Tuesday, November 2, 1999 I awoke with the alarm clock at 5:30 a.m. feeling nauseated similar to having food poisoning, so I called in sick for work. Approximately an hour later as the nausea began to subside, my lower left leg began to ache. It was uncomfortable enough to make walking extremely painful.
Throughout the day, the pain increased and my ankle began to swell. It continued swelling, engulfing both my lower leg up to the calf and my foot down to my toes. My foot looked like one of those latex gloves the nurses blow up like balloons. I was also experiencing an itching sensation on my lower leg, followed by the appearance of what seemed to be a rash. I could almost watch the rash grow.
By 8:00 p.m. that evening, not knowing what was happening, my husband drove me to an urgent care facility. There the doctor on duty immediately diagnosed it as the result of a bite from a brown recluse spider (brs). The triage nurse quietly explained to me that we do not have brs in Arizona. Researching this later I discovered that while we do not have the brs in Arizona, we do have its cousins, the desert recluse and the Arizona brown (aka the Arizona recluse). I was given a prescription for antibiotics and sent home with the caution to come back if I didn’t improve.
Wednesday, November 3, 1999 My leg continued to ache so that walking was nearly unbearable. The swelling and the rash continued to grow, and blisters began to form. I was taking my antibiotics as directed.
Thursday, November 4, 1999 The blisters continued to grow and expand. I returned to urgent care, where they gave me a prescription for a different antibiotic. I was again sent home with the same cautions.
Friday, November 5, 1999 The pain and swelling were as bad as ever, and the blistered area continued to expand eventually covering and encircling my lower leg. I returned to the urgent care facility where they decided to give me an antibiotic intravenously. I had also bumped my leg on the wheelchair footplate while in the waiting room. This ripped part of the massive blister open, and a pale yellowish liquid flowed onto the floor, necessitating the application of a very large gauze wrapping.
Saturday, November 6, 1999 My veins are not the best; and so when I returned to urgent care, this time they were unsuccessful in giving me another intravenous injection. At this point the medical staff concluded that my treatments at urgent care were ineffective, and they arranged for me to go to be admitted to the hospital for further treatment.
November 6-19, 1999 After being admitted to the hospital and being settled in my room, a pick line was inserted into my upper arm. This was so that they could give me a slow, 90-minute, intravenous drip of antibiotics, which they did twice a day. My leg dressing was also changed twice a day as it continued to “weep” the yellow liquid, and a liberal application of antifungal cream was applied each time. There was some discussion as to whether or not they should debride the wound (remove the blistered layer), but decided against it until later.
Several doctors examined my leg, and all had differing opinions about the cause. As with many recluse bites, I did not feel the bite, nor was I able to find the spider. I was in so much pain I actually didn’t think to look for a spider. However, based on my extensive research later, I had exhibited all the classic symptoms of a recluse spider bit. In fact, I learned that if the victim can’t locate the actual spider, he/she is diagnosed as having a “possible/probable recluse spider bite.”
I was in the hospital for two weeks. The last three days they subjected my leg to a Jacuzzi bath followed by the debridement of the remaining blistered skin, which by this time was more like a gigantic scab. The pick line was removed, and I was sent home with a large plastic bag of gauze bandages, wrappings, and cream. I was advised to keep off my leg and to keep it elevated as much as possible. Arrangements were made for a visiting nurse to check on me periodically, and she arranged for a portable Jacuzzi, which I used twice a day for two weeks.
Follow-up I made several follow-up visits to a skin clinic to make sure my leg was healing properly, which, thank goodness, it did.
I visited a dermatologist, who was convinced it was not a spider bite but a good case of eczema. I don’t think so!
I was off work for four weeks total, and was allowed to return with the provision I would keep off my leg. Great advice for a teacher-librarian! Fortunately, we had our two-week winter break at the end of December, which gave my leg more time to heal. I have Christmas pictures of me with my leg still propped up on the coffee table.
A few months later I found a spider on a wall in my house. I checked with a Truly Nolen (exterminators) serviceman, who confirmed that it was indeed a recluse spider. I took the spider outside. After all, they do eat the “bad” bugs!
Today I survived; the leg is healed. My leg is only slightly discolored a darker shade of red similar to a birthmark, which over the years has continued to fade. Regarding the debride-don’t debride controversy: the part of my leg that was accidentally bumped by the wheel chair, my accidental “debridement,” returned to its normal color. So part of me agrees with the debridement, but my concern would be the risk of infection or other complications due to the removal of that large an area of skin.
I wear a support knee-high stocking on that leg. My ankle continued to swell for some time afterwards, and the stocking prevented the swelling. In addition, every so often my ankle still aches. I have developed varicose veins in the inner ankle-arch area of that foot. This may just be my age. However, I wonder that since spiders use their venom to liquefy their food, maybe the varicose veins were either created or expedited by the spider bite. Guess that’s one of those things we’ll never know.
Conclusion This was definitely not a pleasurable experience, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Yes, it can be lethal; yes, it can permanently disfigure. I survived, my leg survived, and I don’t consider that I have any significant disfigurement. I am left with a good story to tell and great, gory pictures to show to anyone not too squeamish to view them. Oh, yes, I still check under my covers every night, just in case...
