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Friday, April 11, 2014
Creepy Desert Crawlies
Creepy Crawlies
My apologies to our grandson Dylan, 7, who just loves
bugs. If he finds one-he does what he
thinks is saving their lives. This means
that IF he somehow finds an earthworm here in the hot desert-he removes it from
the dirt and puts it in the sun to “dry up and get his vitamin D”.
Don’t you love kids?
Anyway, this week’s blog is NOT about saving bugs. Nope, not even a little bit. I’m incredibly allergic to spiders. Therefore our youngest, Adam has unfortunately
gotten this rather horrible gene. A couple
of months back, both Steve and I got “bit” by some spider. Steve took a Benadryl and the itching stopped
and the “red” went away by that evening.
I, on the other hand, had 5 bites that swelled up, turned
beet red and then had streaks shooting out in every direction. It killed pain wise. I had an epidural the next morning and the
doctor asked about my arm. After I told
him about my prior afternoon, he told me bluntly, “I’m not comfortable with
this-promise me you will either go immediately to urgent care or to your GP.”
When I got to the GP-the PA proceeded to give me a shot in
the rear of an antibiotic, then a written prescription and told me to get more
ice on it and stay “put” for the day.
Good thing I had that epidural in the shoulder of that arm. It was quite the fun few days for me.
We have a pest control service for just this reason AND
because we live in a desert where scorpions are literally everywhere.
Back to the latest
creepy crawly event. We were out with
our friends for breakfast and we were discussing that even with our services,
glue boxes and such that with the return of our 85+ degree days we had seen a
few dead scorpions and what we were doing to protect ourselves.
I shared that Steve was refusing to wear the slippers I
bought him because they “make my feet sweat”. Our friend Al pointed out that
sweaty feet were better than stung feet.
Steve said “we’ve only had the couple of dead ones, I’m not worried.”
That phrase came back to haunt him on Sunday night. Yep, he was checking out the guest bathroom
to be sure the grandkids didn’t make a mess of the new faucet he installed and
next thing-yelling at 11:15!
I got right onto the internet and found the steps to
treatment. Got a bleach soaked cotton
ball and taped it on for 5 minutes (kill the outside venom and stop it from
spreading further), wash with soap and water, gave him both Benadryl and
Naprosyn, elevated the foot and applied ice packs in 10 minute intervals.
Thankfully Steve was already on Keflex for some mole
removals. His foot was both in pain and
numb, said it felt as if he stepped on a nail.
Next morning it was the same so we went to immediate care. The attending PA told him that all the right
steps had been done and he should just keep them up for a day or two.
We also called the pest control people. It was time for our quarterly service. Probably the reason that for the first time
in our 16 months here that this was the first live critter that invaded the
house.
He used my car at work the next day-as driving a stick shift
was just not in the proverbial cards.
Once things settled down I asked him if he had learned
anything important from this experience?
His answer? “I guess
I should always wear something on my feet”.
And then my ever-lovin’ husband still left his slippers untouched in the
closet.
Sigh.
