The Beginning

This is a recap of what happened with the whole snakebite thing 4 years ago.

Flashback to October 9, 2007.....
I was watching Ryan and Dylan (twin boys I nannied for years) who were 6 years old at the time. Here is a picture of them in 2007. <3 (Anyone want to guesstimate how long it took me to figure out how to make that heart??)

We decided to go to the Parkville Nature Sanctuary which is a group of walking trails through the woods in our area. We had done this many times before. I was wearing flip flops on this particular venture **foreshadowing**. The boys were racing each other to a bench ahead of us on the path. I was walking behind them and felt a sharp prick on the inside of my right foot. My first thought was that I had stepped on a thorn. When I looked down I saw a smallish dark-colored snake coiled up with its head sticking up right next to me. I proceeded to walk away quickly. My first thought was that I wasn't going to say anything to Ryan and Dylan because I didn't want to freak them out. The more I thought about it, I wasn't sure how serious the whole thing was so I sat down at the bench with them and told them what had happened. Dylan asked if I knew what to do. *Nope* I did what any 21 year old would do and called my mom. She said we should go to the ER and get it checked out and that she would pick me up at the trails. I called the boys' dad and had him come get them. The three of us walked out of the nature sanctuary and met up with our respective parents.

At the ER I was asked to look at a lineup of different types of snakes and try to identify my new enemy. We narrowed it down to either a Timber Rattlesnake or a Copperhead (both venomous). Most people ask the question at this point in my story, "Did they give you anti-venom?" Well, I learned that the rate of having an anaphylactic reaction to anti-venom is about 1 in 4. We decided to use that as a back-up plan. The strange thing about a venomous snake bite is that it doesn't really hurt when it happens but the longer you go after getting bit, the more painful it gets.

By the time I got to the ER at NKCH my foot was starting to swell. The concern when it comes to swelling is avoiding a compartment syndrome. A compartment syndrome in pretty basic terms is when you have so much swelling that it cuts off your blood vessels and nerves leading to possible amputation. If you get to the point of a compartment syndrome the doctors can choose to do a fasciotomy. A fasciotomy is when a surgeon cuts your skin open to relieve pressure and leaves it open until things start to return to normal size. Not fun. Not interested. During my stay in the hospital the nurses measured around my ankle and upper calf often to make sure the swelling wasn't out of control.

I have yet to understand why we couldn't have gotten a piece of paper to write the results on as opposed to my leg but some things we will just never know.... These next pictures show the progress of the swelling and bruising over the next few days.

This is one is of the inside of my thigh where I ended up bruising in a line where the venom tracked (assumedly).

Anyway, after a few days in the hospital I was sent home on Lovenox injections (a blood thinner) due to the lovely fact that snake venom tends to clot your blood. I was on crutches for awhile and driving wasn't too pretty.

So, believe it or not, that was the fairly abbreviated version. Now it is four years later and here we are. Feel free to ask any questions!