my turn, spider bite (kinda gross)

[sammyg2]

Never been bit by anything bad before. musta been my turn.

Last Tuesday am, I took the trash out like I always do.
There's usually spider webs on and around the handles on the garbage cans, never gave them much thought.
A couple hours later I was re-thinking that strategy.

After 4 days the low-grade fever is gone and I'm feeling ok again, except my finger still has it's own heart beat and zip code.
At least it isn't purple no more.

Doc says not a widow, he's thinking recluse. Hard to say for sure but he took a sample and sent to to the lab. curious what they can tell us.
Right now it's all about antibiotics, stopping the infection or slowing it down so the body can deal with it.

Doc says if the flesh dies faster than the system can handle bad things follow.

Can't really tell from the pics but there's about a 3/8" tall lump where that red spot is and it's hard as a rock.

[masraum]

Bummer! Good luck. I hope you heal quick and easy (at least as quick and easy as a B. Recluse bite can).

[mreid]

Geez, Sammy. What ever you do, don't google brown recluse bite and look at the images!

Hope it heals quickly.

[crustychief]

Wow, I'm sorry to hear about your finger. It certainly looks painful. I will second what mreid said.

[sugarwood]

Please post a daily update. I'm curious how this thing heals.

[Evans, Marv]

I'd say that looks serious. I really hope you & the doc are staying on top of it. Plus, I hope you got to the doctor not too long after getting bitten.

[sammyg2]

Yeah, but just imagine how bad it was for the spider!

[Por_sha911]

I'm hoping that is the "before the doc" pic. If not, get more help.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

I'm hoping that is the "before the doc" pic. If not, get more help.

I had just taken off the bandage before those pics. But yeah that was this morning. Because of the bandage, the pics don't show the hole in the middle. It looks worse now because I let it "air out" a little.

I've been to the doctor 4 days in a row, but other than cleaning it and giving me antibiotics I get the feeling there's nothing else they can do.

[GH85Carrera]

Hey maybe you will get Spider-Man like super powers!

Good luck with the bite.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Yeah, but just imagine how bad it was for the spider!

Even PETA would disagree with that one.

[cashflyer]

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Hey maybe you will get Spider-Man like super powers!

That would be AWESOME! But only like toby-spiderman, not all that weird dark night sequel stuff.

[Evans, Marv]

That does look like the way brown recluse bites are described. Good luck & keep us posted on the progress.

[john70t]

I hope this heals up. Those things can go south in a bad way.

I'm surprised they didn't draw a circle at the edge of the infection ring for a baseline.
It does look to be shrinking..

Always wondered why wound care isn't more aggressive:
Draining/removal of center tissue with circular local injections of antibiotics at the site.

[dentist90]

So, did you feel the bite right away like a hornet, or did it just build up gradually after the fact? Some of that venom stuff is insidious... just gets worse over several days as it does it's damage even though the initial bite doesn't seem so bad. What was your experience?

[dentist90]

Glad I live in the frozen arctic half the year sometimes. I don't have to deal with nasty critters hiding in my boots/fruit/hedges/etc.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by dentist90

So, did you feel the bite right away like a hornet, or did it just build up gradually after the fact? Some of that venom stuff is insidious... just gets worse over several days as it does it's damage even though the initial bite doesn't seem so bad. What was your experience?

I didn't notice anything until about 9 am. if it was a spider bite like i suspect, it most likely got me at 5:20 am when I was leaving for work.

Didn't feel a bite, just spider webs on the trash can handles.

I had low grade fever, muscle aches, kinda like the flu starting 18 hours after first symptom and lasted about 36 hours.
Worst looking was when my finger, back of hand, and thumb were all purple.

That's all gone, now my finner just hurts like nobody's biddness.

When they lanced it again this morning there was no puss and very little blood.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by dentist90

Glad I live in the frozen arctic half the year sometimes. I don't have to deal with nasty critters hiding in my boots/fruit/hedges/etc.

LOL I can't count how many times I've thought that I was glad I live here in so cal where we don't have creepy crawlies (compared to other places).

[id10t]

Bad, but not like I had to deal with when I worked in the wound care part of hte local hospital's PT department.

Imagine a similar bite, but in one of the rolls of fat on the side of a LOL (little old lady) who while short - say, 5 foot on a good day - has a similar circumference and tips the scales at 300 pounds. And doesn't notice the bite for a week or so...