widow spider has venom 10x more dangerous than a rattlesnake? Me either until Sunday evening as I sat in my recliner cursing the New Orleans Saints that were currently trailing 27/10 and all of a sudden I felt a bite under my shirt and shouted so loud that all of my children and wife came running, and asking, “What happened, what’s wrong?”
I told them that I had been bitten by something and needed help as I continued to squeeze the life out of a quarter size object, which still clung to me beneath my shirt. All I could feel was a gooey wet spot with the remains of what I hoped wasn’t a u know what,,,
As I peeled my shirt off , I realized this nasty little thing was my worst fear come true. The large, long-legged widow with red dots on the abdomen fell into the zipper bag and we headed to the emergency room at Willis Knight (WK) South in Shreveport, LA. I was fine until I got there and signed in. I was just a bit nervous and curious. I figured the doctor would look at it, tell me what it was, and explain to me what to expect over the next few days. Wrong! Fifty minutes into this ordeal I had four nurses and a doctor lurking over me calling out different medications to push through the IV. My body was covered in sweat, every muscle in my body begun to cramp, my blood pressure hit 177/ 127 then my diaphragm became really stiff and I was placed on oxygen, as my breathing was labored. I remember making the comment, “old men don’t cry,,,,”
They began treating symptoms only because a different hospital was the only one with the antivenom. I began screaming at the top of my lungs in the state of complete fear and pain from the cramps. They loaded my IV with. Diladid and Ativan, but it didn’t phase the pain. One nurse commented that tha bite was so small and the doctor pointed out that it was venom, not the size of the bite that was so dangerous. The potency of the venom from the WIDOW, can be very deadly if left untreated.
This was not a daily event for Willis Knighton (WK) South and I have nothing but nice things to say about the care I received. The doctor claimed that I had a text book reaction to the venom. Everything he read about the venom to proper way to treat me happened.
Initially they planned to place me in ICU, eventually they located the antivenom at another hospital in the next city. I was rushed by ambulance to the hospital (LSU Shreveport) with the antivenom. After a small dose of the IV antivenom, every symptom and complication began to ease immediately. By the end of the second round I felt like walking out. I had to be put in a wheelchair to be wheeled out because all the pain meds and muscle relaxers were finally working. The other good news came at 6am, when we were on our way home. We heard that the Saints had won.
I’ve only seen this stuff only on tv before, so I can’t wait to get the bill. I wonder if I can claim it on my homeowners insurance? What an ordeal for such a little ol’spider!
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