Monday, July 02, 2007
I'm Back
Who would have thought such a tiny little critter could put such a hurting on me? It, or them, nailed me several times on the forehead as I slept. It took a few days for the effects of the spider spit to begin to tell, but tell it did.
First came the lethargy and a general feeling of malaise. A temperature of 104 closely followed it; that would be American degrees. I sat around with a blanket wrapped around me whilst my body shivered and shuddered as though I had wandered outside in a 35 below temperature to have a smoke and then couldn’t find my way back in. I tried to pretend that I was awake and alert. The only one fooled was me and then only because I was sick.
Kat tried to cram some aspirin in me to reduce the fever. I figured raising the temperature is how your body fights off invaders. My body seemed to be fighting the good fight. I didn’t want to interfere.
Sound enough logic, I guess. It would have been sound logic if the invader had been a bug instead of spider spit. I guess the General knew only of the invasion, but hadn’t identified the invader so he was going with what he knew.
Late Saturday, the fever broke. I can’t say I felt chipper, but I sure felt a whole lot better than I had. For some reason, maybe the fever or maybe the toxin, my forehead was a solid livid swollen welt. By Sunday afternoon, the swelling started to subside and began itching like sunburn.
Now it is late on Monday. I’m a bit shy of 100% and am not about to kick. I lost seven pounds and I’m surely not going to kick about that.
Just for the record, I know when to go to the doctor. Folk have accused me of being crazy, but damned few of them have accused me of being stupid. If there had been the slightest reason to go to the doctor, I would have done so without hesitation. There was absolutely nothing a doctor could have done for me.
I knew it was a spider bite. I knew it was a nasty bitch of a spider, but not a deadly one. There aren’t any really bad spiders in this part of Manitoba. Some things in life you have to cowboy up and do what you have to do to get through.
I was not a whining patient. The only thing I wanted was to be left the hell alone. While I may whine and cry like a little girly-boy when I have a cold – damn, I hate them – when I’m sick, I don’t bother anyone for anything.
Thank you one and all for your kind, and not so kind, comments. I appreciate them.
First came the lethargy and a general feeling of malaise. A temperature of 104 closely followed it; that would be American degrees. I sat around with a blanket wrapped around me whilst my body shivered and shuddered as though I had wandered outside in a 35 below temperature to have a smoke and then couldn’t find my way back in. I tried to pretend that I was awake and alert. The only one fooled was me and then only because I was sick.
Kat tried to cram some aspirin in me to reduce the fever. I figured raising the temperature is how your body fights off invaders. My body seemed to be fighting the good fight. I didn’t want to interfere.
Sound enough logic, I guess. It would have been sound logic if the invader had been a bug instead of spider spit. I guess the General knew only of the invasion, but hadn’t identified the invader so he was going with what he knew.
Late Saturday, the fever broke. I can’t say I felt chipper, but I sure felt a whole lot better than I had. For some reason, maybe the fever or maybe the toxin, my forehead was a solid livid swollen welt. By Sunday afternoon, the swelling started to subside and began itching like sunburn.
Now it is late on Monday. I’m a bit shy of 100% and am not about to kick. I lost seven pounds and I’m surely not going to kick about that.
Just for the record, I know when to go to the doctor. Folk have accused me of being crazy, but damned few of them have accused me of being stupid. If there had been the slightest reason to go to the doctor, I would have done so without hesitation. There was absolutely nothing a doctor could have done for me.
I knew it was a spider bite. I knew it was a nasty bitch of a spider, but not a deadly one. There aren’t any really bad spiders in this part of Manitoba. Some things in life you have to cowboy up and do what you have to do to get through.
I was not a whining patient. The only thing I wanted was to be left the hell alone. While I may whine and cry like a little girly-boy when I have a cold – damn, I hate them – when I’m sick, I don’t bother anyone for anything.
Thank you one and all for your kind, and not so kind, comments. I appreciate them.
Buffalo 6:44 PM
11 Comments:
At 6:56 PM,
littleone said…
i for one am glad you are feeling better.. and i promise no more smart assed comments about spider songs..
feeling very remorseful
morningstar (owned by Warren)
At 6:58 PM,
Melinda said…
I like that phrase...."cowboy up!"
At 7:54 PM,
James Shott said…
There is a club here called "Cowboy Up"; no one that I know would be proud to be associated with it.
Still and all, I liked Buff's phrase.
Glad you're back, Buff.
At 9:05 PM,
Lord Nazh© said…
Fevers are good for you to a point :) 104 is a little past the point (101 is a good stopping place and a good time to start taking aspirin).
The only thing a doctor would have done for you is put a saline IV in your arm and make you stay in the hospital until you were fever-free for 24hrs. Much better (if you know the problem) to stay in comfort.
Glad you are feeling better.
At 4:57 AM,
Selkie said…
glad you're on the mend hun ... and spider bites are a bitch ...
s.
At 9:48 AM,
Blazngfyre said…
Normally I don't mind spiders.
In fact, I rather encourage their existence.
As long as they leave me alone.
As for fevers, well, if you leave it alone, it'll do what it needs to do and go away.
Not a big fan of doctors or drugs.
Well, not the legal ones anyway. (lol)
Happy to hear you're on the mend, and even happier that Kat had to contend with your cantankerous ass!
That woman surely deserves a medal or something. (lol)
*smooches*
At 10:19 AM,
Labrys said…
Glad you are better, I react likewise poorly to spider bites. In spite of this, I have gotten over my phobia of said arachnids and do not slaughter them on sight. If I find them inside, I assume they are suicidal, but try to take them outdoors----resistance to this attempt is not futile, but fatal.
Avoid sleeping with spiders! ;-)
At 4:02 PM,
Still Searching... said…
Well I am glad that you are back, and especially that you're feeling better.
I had a spider bite too. Nasty things. One whole side of my face was swollen. The eye completely shut. As the swelling started to go down, I got me quite the shiner. Everybody thought I'd gotten punched in the face. Those that actually saw me that is. I mostly stayed hidden away!
Damn marauding Canadian spiders anyway!
At 7:33 AM,
lili said…
Yeah, fever's tough to call because it's not a medical condition in itself but the immune system's reaction, like inflammation. For an adult, 104 is generally considered too high, not so for a child though. But every body is different; when my appendix ruptured my temp rose to 108, and that's killing high for most adults, almost was for me too.
Glad you're feeling better.
At 10:25 AM,
Buffalo said…
Morningstar: If I thought you were actually remorseful I would be upset.
Melinda: The older you get the more you have to cowboy up.
JS: I bet the members are proud.
LN: High fevers are kind of fun. I like the dreams and hallucinations - much better than acid
Blazn: It is Kat's honor and pleasure to bask in the warmth of my radiant self.
labrys: Better than sleeping with snakes. At least spiders don't expect you to respect them in the morning.
Poet Girl: Big time not a good thing. The thought of you with a shiner and swollen face is not a happy thought. Hope you are all better by now.
Lili: There isn't much that is more painful than a ruptured appendix.
At 2:26 PM,
lili said…
I have a high pain threshold, but actually, my gallstones hurt worse, I think because with the appendix once the poison hit my bloodstream and my fever started to rise, I was delirious, so while I felt the pain, I didn't.
I'll tell you, when my ex finally dragged my ass to the hospital, my fever was at a point where my eyes had lost their color.
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