Snakebite!

[Alicia]

Hi guys, I miss being here so much, but haven't had any time. I'm now working 60 hours a week, and still trying to keep up with house and yard work. Speaking of which, I was trying to clear out some ivy and was bitten by a copperhead. :eek: I was in hospital from Friday till Sunday about 3 p.m. last week. The swelling is almost down now, and I can use my hand again (why is it that everything always happens to our favored hand anyway?) Here is a pic, I hope. Anyway, just wanted to say hi, and let everyone know my prayers are with them, even though I haven't time to respond to the individual posts. I hope that your lives are going well, and wanted to let Janis know that she still has two very commited fans in Arkansas. I listen to my wonderful CD's every chance I get, and am still awed by the talent so compacted in such a wonderful Lady. Be well, friends. :)

[AceOn6]

Aaargh. Glad you got prompt attention for it. I hate snakes and double hate poisonous snakes.

Get well soon.

[Bat]

Wow, Alicia! That must have been a pretty big snake! You are very lucky to have gotten quick attention, lucky they had the antivenin there...let's just say it could have been worse.
Glad you're still around, 60 hours a week sounds like an awful load! I hope you like your job.
Take care of yourselves, and make lots more noise when you're clearing the ivy, next time! Banging on a pot might be effective, and stomping a lot may drive away any lurkers. :eek:
Best of luck in your continued recovery!

[DaveM]

This has got to be the most exotic condition for which Rudie Power has ever been called upon. I think we're up to it....how about the rest of you?

Copperheads' venom, mercifully, is not as toxic as that of certain other venomous snakes. But it's nothing to be treated lightly, that's for sure. I'm glad you were able to identify the snake, as antivenin is generally species-specific.

A speedy recovery to you and every good wish.

[snakegrl]

Wow, that is quite a nasty bite. Good that you could treat it right away and as others have said, identify the snake. In the spring, snakes are a bit lethargic, especially if it is still cool or in the morning before theyv'e had a chance to warm up.
Drink lots of green veggie juice, but not that bottled crap you see everywhere. Juice it yourself. If your'e interested, I'm happy to share more info.
i've always heard copperheads smell like cucumbers. Don't know if it's true, but one time in the woods, I did smell that. I didn't see a snake, but carefully backtracked and went elsewhere.
Oh yeah, if there is one snake, there may be another around somewhere close. Dont mean to scare you, but it stands to reason there may be a breeding pair, or just good habitat in your area with the ivy. If it's like my neighborhood,one person has ivy, we all have ivy, like the flu.
Good luck to you.

[Eva]

Get well soon! I think you deserve extra Rudiepower, Alicia. It's not every day that one gets bitten by a cucumber... :o

Eva

[Irish Beth]

Wow, that sure was a scare. Glad you are on the mend. Keep us posted on how you are doing.

[hoops]

feel better soon, take care of t6hat hand and look out for snakes for gosh sakes! seriously I'm praying for you
peace
hoops

[DaveM]

Alicia--it might be worth the relatively small cost to have a pest control company take a look at your property to make sure there are no active snake dens around. It sounds as if you were bitten because you surprised the snake (which is how most snakebites occur), but as has been posted above, where there was one, there could well be others. And neither you nor the snakes are likely to benefit from any more "surprises".

[snakegrl]

Hey, those cucumber snakes are the worst. They put you in a real pickle.Bwaaahaaa haaaa. Symptoms are excessive belching and green warty skin.

[DaveM]

Especially the ones with garlic, I presume.

[snakegrl]

You betcha, but at least the vampires won't bite.

[Gigglepottomus]

Alicia there you are. I have been missing you and Rikki. Sorry that snake bit you. Feel better soon and come back to us soon and bring Rikki if you can.

