A (Not So) Lovely Surprise in a Christmas Box......

If there’s a part about Christmas decorating that I don’t like, that would be all the boxes and Rubbermaid tubs full of decorations that await me. I don’t like the clutter and I’m a little impatient to get to the enjoy-it-part. We do usually try to get the main (big) tree up and decorated in the living room over the first weekend that we pull all the decorations out. Then the following week, I just work on it as I can. I can happily say that everything is pretty much decorated for Christmas here in our home, and we are in the enjoy-it-part. I can now move on to The Cedar Loft this weekend!

However, I guess you could say I had an unexpected surprise that awaited me in one of those boxes. After I made Monday’s post to my blog regarding Christmas decorating, Jason came home and insisted that I get to the doctor, and right away.

But here’s the events that led up to that.

I also mentioned in my last post that Luke had a stomach bug and had passed it along to me. Therefore, on Saturday, I assumed I was having symptoms from the stomach bug, although Luke never had the exact same ones. Saturday, as the day stretched on, I began feeling nauseated, and more so as time passed. By evening, when we were settling down to watch our Christmas movie, I was really feeling more nauseous, and just felt bad in general. Then I started to have chills and fever. Still thinking this was the stomach virus, I took some ibuprofen, bundled up (because I was freezing), and went to bed. The next morning I noticed my knuckle on my right hand was itching. I looked down and saw a tiny festered blister. I still thought nothing of it.

I was home from church that morning (because of our stomach virus), so when Jason came home, I showed him the little blister, but because it was itching and not hurting, we still didn’t think a lot of it. I mean it was really tiny.

Now fast forward to Monday. By this time, my hand, knuckle, and index finger were hurting a little, and the redness was beginning to climb up my hand more, and beginning to swell. This was when Jason came home from work. When I told him my hand was hurting some, he insisted that I get to the doctor. He realized at that point, I think, that it was similar to what happened to him a few years ago. His suspicion was that I was bitten by a brown recluse spider. So I went. And he was right. The Dr. knew right away. Because it was later than 24 hours after the bite, it was too late to get the steroid shot in the location of the bite, so I had to get one in the hip. She then put me on Cipro, one of the two best antibiotics for treating a brown recluse spider bite; the other one I’m allergic to. She said that being bit on the knuckle is “a good location”, (if there can be a good location), because there is not much tissue or fat in that area.

If you’re not familiar with brown recluse spiders, they are one of the most poisonous types, and we have a lot of them around here. We try to keep the house sprayed. Evidently, one was hiding out in a Christmas box. You also never feel when a brown recluse bites you, according to our doctor. And I know this was true for both Jason and me. And the little blister was so tiny! What really stumped us was that my knuckle didn’t hurt at first.

When Jason got bit, he also had no idea. Looking back, he never knew when the bite occurred. He had respiratory issues during the night that we thought were related to that time of year (bronchitis). But then his leg hurt that day. That’s what sent him to the doctor. They misdiagnosed him because they didn’t see a blister of any sort, or at least if he did, we missed that step. He was told it was possibly a busted varicose vein. However, things worsened over the next week, and to say it was a major ordeal is an understatement. He went through a long process of healing in his leg and it all came from a little brown recluse spider.

So when Jason showed concern and told me to get to the doctor, I didn’t hesitate.

I discussed with Jason whether to post this or not, but decided I wanted to warn folks about these little creatures! They look a lot like some of the harmless ones . The biggest difference is that the body (very small)has what appears to be a “stamp” of the shape of a violin on the upper portion.

Can you see the tiny violin at the top?

My hand is already much better. This is a photo of what my bite looked like, and it is also two days later. I didn’t think to get a picture in the beginning, since I didn’t realize what it was.

If you look closely, you can see the center pin point where the blister originally was located.

If you ever notice a blistery or pimply type bite that itches or hurts, go to the doctor! If you go within 24 hours, no matter where it is located, they can give you a shot in the affected area, and follow it up by antibiotics, and it will greatly reduce the amount of damage it can cause! What it does is attack fatty and muscle tissue and “eats it out”, leaving a hole or blackened area.

And just to show you the damage that a brown recluse can do, I am going to show you the scar Jason has from his bite.

** PLEASE NOTE THAT IF THINGS LIKE THIS BOTHER YOU OR MAKE YOU SICK, YOU MIGHT WANT TO SKIP THE REST OF THIS POST! ** (I have his permission, by the way).

This scar is about inches 2 1/2 "across and 2 1/2" inches tall. 

So from this, I am so thankful that it wasn’t any of my children that were bit. And I am thankful that if I was going to be bitten, it was on the knuckle. And finally, that my husband had enough insight to persuade me to get to the doctor!

So please be careful as you’re digging in those boxes with your Christmas decorations!

And I promise, my next post will not have any graphic images! I really try NOT to do that, but did want to warn folks of the results of a brown recluse spider bite! Please be careful!

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Don’t forget, for this one last post, you can still make a reasonable offer on any of the remaining auction items to help bring Leiney Grace home! You can click here to see what is left!

I’m not that far away from 500 followers – just 9 more…..and then it’s giveaway time! Don’t you just love Christmas giveaways? Speaking of followers, I prefer to use the terminology, faithful readers. So thank you to my faithful readers, those that have been with me for awhile, as well as the new ones! I appreciate you so much!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!