SPIDER BITE

       I am afraid of spiders.  Quick, small, and much too powerful for their size, spiders are masters of chemistry, webwork, camouflage, silence, and a kind of predatory intelligence that reflects no consideration of any other species, or, in some cases, of any other individual, even of  their own species ...well, they do seem to care for their offspring.

       Saturday, August 17th, about 3:15pm, I was bitten a number of times by an unidentified critter I assume was a spider.
       I had an itch on the calf of my left leg while riding in the car. I reached down below my cutoffs to scratch it but stopped short.  A rash?  No.  Inspection revealed several bites.
       I did not scratch it.  We had no medication in the car, so I chewed up an aspirin and applied the wet mass to the larger bites.  Now I know an aspirin is an anticoagulant, but I felt I had to do something.  There was no bad reaction.  The bites spread a bit, but nothing alarming.

       I popped the skin over the three major blisters and I believe the drainage helped slow the spread.  I drew a line in India Ink around the bites later that evening to more easily determine if the damages were growing or shrinking.  Nothing really serious at this point.  I thought...

       Sunday the infected area was a bit larger, but much cooler.  I thought I was on the way to healing.  My wife helped me wash the area and cleanse off and out open areas with hydrogen peroxide.

       But then I made a serious error: I sealed the area with Calamine lotion.

       I think that seal forced the poison to spread quickly.  The poison either does not lose its potency with the destruction of the cells it contacts, or reproduces itself with the use of cellular material -- my cellular material!  Here is a picture of the bitten area about midday Sunday.

       So... an explosive growth.  Apparently this thing grows in a pulse as it overcomes bodily resistance, expands, meets the body's new defenses and halts to overcome that.  I also expect, with the following shaky evidence, that the toxin spreads via a gas or moisture released by the infected area.
       Last night I covered the area with a gauze bandage loosely applied.  This morning the bite had not spread farther, but the entire area under the bandage was mildly red.

       Now I am getting concerned.  The peripheral bites are getting more active.  The whole general area is itching ... a sure sign that the corruption is spreading.  There does not seem to be a weakening of the toxin.  Regarding this last picture, I think I will go into Missoula and see the doc.  You will notice that some areas of flesh are growing dark; this is not a good sign, reflecting as it does areas where circulation is highly obstructed.

       I have posted the progress of this infliction on Facebook and have garnered a lot of advice.  Most of it good, I think.  I haven't tried using grapefruit on the wound, but I have a lot of faith in grapefruit which is, as far as I am concerned, a highly medicinal fruit.  In any case, a visit to the doctor's haunt in my next move.

31 August
       Two weeks later it looks like this:

 

No kidding ... it doesn't show, but this is an improvement.  At this point I am confident that I shall heal.  The bites INSIDE my shoe remain a mystery; did the spider start here and work his way out?  These bites started out very small and after the bites on the calf began to cool and shrink, these began to grow.

4 September
       Gonna quit following this.  I am healing.  I am going to quit worrying and carry on like a healthy guy.

       If you know something definite about these bites--I am only assuming that they are spider bites--I would like to read your thoughts.  Infected tick?  The outward manifestation of some bad juju someone I thought was a friend inflicted upon me?  Splashed by Monsanto?  Much of this remains a mystery.