The night of July 17,2006 while visiting relatives on Nantucket Island I woke up at 3AM with my right leg aching and my knee hurting. I thought it was just from lots of walking and sightseeing--but it hurt enough that I couldn't go back to sleep. In the morning there was a round red itchy patch on the outside of my right calf. I felt weak and tired but thought it was just a bad mosquito bite. My son looked at it and said he could see the fang marks and thought it was a BRS bite. He is an Eagle Scout and had been studying first aid for his merit badge. We looked it up and the brown recluse spiders are not suppose to be on Nantucket. But by late afternoon it was about the size of an orange, very red and extremely hot. The skin was tight and sort of orange peelish in the center and slightly shaded. I went to the ER of the Nantucket hospital and they gave me antiobiotics because the fear there is ticks and lyme disease. The doctor drew a ring around the red part and told me if was any bigger in 24 hours to get medical attention, that it should be much smaller. He said casually it could be a brown recluse spider bite but if it were there would be a blister in the middle. I went back to my cousin's home and in a couple hours there was a blister, and the whole area was numb and the skin really really tight. I had my daughter sleep with me because I was feeling awful and a little afraid. I was able to sleep and in the morning the blister was about the size of my thumbnail and the red area was itching terribly. My daughter said I was very pale and I had no appetite. We were to go to Boston that day which was my birthday. We took the ferry, bus and then subway to the hotel and by the time we got there and I took off the bandage the red was way outsde the mark and wrapped almost completely around my leg and the blister in the middle was bigger than a quarter. And I felt really really sick. I had been very careful not to break the blister or scratch and had been icing it and keeping it raised when I could. But it was bad. I went to the New England Medical Center ER and they conclusively diagnosed it as a BRS bite and gave me a tetanus shot and a prescription for Percocet. I have not used the percocet, but have it in case... The doctor told me it could get much worse before it gets better. Not a happy birthday! This was July 18. the 19th I stayed in the hotel all day with ice and my leg up and felt a little better. The next morning we flew to LA and my husband took me straight to my doctor whom I have seen twice since , as well as a dermatologist. It seems to be doing better but we still don't know what may happen next. The doctors seem fascinated by it and in Boston all the residents and interns took turns coming in to look! The one good thing is I have no appetite still and have lost about 6 lbs. The new Brown Recluse diet!
