well, this is a little late, but i am going to take just a moment to recall a very eventful week and also a very traumatic week for my wife.

many of you have probably heard the story of the scorpion/snake combination, but i think it's important for it to be "officially" in our blog.

first came the scorpion.  a little background: it must have been the season because we had seen several scorpion in our apartment prior to the attack.  i had even removed them from our apartment, some had just crawled back down the shower drain, and some had disappeared in some cracks and crevices.  i had gotten a close view of some of them so i had already done some research on them.  these scorpions, though they couldn't be identified by their species, could be identified by their genus.  and it just so happened that this genus is really the only type of scorpion that really needs to be worried about: the genus that contains the deadly variety.  much of the information that i found said that little was known about the particular species that we were encountering but that they should be regarded as dangerous and potentially fatal.

one night while we were sleeping, i felt the tough exoskeleton crawling across my side.  i was asleep but still semi-conscious.  as i went to brush off the venomous critter, my hand was met by what felt like a baseball bat; that little sucker stung with force.  the sting was immediately followed by an acute pain in the whole hand.  yes, i screamed.  then i jumped out of bed instructing eileen to hit the lights.  i knew immediately that this was no bee or wasp; i know what those feel like; this did not feel like that.  i immediately assumed that it was a scorpion due to our recent, numerous encounters in our apartment.  

after the lights were on and we did...i did a quick search of the room, i couldn't find anything.  i had quickly given up interest in the search and conceded to go back to bed.  eileen however, was not in agreement and with a persistence to continue the search she told me to check under the pillow.  sure enough, there is was.  probably a good thing i checked as the next sting may have been in a more vicious spot such as my jugular.  so, i killed the scorpion this time not letting it free as i had the others, and we went to the internet in order to do some further research.  by this time, the pain had moved up the arm and some twitching of the arm started to worry eileen a little.  this was also accompanied by an increased awareness of my own heartbeat with a slight pain accompanying each beat.

from our research, we concluded that there is not enough information to know what the proper course of action should be.  as the twitching got worse, we decided to call poison control in the states via skype.  the national headquarters in washington d.c. answered and forwarded us to the arizona department which apparently handles lots of scorpion cases.  after telling them the symptoms and species, they said that the pain and twitching was normal.  she said if i started twitching at the shoulder that i should immediately go to the hospital.  so, we thanked the woman and proceeded to go back to sleep.  i slept well the rest of the night; eileen did not sleep well for the next month, understandably of course.

the next encounter with a venomous animal occurred just a week later.  this encounter was with a much more dangerous variety: a coral snake.

the details of the bite are somewhat embarrassing.  i was taking eileen home from a friend's house as she was very tired (she was quite tired a lot during her first trimester), and we saw a very colorful snake on the way up our hill just outside of our apartment.  i knew that it was a coral snake.  i dropped her off and then proceeded to "check out" the snake.  i saw it and it was very beautiful.  i took a stick and pinned its head down, then i picked it up (just like i saw on tv tons of times; also, i have picked up several snakes in my life though none were this dangerous).  as i held it, i was feeling very good about the situation; then i let it go.  as i loosed my grip on it's neck, its first reaction was to turn right around and immediately bite me.  this was pain.  immediate and profound pain.  a pain that eliminated any doubt that this may be the "coral look-alike."  i went straight to a friends house, and they took me straight to the hospital.

New World coral snakes possess the second most potent venom of any North American snake, behind some rattlesnake species. Any skin penetration is a medical emergency that requires immediate attention. Coral snakes have a powerful neurotoxin that paralyzes the breathing muscles; mechanical or artificial respiration, along with large doses of antivenom, are often required to save a victim's life. There is usually only mild pain associated with a bite, but breathing difficulties and ptosis can occur within hours.

the rest of the story is quite boring.  two bags of coral snake anti-venom, other shots, two ivs, a shot in the butt and probably some other treatments that i'm not remembering at this point.  it was very good to know that quepos has quite a variety of anti-venom on hand, and it was also very good to know that we have friends that are willing to drop everything and take me to the hospital and stay for hours.  i was released early the next morning with a couple of lessons learned.