Monday the Thirteenth

Two days ago, as I was running out the door to work, I grabbed my coats ironed from the night before and left on the door knob so I don't forget them in the rush to get out the door. I threw them over my left arm and immediately felt this searing hot pain. I looked at my coats which bit me and found a huge spider on the underside of them!! EEEEEEEK !! I threw them down immediately and stood dazed for a minute. I then picked up the coats and shook the beast out. It was huge!!! As big as my hand when the legs are included. It immediately ran up the wall of the hall. I ran to the kitchen and got out a can of insecticide and started spraying it like mad. The big mother still refused to die. Finally it weakened to the point of falling to the carpet. I stepped on it and it curled up after a satisfying crunch. I kicked it outside so my 'babies' wouldn't eat it or lick it.

By the time I drove to the surgery, my hand was starting to swell. I walked into the door of the surgery and my dental nurse said I should ask them at the hospital what to do. It was about 200 m walk away and so i walked there. They were pretty nice to me and put some ice on my hand. They sat me on a bed and took my blood pressure. At first, I felt ok, but i got pretty drowsy and lay down. The next few hours were a bit hazy. I remember that a doctor came to look at it and they gave me panadol but not much else. They asked me what the spider looked like but being brown and furry it was not on the top two dreaded spiders in Australia, them being the Sydney funnel web and the Red back. I remember my arm feeling hot and I had hot flushes throughout my body. a few hours later though I woke up feeling ok. Arm was a bit sore but the swelling had gone. All that was left were 2 puncture marks from the bite. It was about a cm (half an inch) apart.

I told hubby and he is usually a nature loving person, letting any spiders I asked him to get rid off in the past free outside of our home. He vowed revenge on all spiders from this day forth and he also felt helpless that he was an hour away instead of being able to send me to hospital. Soon that will be better though, we are really looking forward to us working in the same town.

The nurse at the hospital was surprised when I jumped up and said I would go back to work. The doctor said to take the day off but I already felt better and would feel bad sitting at home doing not much else. So, I walked back to the surgery and did a crown prep and a few cleans and that was my monday.

This is a good link to the Australian Museum Online on huntsman spiders, which is what Richard thought I got bit by. A spider by any name is as yukky to me. It looked huge, brown and furry with a few lines so I guess it kind of looked like the ones in that link. Here is another pic I found on the web of one.

It was taken from http://www.giftlog.com/pictures/spider_picture.htm which also has some pictures of a red back. I guess the plus of being in the country is the warm hospitality and next to no wait at the outpatients department of the hospital. The negative being many insects and even snakes spotted often in gardens every summer. I can't wait for autumn.