Other Than That, How’d You Enjoy Your Memorial Day Weekend? – IOTW Report

Other Than That, How’d You Enjoy Your Memorial Day Weekend?

Wednesday, 7 June 2017, 23:31 BFH Uncategorized 50

Reader shares a Memorial Day weekend memory for years to come. 

-So, the Sunday before Memorial Day, I got snake bit, twice, by a huge, pregnant, timber rattler.

After a week in intensive care they let me drag my perforated, bruised, battered, bloated, body home to complete recovery. How do I know it was pregnant, I blew Hillary’s guts all over the yard with a shotgun. You need to take the snake with you if you can. It was under a board, I was cleaning up where a chicken pen had been. Hit me twice on the right hand before I could react.
Funny enough, 100+mph down a freeway on Memorial weekend and we didn’t draw any cops in.
By the time we got to the emergency room, 15 min, I was blind and my throat was swelling closed. Luckily the ER doc was able to intubate, heard him ask for a trach kit.
Let me go on record, if you have never had a Foley catheter, put it way down on your bucket list. If sticking a hose as big as a pencil up your uretha, then blowing up the balloon attached to the end appeals to you, it’s just the ticket for the masochism loving adventurist. The nurse who removed it advised me to scream on three, Dick Hertz.
They had to corner the anti-venom market in order to bring me back from heavens door.
You hear so much about the lack of competent healthcare available to rural America, I am living proof that is crap, they saved my life.
Had some serious hallucinations, something about a red or blue pill and reality. Think I saw a movie like it once.
The flaming IC nurse got a good rib in, wanted to know if I was going to tell my friends I had been given a sponge bath by a gay man.
Told him it was a red badge of courage as far as I was concerned.
“We made friends.”- Karl Childers
As soon as I am feeling better think I will bake them all a cake, maybe two. It may seem inadequate way of saying thanks but you have never had my cakes.
If you feel you want to post any or all of this as a cautionary tale, feel free.
Pretty sure I left embarrassment on the floor with the Foley catheter.
Poison control has me on speed dial now.
Doc is worried about my kidneys, hopefully it will all be OK.
Something I never knew, sodium bicarb is really good for your kidneys.
Sheepishly,
Open The Door

50 Comments on Other Than That, How’d You Enjoy Your Memorial Day Weekend?

  2. Open The Door,
    Holy crap. Hang in there bud. We live in Rattle Snake Central so I understand the recovery and the destroyed muscle tissue. Last Friday our UPS driver reported a driver up the hill from us got bitten by a snake at his first stop. So UPS rushed him to the hospital and a replacement driver took over. He got bit on his last stop.

  3. Holy crap, I did yard work all day and I felt like I was robbed of a day off. Turns out I had a pretty good day. Sure hope there are no complications. Sounds like a tough day.

  9. I had to deal with fucking Coral Snakes back in Fla. I feel your pain.

    Over here in my redneck of the woods (Louisiana) I have to deal with friggin’ Cottonmouths & alligators now. Oy Caramba!

  12. Open The Door, hope you recover 100% from your double snake bites. Rattle snakes (Vipers) are nasty, when I hunted Chuckers in rimmrock country you all ways had to be on the watch for them. Biggest one I ever saw was 6 feet long and 3 inches wide, it did not make a sound until I was within 6 feet of it, scared the crap out of me. Ground sluiced it.

  15. O-T-D,
    So glad that you are OK. You’ve written a highly entertaining story, though I’m very sorry that this happened to you. Best wishes to you on your continuing recovery. Cake? Tell us more!

  18. Open the Door — Uhhggg!! Snakes alive! How awful and so glad you got to the ER in the nick of time. The only big snakes I’ve ever seen in the wild was a King snake (Utah) and a Corn snake (e. WA). Can’t imagine being bitten by a snake that large.

    Praying for a speedy and full recovery, friend.

  19. Open the Door,
    Praying for your full recovery.

    Sheesh! So many of you live in areas with really nasty animals. The only thing we have the eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake. Be safe out there folks.

  21. I have a friend that got bit by a baby rattler. Every worker in the hospital had to come pay him a visit to see the bite. I told him he should have charged $1 for a peek. I understand fully about rural hospitals, because everyone in town calls it “The Morgue.” While it’s not a funny story, you gotta laugh at how you managed to live through it. Be careful where you stick your hands!

