The Itsy Bitsy Instinct
April 28, 2008
Last night Daren and I noticed a spider bite on Thomas’ back. I kept an eye on it all day today while it doubled in size, turned an angry red and looked like it was filling with pus. I know.
Then I Image Googled “spider bite” like I told you this morning. Yeah, like I said, don’t do that.
What I learned is that the little critters that come hang out in our house in spring, are called Black-footed spiders or Cheiracanthium mildei if you wanna git all fancy-like.
My spidey-senses tingling, I decided I would call the hospital to see if they were better equipped to deal with a spider bite than Urgent Care and they said they were.
To most people, a bite from one of these guys is pretty harmless, and the nurse even gave me a dismissive “we usually do nothing and tell parents to use Benedryl for a couple of days.” (Don’t you hate when medical staff do that? It’s not like I came in because I felt like partying in the ER. I love nurses and that kind of crap isn’t limited to them - doctors can be pompous condescending sacs too.)
While waiting for the doctor, I was subjected to the loudest ghetto mom in London. I don’t know where this chick hailed from but she made eye contact and fell in love with this face or the fact I had ears. She proceeded to tell me (and the entire hospital) her 8 year old son had strep and that’s why they were there, her boyfriend was on the adult side with the same and oh my god she is gonna get sick and her son has already had double pneumonia 12 times in his short life and RSV too and he is ADD and ADHD and even when he was sick the doctors thought he was fine because he was bouncing around like a rabbit on crack (yes, she actually said that in front of her kid, and mine) and that he got them all sick: her, her sister, her sister’s boyfriend, and her boyfriend, and so her mother had to take her son away and bring him back to “put him on the boob” and leave again so he wouldn’t get sick all over again and isn’t that terrible?
All the while, I was trying not to shoot myself in my ever-bobbing head. I swear to Zaboomafoo, I don’t know where my patience comes from some days. She was called before I had time to stab her in the throat with MY FOOT.
The doctor at Children’s Hospital tonight had just been to a conference where they taught him that many spider bites end up in staph infections that are resistant to antibiotics. (Don’t Google that either - I did earlier and actually knew what he was talking about because I’m so SMRT and stuff.)
Anyway, Thomas is on a high dose of an antibiotic 4x a day for 7 days. I hope it doesn’t hurt his tummy ~ he already has a bad cold and enough is enough already for toddler’s sake.
It’s funny I took him in to the hospital because normally I would have waited a bit to see if it was an infection. Something about this one was different. It reminds me of when Dylan was a baby and my instincts kicked in and he ended up having Kawasaki’s*.
You gotta trust those parental instincts, they have kept my children safe for nearly 14 years total.
Word to your mother bone.
*Not this kind of Kawasaki. Only Jenny has that affliction.
April 28th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
keep us posted — that was scary!
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April 28th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
That is scary. Good thing you used your spidey senses and Google.
Feed him some yogurt between doses of antibiotics and his tummy should be okay. But be prepared for Great Big Globs Of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts, just in case.
And I will send you a SHRIMP FORK for your purse, in case you need to stab someone in the future. It does a LOT of damage without a lot of evidence.
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April 28th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
*shivers*
I hate spiders. Glad Thomas is gonna be okay. That’s my middle name, by the way, because I know you care.
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April 28th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Ack… that is scary! Glad you went in and stuck to your guns. If I’ve learned anything since The Boy was born is that if the child is not acting like my child. It’s probably something.
As for the antibiotics, yogurt for breakfast (make sure it has live cultures in it.)
Hope he feels better soon.
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April 28th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Oh, I’m so glad you took him in, b/c if his skin was already reacting to it, that couldn’t have ended well.
Good momma instincts.
I’ll say a pray for your boy - keep us updated!
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April 28th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
I was victim to the ugly spider bite in college. When I went into to student health and said, “I’m sorry for being such a hypochondriac, but it just didn’t look right.” And it wasn’t. It seems that as a result of the bite, I had an infection in my veins. At that point they were able to treat it with oral antibiotics. If I had waited one day more, I would have been admitted to a hospital to get my antibiotics intravenously. That’s when I started to learn to trust my instincts a great deal more.
And funny you should mention Kawasaki’s. I hadn’t heard about it until a couple of years or so ago when my cousin’s daughter had it.
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April 28th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Yeah, I’m the type that will wait until the kid stops breathing before daring to interrupt a doctor’s busy schedule . . . Glad you did better than that!
And hope Thomas feels better soon!
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April 29th, 2008 at 12:11 am
yeah, girl, don’t do that spider picture thing again K? I clicked on your link from my Bloglines, walked away to refill my water glass and when I came back I nearly DIED I TELL YA thinking there was a freaking spider on my screen.
So, like, don’t do that again K?
Glad to hear that you got it seen to and I wish you roundhoused that chick and took photos. That would have been awesome…
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April 29th, 2008 at 1:14 am
I’m NAUSEOUS looking at that spider. I’m sorry he bit your li’l guy! Glad you got to the hospital when you did to nip this in the bud!
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April 29th, 2008 at 1:32 am
spiders…. *shudder*
hope thomas heals quickly.
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April 29th, 2008 at 8:39 am
“I swear to Zaboomafoo” LOL!
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April 29th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Bossy is now certain something is crawling under her sweatshirt. Is that normal?
April 29th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Glad you stuck to your guns! Just last week, my mom was cleaning out her garage and found a black widow spider crawling up her shirt. She flicked it, and it disappeared. She ripped off her shirt. Of course, it was a black shirt. Nothing. She tore off her pants. Nothing. Then a car honked at her. And she realized she was standing in her underwear, dancing around, with the garage door open to the street.
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April 30th, 2008 at 3:12 am
MRSA (the antibiotic strains of staph you mentioned) is most commonly misdiagnosed as a spider bite. I should know, as it’s happened to me and I blogged a fair bit of it.
You’re very fortunate to have A) gone in early and B) had a Dr. aware enough to see what it was.
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April 30th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
My daughter got a staph infection from an infected tick bite. The moron doctor we saw said the head was o.k. in there and that her body would push it out on its own. Two days later, swollen lump lanced and drained by another doctor and many days of antibiotics. I hate when doctor people act all blase about crap like that.
Swear to zaboomafoo cracked me up.
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