Arm Snatcher...

Yes, this past week was pretty scary. If you were on Facebook (and can see my posts), you have already seen the photos of what happened this past week but for those of you who need a little more detail or weren't "in" on the happenings, this is what we went through..

Wednesday morning, Will traveled to a convention center to represent his company at a local show so he left, in a nice long sleeve shirt and pants, to go to work (this knowledge will be helpful later; it's not just fluff). Around 11:00 in the afternoon, he started to feel a slight pain on his right hand between his thumb and first finger but thought nothing of it. Lunchtime brought a little swelling which he joked about and claimed he couldn't even hold a fork, it hurt pretty bad.

When he returned home that night, around 6:30, he looked a little flushed. I just assumed, since he was wearing a long sleeved shirt and pants (remember, I told you it would be helpful later), the heat was due to the long sleeves on a hot day. So, like any loving wife, when Will said, "look at my hand, it's swollen and I don't know what I did to it," I just said, "oh...ya, that's weird. I'm heading off to work for a few hours. I'll see you later." Aren't I just the most doting wife? I tell ya...I can be so sympathetic it makes me weep. As most mothers will understand, my mind was on feeding my 3 bottomless pits and trying not to lose my cool when I had to say, for the millionth time, "sit on your bottoms on the chairs while you're eating dinner!!" (my kids cannot, and I really mean, canNOT sit still for more than 30 seconds.)

I digress. On to the story in progress. My wifely sympathy reappeared when I arrived home to a dirty house 3 hours later and said, "wow, the kitchen is so picked up (said sarcastically because he had 3 hours and there was food everywhere.)" Yes, I was a little cruel but then I heard this small voice from the other side of the wall say, "ya, I'm just not feeling well." When I turned the corner, I saw my husband, beet red, working on the computer to finish an artwork for his dad! and looking horrible. I immediately took his temperature and it read 103 in both ears. After panicking a little (I was honestly wondering what adult gets a 103 temperature and lives to tell), I flashed back in my mind to a story from a friend about how her brother had been bit by a black widow, had a red line coming out of the bite, and almost died. I quickly checked my husband for any evidence of impending doom and found it, already snaking its way up to the middle of his bicep. Yes, I panicked a little more. I don't know if you've ever had that flush through your body when the adrenaline kicks in? Yep, I got that. I quickly called our friend, Dr. John, and asked if this should be a reason to go to the hospital. In the most calm manner, my friend urged him to go to the ER.

For the first time, Will didn't hesitate or question a Dr visit but got up, got dressed, and drove himself to the ER (hey, I would have loved to have accompanied him if I didn't have 3 sleeping kids). After he had been there about 2 hours, they admitted him and started some pretty serious antibiotics along with anti-venom. Their opinion was that he had been bitten by something venomous because of the red streaks on his arm which meant that the venom/poison had become systemic (in the blood). Here are a few shots of his arm (the black line is from the nurse marking the streaks with a pen to see if it got any bigger, which it did.)
This photo is extra large if you want to REALLY see a close-up.Each day Will spent in the hospital, the spread of poison got worse and worse. I forgot my camera the second day but it had spread almost around his entire arm. Eventually, the nurses were confident that the infection hadn't spread past his armpit (which is where the red lines stopped) and he stayed in the hospital until the red lines disappeared. It took a whole lot of antibiotics (and a whole lot of deductible). The whole ordeal was very scary but it brought out the best in the people around us. We were overwhelmed with the offers of childcare and meals from our wonderful friends and family and blessed by those who, without hesitation, took the kids so I could visit Will in the hospital. I can't even talk about it without getting all choked up...

Above it all, God is so good! Will kept his sense of humor through it all and fought the infection with all he had (having his iPhone with him helped ease the boredom in the hotel room. That, and the 85 year old stroke victim who was his roommate. Having a nurse come in every 3 hours to shout out questions to the man to see if he still knew who he was didn't help in adding to the exhausting 3 1/2 days in the hospital.)
So now my handsome, strong, wonderful man turns 40 this weekend and I've still got him. No spider (or Staph infection..they really don't know what it was) can take him away from me yet and I could not be happier. Happy Birthday to my very own Spiderman!!