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The cage is front opening - my first mistake - and I stood at a respectful distance and lobbed in some food which he took. Thinking he was preoccupied with his dinner, I did not properly close the sliding glass door on his side of the tank before opening slightly the door on the other side of the same tank to throw in some food for his missus -my second mistake. Next thing I felt a bump on my arm and realised with horror that he had bitten me. Of all the snakes in my collection to be bitten by it had to be this one! I never saw his dirty deed at all he was so fast. By the time I looked at the perp he was sitting smugly in his tank looking back at me. Turns out my distance was not respectful enough - my third mistake.
Although I have previously checked out what their venom does - it is a charming cocktail of cytotoxin, haemotoxin and neurotoxin - I did not know what to expect. I was contemplating driving myself to the hospital which is only five minutes away but I did not know when or how badly I would start to show signs of envenomation which could include respiratory difficulties. So I called my mother who lives five minutes away to come get me to the hospital. Then I phoned BV.
I knew that if I had been envenomated my chances weren't good so the adrenalin was pumping like crazy. The emergency room people were very casual. I had to do the admin stuff and wait for ten minutes to see the doctor. I suppose if a person calmly walks up to the reception desk and says they have been bitten by a rattlesnake instead of screamining and groaning and waving their arms about it doesn't count as a real emergency.
On the way to the hospital BV asked me if my arm was sore and I said no I felt no pain. I knew there was some hope when he told me that it usually starts burning like crazy soon after the bite. BV said it was the haemotoxin that was the one to worry about. He was a pillar of strength and I made sure that he spoke to the doctor on the phone because of course the reaction to my tale of woe was "I don't know what to do, we don't have rattlesnakes in this country!" How unusual - an emergency medicine doctor not knowing how to deal with an emergency.
Just like the nurseryman who doesn't know what a morus alba or a sambucus nigra is ( I have an interest in the medicinal properties of plants) or the hardware man who can't think outside the box when it comes to wall hooks for my guitars (another interest).The doctor at least followed BV's instructions to the letter which meant I had to have four blood tests every hour before I could go. After the first two blood test results came in more than two hours after I got there and were clear, BV suggested I'd had some luck of a particularly fornicatory nature and that I could discharge myself as it was a dry bite. I wanted to but a little complication had arisen because my blood pressure had gone up to 195/103 which is not healthy and I had made a few succinct comments about letting me go to die at home of a stroke or heart attack.
Right in the beginning I had told them I was mildly hypertensive and hadn't taken my medication because I had run out. When my blood pressure shot up and stayed there, I asked the doc for some of my blood pressure medication. He said he was not a pharmacist
at which point I had to restrain myself from leaping off the bed to throttle him and politely reminded him that he was a doctor and could therefore write a prescription for me. He suddenly remembered the hospital had a pharmacy from which my family could buy my medication - amazing! He said they'd better hurry though because the pharmacy was closing soon. By the time he gave them the script and they got there it was already closed. My brother in law very kindly drove to another hospital which hasa 24 hour pharmacy to get me the five measly tablets he had prescribed and the came back with them. The nurse made me take one and wait another twenty minutes to see if my BP came down. I think my comment about my being a health lawyer had sunk in a little by that time.Anyway I am extremely grateful to BV for his support and for the powers that be who allowed me to see another christmas. You can all pile in now and tell me how stupid I was.