  22. Never mind, yes you need to bring the snake with you. Had a friend struck in the ankle while he was wearing speery Top Siders. Snake got lodged in the shoe. Not pretty. They had to hit him with several anti venoms because of the variety of rattlers we have around here. That was 8 years ago. To this day the tissue has never grown back around his calf and ankle. Nasty shit.

    Smart thinking bringing the snake with you.

  23. Open the Door,
    Praying for your full recovery.

    Sheesh! So many of you live in areas with really nasty animals. The only thing we have the eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake. Be safe out there folks.
    ———————–

    Besides snakes, we have mountain lions, bears, raccoons, bob cats, and now a stray cat has shown up. I’m stuck feeding it because it’s somewhat tamed.

  27. When I was a teenager, I stepped on a 5+-foot rattlesnake which was apparently sunning itself in low foliage on top of a dredge spoil berm. Fortunately for me, when I felt its springy body and heard the rattle, it was the one and only time in my life that I was somehow able to levitate myself into the air and come down about four feet away from the snake, 180 degrees from the direction I was traveling, with my .22 rifle pointed at it.

    Needless to say, I shot it as it was beginning to coil up for a strike. There were fourteen segments on the rattle, with wear that indicated that some others had probably worn off. I had that rattle around for years, but it eventually got misplaced, as most souvenirs do.

    P.S. – Here’s hoping for your speedy and full recovery, Open the Door.

  28. Holy crap!!! I’m scared of some of the places this crowd lives in! I thought if I just avoided Australia I’d be ok but I can see the scary critters aren’t all as far away as I thought!

    Many prayers for a speedy recovery, and I’ll make a cake up here to celebrate as well. Probably not a delectable as yours, but I’ve been told it’s not too bad.

  29. Geoff C. The Saltine, hunting chukars in the steep canyons above the Snake River below Pullman, Wa. is an adventure. We used to hunt chukars up and down those canyons and we’d spend all day hoping to get a shot a chukar and when they did they usually would explode right out from under our fleet flying downhill as fast as they could go. You had to have a good dog to know where they landed, it was exciting, luckily we never ran into a rattlesnake but were very wary of them. And I haven’t heard the term ground sluicing in a long time since I’ve shot low to the ground more than once and ground sluiced more than my fair share of chukars, huns (Hungarian partridges), quail etc. The damn little birds scare the hell out of you when they fly right out from under your feet and you have to be quick to get one on the fly.

  32. Wow, Hopefully and prayerfully a complete recovery is on it’s way soon. I’ve often thought about what I would do if one of us at the house got bit. Tie it off and suck venom out while driving to hospital or wait for an ambulance.

  34. Almost lost lower half of left leg to a brown recluse… body built its immunity and now I’m immune to them. Anyone gets bitten hit me up, I’ll sell you some antibody blood real cheap, ok?

  37. Open the Door–Praying for a full recovery for you and your kidneys. Your nurse was wise in telling you before hand about the removal of the catheter. I am happy you retained your sense of humor after such a horrific event. Thank-you for sharing your story. I will tell you the cake will be very welcomed by the hospital personnel–it is nice to be thanked in any manner.

  40. Lived in Deep Southern Illinois, Copperheads, Water Moccasins and Timber Rattlers were common place. Ran across a Timber Rattler, 4 1/2 foot long and the stumpy body was thicker than my forearm. I love snakes, but these you steer clear of at all costs.
    Get well soon.

  41. We have rattlers around, but not that kind; since it’s Back East, we call them the “Timid Rattler.” Kidding aside, a bunch of ‘nature luvvers’ want to import non-native rattle snakes to the Quabbin Reservoir, putting them on an ‘island’ as they explain it. Trouble is, the island is only temporarily an island when the water level is high; most of the time it’s a peninsula. Too, it was my understanding that snakes can swim…

    In any event, they have been thwarted… for now.

    Get Well Soon, OTD!

