Tarantula Bite!

Tarantula – I was bitten by a mystery insect in early December. Started off as a couple of innocuous spots and progressed to swell my finger to alarming proportions. I went to a pharmacy and was given anti-inflammatories and antibacterial tablets. After 36 hours my whole hand was swollen and I was feeling very feint and had a full body sweat for 30 mins. 

Luckily there was a doctor on hand who called a pal to bring some more drugs which I took and tried to sleep it off. “If no improvement in the morning go to hospital”. Well I was due to go rafting the next morning so I was hoping for the best. There had been discussion about what had bitten me:

Scorpion – “no he would have felt it and the reaction would have been quicker”

Snake – “same he would have felt it”

Tarantula – “most likely” – plus some subsequent research be me on Wikipedia etc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantula  - “some individuals may suffer severe symptoms due to an allergic reaction rather than to the venom. Such allergic effects can be life-threatening.” Mine was just an allergic reaction and not life threatening  (at least after the hefty dosage of 4 different drugs – Anti –histamines were also added to the cocktail.)

The morning came and the swelling had reduced to just my finger which would not bend but I felt it would be OK just using 3 fingers J. More on the rafting later. The swelling stayed despite the drugs but at least it did not get bigger. I was a little concerned that something might be growing in my finger (watched too many sci-fi films?) So I was lancing and squeezing the thing with very disappointing results – until day 6!!! 

This time – blimey !!! – a sudden rush of toothpaste diameter and consistency puss oozed from the offending finger an inch long – uuurrrgh! I wiped it off and another inch appeared. 3 inches (7.5cm) in total – I have a picture but in the interests of you keeping down your last meal I have not posted it. Over the next 4 days I re squeezed every 2-3 hours and eventually the battle of the puss was won and at the time of writing (4 weeks after the bite) all is now well.