I woke up bright and early, like I usually do. Unlike other days, however, I noticed a little soreness in my hip. Along with that soreness, I noticed what appeared to be a small pimple right in the middle of the area that was sore.
Without thinking about it, I popped the white head, jumped in the shower, got dressed, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and left to visit a client.
As the day progressed, I began to itch and the soreness continued; however, the soreness seemed to have spread. Still not thinking about it, I let it go.
Later that evening, while at home, I felt it bothered me too much to ignore, so I tried to squeeze out any fluid build up at the pimple site –I was surprised to find how much pus came out along with fluid. After cleansing it as best I could, I put a band-aid on it and headed to bed.
The following morning, I was shocked to find out how bad the bite site was. What had started out as a small pimple had now ulcerated into a disgusting open wound, measuring about the size of a quarter, while the soreness and redness had spread into the surrounding areas for about 5 inches in all directions.
Still not wanting to back out on my client, I decided I would jump in the shower, drain what was looking like an infection, and get going to meet my client.
I met with my client at approximately 7am. By about 10am, I turned to my client, and in a very serious tone said, “You need to find someone to replace me now. I need to go to the hospital.”
I had started feeling nauseous and dizzy and honestly felt as if I was going to pass out. I showed the client the wound, and to my horror it had actually gotten worse, in the short amount of time I had been there.
Stupidly, I drove myself to the clinic. How I made it, I don’t know.
At the clinic, the doctor looked at it and told me he had only seen bites like that in the south and they were a result of the brown recluse. The doctor gave me a prescription for pain medication and amoxicillin and told me to return in two days so he could lance it and drain it, because it was pretty bad.
It took every ounce of energy I had to get the prescription filled and make it home. By that time, the weakness was so bad and the nausea and pain so great, I didn’t think I would make it without getting into an accident.
As a result of not having insurance at the time, I decided instead of going back and paying the doctor to lance it and drain it, I would do it at home myself — So the next day I did.
I took my Swiss Army Knife, heated the edge up really hot, jumped in the shower, and proceed to lance it myself. Gently, and while wincing in pain, I sliced the infect area open and squeezed out all the pus and fluid that had built up. I was shocked at how much build up there was. After I drained as much as I could from the wound, I cleaned the wound thoroughly and packed it full of antibiotic cream.
For two days, I had to walk around the house nude. The mere breath of my shirt or pants touching the wound would drop me to my knees in pain. By the third day, I was able to tolerate putting on pants and a shirt, but was still very conscientious of keeping dressing on the wound to mitigate contact with my clothes.
The wound, itself, took a long time to heal, but the memory of how I almost lost it due to a tiny creature will stay with me forever.