  43. Good luck Dude
    A Foley catheter is a thin, sterile tube inserted into the bladder to drain urine. Because it can be left in place in the bladder for a period of time, it is also called an indwelling catheter.
    Time to change your screen name to ‘one lucky bastard’

    Potentially, this is one of North America’s. (((( most dangerous snakes, ))))). due to its long fangs, impressive size, and high venom yield. This is to some degree offset by its relatively mild disposition[27] and long brumation period. Before striking, they often perform a good deal of preliminary rattling and feinting.[28] Cist (1845) described how he lived in western Pennsylvania for many years, and the species was quite common there, but in all that time, he heard of only a single death resulting from its bite.[3]

    Considerable geographic and ontogenetic variation occurs regarding the toxicity of the venom, which can be said for many rattlesnake species. Four venom patterns have been described for this species: Type A is largely neurotoxic, and is found in various parts of the southern range. One effect of the toxin can be generalized myokymia.[29] Type B is hemorrhagic and proteolytic, and is found consistently in the north and in parts of the southeast. Type A + B is found in areas where the aforementioned types apparently intergrade in southwestern Arkansas and northern Louisiana. Type C venom has none of the above components and is relatively weak.[27]

    The neurotoxic component of the type A venom is referred to as canebrake toxin, and is a phospholipase A2. It is analogous to the neurotoxins found in the venoms of several other rattlesnake species, and when present, contributes significantly to the overall toxicity. Other components found in the venom include a small basic peptide that works as a myotoxin, a fibrinogen-clotting enzyme that can produce defibrination syndrome, and a bradykinin-releasing enzyme

  44. Here’s another indicator of CA lunacy. I lived many years in the High Desert near Yermo, CA. During my years living there, I had a map of mine areas and old towns, which I would use to explore with my jeep. There is a place on the map title, ‘MOHAVE GREEN REFUGE’. A protected area for one of the more aggressive of rattle snakes.

    I walked miles and miles in that area, all around Callico, out to Ft Irwin and etc. I always carried my ‘snake stick’. It wasn’t until the last year, that I actually saw a rattlesnake and only because my grandson heard it rattling within a little water cut shelter. We stayed way off, but enjoyed seeing it.

    I had learned about the ‘snake stick’ when, at about 7-10 years old, we lived in Texas and played in the woods everyday. My parents taught us to carry a long, sturdy walking stick, which we would tap the ground all across our path, before stepping forward.

    They taught us that snakes will get out of your way or warn you if you don’t surprise them. Pounding the ground in front and across to each forward side area would warn them we were coming. Even in Texas, we never crossed a snake while playing. My sister did see one cross the rural two lane road we lived on, once. She said the head was in the woods before the tail cleared the woods on the other side. All I could think, other than wishing I had seen it, was that we might be playing around that everyday. Thank goodness for the ‘snake stick’.

    I still carry my ‘snake stick’. It’s handy to keep dogs away and at my 73 years, sometimes helps at a high step.

    One funny thing with my grandsons: as we were walking to a fishing area, one said to his little brother that we didn’t need to worry about snakes, because Grami would kill them with her ‘snake stick. Perfect time to pass with ‘snake stick’ use forward. Prevention, not weapon unless needed.

    As I said, my whole life, living in Texas where they have SNAKES, and various parts of the Mohave Desert, and various states and countries, I’ve only seen about 4 snakes and only one was a rattler.

  45. I live on the coast of the Pacific North Left where the ONLY venomous snakes we have are REGISTERED DEMOCRATS!

    Oh, and beware the distracted nurse that forgets to deflate the balloon on the Foley before removing it, they usually remember after the third yank!

  46. Wishing you a timely recovery. After my motorcycle accident/ month in the hospital, at times a Foley was a welcome relief, although it depends on who’s manning it and their particular disposition at the time.

  47. I grew up in the south where rattlesnakes and cottonmouths were numerous. Now I live in the Northeast and I still stop and flinch when I see a stick laying on the sidewalk in front of me “just in case.”

  48. Hey, crossing my fingers for you. Been there to a lessor extent. My recovery, from a slash, and not a puncture resulted im my ~14 hour visit to the hospital, with similar anti- serum availibility. Most of my reaction was nervous.

  50. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes. Kind of a red letter day today, had an actual bowel movement and can make a painful fist.
    My feet both still look like footballs though, the NFL kind, soccer balls would look foolish.

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