[saxman]

sorry to hear about your snake bite . i stillhave a rattelsnake thats hibernating in my nlaundry room from last year , i sure hope it found a way out of my house , snakes scare me . glad you are ok .i recently got a new dryer and found the shedded skin under the old dryer so im scared , se ya

[Alicia]

Thank you all for your kind words. I am almost totally over the bite now, and back out working on the pond and area where I was bitten. I am, however, using tools this time. I am using the electric hedge trimmers to cut the vines away and a long rake to pile them up. I will also use the rake to sack them. I am being very careful, we have seen snakes in our yard before, I think they were all copperheads. "They" call Bella Vista copperhead central. I have never liked being fearful of nature, in any way. I try to leave them alone and they generally leave me alone. This last time, I was just being too forward going in with bare hands where I couldn't see. I'll not make that mistake again.
Rikki is working alot, as well, and doesn't have time to play. Also, she noticed that once she responded to a thread, it pretty much stopped there, with no one responding, and felt pretty unwelcome. I have felt the same, but not as much as she. I still keep up with what's going on to a degree, but do not log in often. I realise that we, I, have made mistakes that it is hard to overlook. So, we pretty much stay off the board. I just wanted to let everyone know what was going on, and let Miss Janis know that we still care about her, as well as all of you here. Take care, we will do the same. Alicia:)

[soulMerlin]

toilet/bog/loo/dunnie/crapper/nettie/lat(rine)/john/dumper/s***house/washroom/gent's/ladies/wc/convenience/men's/woman's/lav(itory)/...again:rolleyes:

h.

[SongDragon]

I'm glad your hand is almost recovered from the snakebite... except for the caution you learned that is now making you use tools, that probably won't go away for a long while yet. It's good to hear from you, and I hope your busy life calms down a little--without forcing you to take a few days off in the hospital because of a snakebite!

~Song

[Rikki]

Do you guys know just how much a copperhead snake bite costs?

2 nights in the hospital, several vials of anti-venom, antibiotics, etc...

$122,600.00

OH YEAH, we're all in the wrong line of work. Janis, Rudies, I say we all go in together and build a hospital.

[marjan]

Sorry I'm a bit late with responding, but I'm glad things are working out fine. Good to hear you are on the recovery end of the bite :D

[Marcia Drummergal]

Rikki? Did I read that figure right? One hundred twenty-two THOUSAND, etc., etc?

OMG! I hope her insurance covered every bit of it!!!! I could see if it were mine, well....we'll cover 80%. And I would be taking out a loan.......

Marcia :eek:

[GodSistah]

Yesterday, I went out on a total of 5 snake calls [all reported as rattlesnakes of course]. One had disappeared, two were gopher snakes and one was indeed a rattlesnake curled up next to an outside garage door. I actually found two other rattlesnakes but one was in a field behind a house and there he stayed. He wasn't bothering anyone and that is his home [someone will be calling the mayor to report my ass soon enough for that, I'm sure]. The other one slithered back into his hole right before I got there. The hole is right outside of their back fence. He poked his head out once and I might have been able to get him if the the reporting party hadn't been talking so loud and scared him back inside. She didn't believe me when I said he was more afraid of us. They are creepy though. :rolleyes:

Anyway, hope your arm is feeling better, Alicia. Glad to hear you are using a rake now. I showed the picture of your arm to people at work and got all the appropriate oohs and ahhs...heh heh. :)

~Andrea~

[DaveM]

I think getting into the hospital racket might be a fine idea. There must be enough of us who have at least had First Aid courses or some "real" medical training to fake it to the satisfaction of most insurance companies (I can put on Band-Aids....).

What would we call the place? Rudie General? Pearl Memorial?

Might be the only hospital on earth with live music in the elevators. And NO MUZAK!

Some years ago, a local fellow was bitten by a (captive) rattlesnake. No hospital within 300 miles of here has any antivenin, so he took to his bed and attempted a friend's recommendation: a quart of whiskey. He survived and has since been looking for another snake.

[RedjackRyan]

late to the party, but i'm pleased you are recovering well. That wasn't nice of that ole no-shoulder to take a bite outta ya like that.

As to the hospital idea, I got a couple of dull bowie knives, just itchin to get to cuttin..

[snakegrl]

LOL Redjack. And I've got a suction cup and a bicycle pump.

[DaveM]

I've got a fillet knife and a veterinary syringe (no needle, alas). And Goodwill has a couple of breast pumps.

Which raises an interesting question: does anyone ever actually BUY a used breast pump?

[SongDragon]

I don't have any medical experience except for what my family has taught me, but that can be a lot if I want it to be! My Aunt Ginny and one of my step grandfathers are both doctors (though one is retired and he broke my finger worse when he tried to fix it, though I'll admit it was an odd break), even my mother was a Nurse's Aid at one point, my Aunt Liz and Grandma are both nurses (or at least trained as nurses, though I think Grandma married without ever working as a nurse), and my Aunt Abby is a dental hygenist (haven't a clue if I spelled that right). So pick me, pick me for this odd hospital idea! Actually my twin does want to go to med school, I wonder if it rubs off...

