Bad luck

[BugDude]

Apparently I was bitten by a spider or something last Thursday and over the weekend it went from a small red spot to an infected I don't know what the size of a baseball on my shin a little ways below my knee. By Sunday I was ready to go to the ER. My leg was sore and stiff from my ankle to my knee. I waited until Monday morning and went to a wound care physician. He agreed it looked like an infected spider bite and surgically removed the bad stuff, dressed it up, high powered antibiotic, etc. He is going to find out exactly what kind of infection it is. My leg is absolutely throbbing and burning like nothing I've ever experienced. He didn't give me any pain meds, but I rarely take that crap anyway. Ibuprofin knocks a little edge off but tough to sleep. Anyway, I'm now hobbling around but still able to get around and go to work. I've got follow-ups every other day. I'm 44 years old and never had anything like this happen. Man, they've got some bad bugs in Florida!!!

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[tropicoz]

That's probably a brown recluse bite. Nasty things as you can see.

[Brad426]

Nothing to jack around with. A brown recluse bite can cost you a limb if left untreated, for instance. Take all your antibiotics, drink lots of fluids and never eat yellow snow.

[Dandyone]

The snow in Orlando doesn't fall from the sky... and if it's yellow, I'm pretty sure the dealer's pooch is in deep dookie!

[blitzburgh]

I had a spider bite that started off quire small on my forearm within two days it was the size of half my arm. went through the same procedure you described. They weren't able to identify it but my guess was either black widow or brown recluse.

Sent from my palm device

[slidewayz240]

I feel your pain... not so much a spider bite but I woke up Thursday morning with a pain in my nose... by the afternoon there was a "growth" on the inside tissue and the outside was starting to swell. Went to the doctor on Friday and it was Cellulitis of the nose. Sunday after the range it started to drain... just like those nasty youtube videos.

[Brad426]

Sometimes we share too much.

[miller_man]

Yep, sounds like a brown recluse. From what I've heard those bites get bad pretty quick.
A buddy of mine lost his grandfather to a brown recluse bite. He just kept putting hydrogen peroxide (sp?) on it for like a week and it kept getting worse. Never went to the hospital, just laid on the couch and kept putting peroxide on it.

[oneshot]

BugDude,
Hope your suffering is kept to a minimum.

Try some Bourbon, or similar elixar to help with the pain.

[Brad426]

Mmmmm, bourbon.

Might I suggest Woodford Reserve (I'm a Kentucky boy... I know from bourbon.)

[BugDude]

BugDude,
Hope your suffering is kept to a minimum.

Try some Bourbon, or similar elixar to help with the pain.

I like your prescription!!! Having lived in central Kentucky for a year and a half many moons ago, I came to appreciate good bourbon...and even not so good bourbon. I learned real quick that if you drank it any other way than neat or with a tiny smidge of water they knew you "ain't from around here."

I tried the home doctoring thing and it was real obvious it was going to require real intervention. By Sunday, I was just trying to avoid the ER and wait it out until Monday morning. Let me tell you, when they go to carving stuff from your shin, it is rather uncomfortable. There's not a whole lot there to begin with.

[BugDude]

Mmmmm, bourbon.

Might I suggest Woodford Reserve (I'm a Kentucky boy... I know from bourbon.)

You suggest very well!!!!!!

I lived in Marion County and visited the Maker's Mark Distillery on several occasions. Did the tours, we rented out the old Victorian house up on the hill for strategic planning sessions with a little team building sampling at the end. I've got a gold wax VIP bottle with my name on the label. Maker's Mark isn't smooth, it has some bite to it. I had to acquire a taste for it.

I also spent time over in Bardstown while I was there and went through the Heaven Hill Distillery. Played golf on My Old Kentucky Home State Park golf course right beside of their warehouses. I lived there when it caught fire. What a shame. Smelled up the course for months. For an inexpensive KY bourbon, Even Williams is surprisingly mellow.

Wild Turkey is one of my favorite mid-grade KY bourbons.

I used to pass the Jim Beam distillery a lot on my way back and forth to meetings...to this day I just can't drink it. Too many over-done-its in my younger years with it. I can tell Jim Beam just from the smell. Very distinctive...especially when it is coming out of your nose.

Sorry for the digression...I have a deep appreciation for Kentucky Bourbon, the history, and the heritage. I really enjoyed my time there.

[thedogfather]

Well, you are the "BugDude" ... ok, all kidding aside, your bite sounds like a brown recluse spider to me. My father-in-law had a permanent crater carved into his arm following a brown recluse bite ... nothing to fool with. Follow your doctor's orders, make your follow up appointments. At least the bite wasn't on your shooting hand! Take care.

[Spirit51]

Brown recluse is worse than black widow bite. The brown recluse bite starts necrosis at the bite site and radiates out....killing the tissue as it goes. That is why he had to take out the flesh. You can't wait with those...we had a farmer from western Kansas who got bit in a very sensitive area. He waited for over a week. By the time he came in....he lost all the "family jewels". Those early days working at KUMC was a education and a half. I shake out all my clothes from the closet and check my shoes.

There is one spider that is more poisonous than a brown recluse.....that is the daddy long legs. Difference is daddy long legs can't bite a human.....but it can sure kill a brown recluse (one of his favorite foods). I NEVER kill a daddy long legs.

[thedogfather]

I don't mean to hijack this post, but 'BugDude and Brad 426 ... maybe you want to keep this a secret, but I had a couple bottles of '1792' Kentucky burbon whiskey; small batch distillery. This is the year Kentucky became a state. Oh my ... 94 proof ( I think) and as smooth and mellow as an early summer evening, when you want to drive thru town with the windows rolled down and the radio turned up real loud. The best burbon I've ever had. I cannot find it locally anymore !