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There's something primordially scary about spiders. They're so tiny yet their venom carries a bit wallop. Last week Phillip, one of my coworkers, was bitten
on the head by a brown recluse while sitting in his desk chair at home. The bite has since gotten black, necrotic, and, although he's on meds, has apparently
been pretty painful. Naturally, the rest of us have picked up on this reality and become rather attuned to possible spider dangers. We had brown recluses in
the attic when we lived in Clinton, SC and black widows in the wood pile and the shoe pile when we lived in Knoxville, TN but I hadn't seen any poisonous
spiders in Fairview, TN until this past week when I killed a brown recluse in the basement. I blame it on Cara's obsessive running of the dehumidifier down
there. Oh, and
did I mention Phillip also lives in Fairview? Maybe it's just a good year here for brown recluses. Back in 2010 we ran into baby rattlesnakes all over Hilton
Head, but never saw the snakes before or since that year.
Today at work Dick told us about what he thinks is a spider bite that he received. Not an hour later I was talking with Dick when I noticed a sore spot on my
lower back. Inspecting it in the mirror, it was what appeared to be a half-dime sized blister surrounded by a red area: the telltale signature of infection.
Tonight I had Cara pierce the blister and drain the fluid, but she got overzealous and removed the skinflap as well. Then she cleaned it with rubbing alcohol.
Ouch! Apparently MRSA is often misidentified as a spider bite though. . .
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