Arachnophobia (or getting nailed by a spider)

Arachnophobia (or a fear of Spiders).  Well didn’t you see the movie?  I’m not a huge fan of bugs, much less spiders (especially big hairy spiders).  Kind of like Indiana Jones and his fear of snakes.  So getting nailed by a spider isn’t high-up on my priority list (trust me on this).  Bugs make me squeal like a girl (not like the macho Marine I “used” to be).  Nuff said, okay?

So, as mentioned in a previous post, (https://dennstedt.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/parque-natural-ria-celestun/), we visited the Nature Preserve in Celestun the day before yesterday, and it was GREAT!  What I didn’t mention in the last post was the vicious and completely unprovoked attack, on my person, by an out-of-control Arachnid (yeah, a fucking Spider).  And boy did he/she have his/her way with me.  I was left feeling violated, ashamed and totally embarrassed.  Raped by a Spider!

About halfway through our river trip, on the Rio de Celestun, we pulled our boat into a Mangrove Swamp for some exploration.  Shortly after climbing out of the boat, I guess I put my hand somewhere I shouldn’t have, and felt a slight sting (Mosquito?).  Not!  I never saw the brute (or brutess), but the bite started to itch (really itch).  Yeah, a mosquito.  Made sense, right?  Not!  By the evening (hours later) I started to feel a bit feverish, and just couldn’t sleep … then the finger started to swell, and I got a nice headache.  It dawned on me that my mosquito bite might actually be a spider bite.  Sure enough, upon closer inspection, I could see two tiny fang punctures.  The finger continued to swell and turn a funny color purple (nice look I thought).  It must have been a big spider, because the fang punctures were about 4mm apart … that means it must have been a BIG HAIRY SPIDER … or so my vivid imagination told me.  And I never even saw it.  He/she AMBUSHED me!  The coward/cowardess. 

I woke up this morning with some aches and pains (related?), and the finger was about the same (but no worse).  The swelling caused some small capillaries to burst, and the whole digit kind of looked like a grape popsicle … but what the hey.  It’s NO worse, so it must be getting better.  Right?  Just agree with me here.  I will watch it and … if it goes septic or toxic … I will seek some qualified medical advice.  The human body is pretty good about healing itself on its own, but I’m not stupid either (at least not too stupid).

Having been snakebit twice in my youth (at ages 8 and 10) this experience is mild by comparison.  What kind of snakes Steve?  Rattlesnakes, of course!  I was really sick on both of those occasions, and  I was in the hospital for a week each time, and was injected with about 20 vials (doses ) of anti-venom each time … it was not fun.  That was back in the day of “Cut-and-Suck” therapy … and I still have the scars to prove it.  Anyway, I will keep you all abreast of any new developments going forward.  But I truly think that it will get better on its own … if not, then I will get it looked into.

The picture above?  Yeah, a self-portrait taken this afternoon.  Look, the swelling has actually gone down (?). 

Nos Vemos amigos

P.S.  That’s my “forefinger” and not my “thumb.”  Just in case you were wondering.