Ranting, Stories And Such From Punta Gorda, Fl (Yes I used to be 'A Little North Of Nowhere' but Hurricane Charley changed all that).

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Spider Bite!!!

I have recently had the misfortune of what seems (most likely according to the doctor to be a spider bite. The bite itself I don't recall however the first symptom appeared last Thursday, October 21. It was a small itchy spot on my inner left thigh that felt like a small pimple or blister. By Friday evening it was a bit larger and very red. Sunday evening when I went to the ER it was 3 inches long by about an inch and a half wide. It was red around the outside with a ring of white inside that and Black in the center where some tissue had begun to die (necrosis). At the ER the doctor made and incision about 3 inches long and a quarter inch deep to drain the pus and then cleaned and packed the wound. I received an hour and a half of IV antibiotics and needed to come back the following day. A nurse came in to dress the wound. She used 2 or 3 gauze sponges, an abdominal pad and coban to hold it all in place. Coban is a stretchy stuff that sticks only to itself. I asked the nurses twice if they were sure this would hold they assured me it would. It didn't. We ended up using Elastoplast and a conforming bandage to hold it in place. Wheeeee!