Posted on 05/21/2010 12:52:56 PM PDT by Willie Green
PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. -- A Paulding County woman is recovering from major surgery after being bitten by a brown recluse spider at her home.
“I would have never known in a million years that a spider could ever do this much damage,” said Victoria Franklin.
Franklin was at WellStar Windy Hill Hospital Friday morning, recovering from an April mastectomy.
“I didn’t flip out over that. I was glad to be alive,” she said of her surgery.
She found out she lost her left breast when the hospital staff told her after she woke up from an 11-day coma.
“She said, ‘You’re in ICU and you’ve lost your breast from a spider bite.’ I said, ‘What?!,’” said Franklin.
Doctors told her she’d been bitten by a brown recluse spider. Franklin said she first noticed lumps on her breast on Easter Sunday but didn’t think much of it. As the days progressed, she began to feel much worse. By Friday, she couldn’t take the pain anymore.
“My breast had turned black and it got so big, I couldn’t even fit it in my bra,” said Franklin. “I woke up in excruciating pain and the smell was so strong I couldn’t do anything but call my friend and say, ‘Please come get me,’” said Franklin.
She got to the emergency room but the gangrene had already set it and the breast and muscle had to be removed.
Doctors identified the brown recluse spider as the culprit.
Franklin will undergo breast reconstructive surgery. She will also have to learn to walk again.
She urged others to head to the doctor at the first sign of a bite instead of waiting like she did.
•There is no antivenom available in the United States to counteract the poisonous venom of the brown recluse spider.
Controversial therapies include steroids and the drug dapsone (Avlosulfon). These are often reserved for people with severe systemic disease (such as certain types of anemia, blood clotting problems, and kidney failure). The therapies have little proven benefit.
I had a dachshund patient that had been bitten on the abdomen by a Brown Recluse that morning. It was dead by three p.m. that afternoon.
The Brown Recluse is a nasty, nasty little bastard. This woman is lucky to be alive.
The timeline for damage caused by a brown recluse is measured in miuntes, not hours.
I am, at this very moment, suffering from a brown recluse spider bite. It is on my shin, just above the right foot. It is painful, but I didn’t notice it right away. I put Hydrocortizone on it for a week, thinking it would go away. I went to the doctor yesterday and now am on a course of potent antibiotics.
so the very northern states aren’t immune from them then!?
how did it get up your shin?
Time consuming, but it keeps them away pretty good.
No place to hide.
Should be the motto and strategy of our attack on terror.
My aunt wound up in the hospital from a recluse bite. She showed me a photo of the ‘wound’ the following year - horrifying. Wishing you a speedy recovery.
I just can’t avoid it any longer, may I please be included in your ping list.
That photograph deceives the observer about the true size of these monsters. The are truly tiny: less than the size of a 1-cent coin, all legs extended, on average, when potent.
My D. O., who practices alternative medicine, has a shot he gives directly into the bite site. It stops the destruction and the pain in an hour or three.
Then there is a special taser device that is reported to reverse the bite’s progress very quickly. It shoots its charge directly through the bite to the other side of the affected body part.
When I was bitten by a Brown Recluse about 20 years ago, I asked some folks lay hands on me and pray. As they prayed, I could actually see the damaged area shrink dramatically right away, and completely disappear within hours. I witnessed a miracle with my own eyes. It was awesome. Praise God.
OMG.... I use to have those in my house in Michigan. I didn’t know what they were until I moved to out of state and found a dead one in a box as I was unpacking. They were always in my basement and sometimes they’d crawl upstairs. I seriously don’t know how they got into the house but they were nasty as hell.
Owie!
Those are some nasty bites.
During a legal document review project, I saw a 10-day progression of pictures from a brown recluse bite. The guy got bit on the joint where the thumb meets the hand ... by day 8, there was denuded bone. It was among the most revolting pictures I’ve seen.
SnakeDoc
Resistance is futile.
Eventually Mangled Genitals Ping List gets everyone.
Whew!
After reading this thread and the scary replies....
Best of luck with recuperating.
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