~Song

[DaveM]

I've taken stitches out of two dogs and one person. Also helped deliver a calf once....

[snakegrl]

I've removed a suspicious looking mole. Took it right down to the police . Bwaaaaaahaaaaaahaaaaa.
No,really. I did.
Actually, I used a very potent salve. Hurt like hell,but it did the trick.

[RedjackRyan]

I made two people require stitches.. does that count for anything?

[Denise]

lol :eek:

[Alicia]

I'm curious, in countries where health care is actually provided for its citizens, what would the routine have been in a case like this? I've heard that medical care is sub-standard and you have to wait forever to be seen. Also, that you have no rights to any decisions on your behalf, as to where you go to be seen and such. I am a big proponent of National Health Care, and have been all my life. It seems that the life and health of anyone who does not have insurance in the United States is worth nothing.
I work for a small company, that does not offer insurance, and do not make enough to provide it for myself full cost. The bill is mine. I told the EMS heroes that I really didn't want to go to hospital since Copperheads do not actually kill, and their venom is less potent than some other snakes. The hand swelled so quickly, and was in pretty severe pain, and they said that copperheads are not to be treated lightly, and that I did need to go. When the Doctor said I could have lost fingers, I was very glad to have gone. The pain was so bad going through the middle of my hand, like a stake, and it was swollen over four inches above it's size measuring around the palm and back of the hand. I truly thought it was going to swell so much it would litterally burst! Anyway, I'm glad I went. The hospital says there are forms I can fill out to get the price reduced by 50-90%, so that's a good thing.

Curious, I worked 58 hours last week, and by yesterday my hand was swollen and numb again. It's still over an inch larger than normal today and hurts. It may actually take more time than I figured on to heal.
I have cut my working hours down to 36 hours a week, in hopes that the healing will get back on track.

GodSistah, be careful in your work! It's so good to hear from all of you, and I do believe a hospital venture is a good idea! (Thanks, Rikki.)

Have a wonderful week and take care of yourselves.

[Marcia Drummergal]

Bat and I are just BESIDE ourselves over the bill. Did they break it down for you? Does the antivenin really cost that much? If the bite didn't kill you, I'm surprised the bill didn't. Even if they write off 90%, you will still owe over
$12,000.00!!!!!! Surprised they didn't just say, no insurance? Who is your next of kin?!?!?!

Sorry you are having complications. Hope you heal quickly!

Marcia :eek:

[DaveM]

It would be most interesting indeed to know how something like this would be handled under, for example, Canada's National Heath.

Open invitation for our Canadian Rudies to jump in anywhere.....

[Dee]

It would be most interesting indeed to know how something like this would be handled under, for example, Canada's National Heath.

Good question. Unfortunately all I could find was this:

Don’t leave home without it — travel medical insurance (http://www.ama.ab.ca/cps/rde/xchg/SID-53ED365C-092A8473/ama/web/member_services_5313.htm), that is. That way you’ll be covered no matter what happens, whether it’s a broken leg, appendicitis, snake bite or sun stroke.

[lucille]

I have only one word for this Alicia

F - - - - - - k :eek:

I had a complete titanium knee replacement last December, and it cost me nuffink! Granted I am in the second highest medical benefit, but I told the surgeon I would only have it if I could get full cover, and granted he is a friend, but even if I had to pay for it, it wouldn't cost anywhere near that.

By the way, I have been thinking about you both. With the new JIMB all the posts from the past have disappeared into the ether, and I thought you had too. Good to see you again.

[DaveM]

Oh yes--travel insurance is fine stuff. Reasonably priced and it covers pretty much any eventuality (I once had a policy that would pay up to $2000 to ship my mortal remains home should I croak while on the road--I wrote "don't bother" on the policy and no one seemed to notice).

Now if only you'd had a policy and could convince the issuing agency that going out to the back yard was "travel"....

Not sure how helpful health coverage would have been during my trip to Eastern Europe, where at the time hospitals were still reusing needles and other delightful stuff. I actually learned how to say "please do not give me an injection" in Polish, though if I recall correctly, the sentence sounds so much as if you have a bone caught in your throat that it would have more likely gotten me the Heimlich Maneuver than any relief.