Thursday, February 17, 2011

Sleeping with Spiders

I believe a brown recluse might have taken a bite out of me while I was having a nap. The bite has spread across my upper rib cage; presenting itself as a blazing scarlet letter, but not any letter I recognize from the English alphabet. It goes much deeper than the skin too. It seems to have bruised down throughout my ribs, and vacillates between being painful and ridiculously itchy. It has affected my heart somehow too. At night, as I’m lying in bed, my heart seems to want to burst out of the confines of my ribcage. The stabs of pain around the bite have taken my body’s attention away from sleep. Really, who knew that such an itsy bitsy spider could affect an adult’s body in such a dramatic way? Apparently, it could be much worse. I’ve been looking at spider bites on the internet, and some of those pictures are very deeply seated in the human flesh, raw, and not to be looked at while dining (or carrying out). As I was brushing my hair today, I was taken aback by the fact that I looked so normal on the outside. I have a bite that affects me in all the ways previously mentioned, but the problem can be swiftly covered up by my black DW T-shirt.


Last week I finished rereading The Hobbit. It seems now like poetic justice that Bilbo Baggins killed so many spiders with Sting (his sword), and taunted them with names like Attercop and Tomnoddy. I’m not really sure what those names mean, but apparently it is highly offensive to spiders, and it made many of them very angry. My heart also goes out to the twelve dwarves who were stung by the creepy crawlies, and strung up in the trees incased in spider cocoons. If a little spider can do all the damage mentioned in the first paragraph, beware of getting attacked and eaten by giant ones!!!!

All this to say, good night, sweet dreams, and check under your covers before you hop in bed tonight.

3 comments:

Rachel said...

eeeeeeeeeew, so sorry! That seriously sucks! (I refrained from using an obvious pun there).

I hope it heals quickly!

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry, Heather! Brown recluse bites are nasty. How many days has it been since you noticed it? It generally takes a while before the necrosis really "blooms."

Here's a link to a post about our family's experience with brown recluse bites and plantain (The Wonder Weed) - http://graceglory.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/our-experience-with-plantain/.
Even though it is still winter, it's likely there is some plantain to be found. If you're interested in trying it and can't find any, let me know. I have some dried plantain that would do in place of fresh, if needed.

Hammy said...

Haha! Yes, Rachel... it bites!!! :)

Thanks for the tip, Laurel. It's been over a week since I first noticed it, and I am very open to ideas and seeing if I can still draw out the poison. I'll investigate to see if I have a local plantain supplier.