Snake Bites and Epi-pens

So this past week has been a little on the exciting side. Usually it is Kaelan that gets the adrenaline pumping, this week it was Calder. Not a day after we got back home from Powell, Calder went up to feed his snake a mouse, and ended up being her dinner instead!

It was TERRIFYING! Stix was actively trying to eat Calder's thumb, and would not release no matter what I tried. Calder was in tears and screaming in pain, wearing a pair of snake hand-cuffs, as Stix was wrapped tightly around both of his wrists squeezing them purple and twisting her neck and mouth around on his thumb continuously. I know I wrote about Levi's bite not too long ago,.. this was WORSE! I called 911 pretty quickly with Levi, but this time I thought that I would try and get her off myself, since we had done it once before...Lucky me. But after about 10 minutes of me only making it worse, (the harder I tried the more she bit and twisted), and of me jumping up and down and screaming in frustration, and Calder yelling "don't hurt my snake mom!", Levi yelled "call 911 mom!", and I did without any hesitation. Of course, just as what happened last time, we talked for a while and then Stix let go to readjust her jaw. Levi jumped in and grabbed her by the neck, unravelled her and threw her to the ground. We rejoiced, cancelled the call, and consoled Calder. I had mentioned getting rid of Stix ASAP, and that had put Calder over the edge. He couldn't stand the thought of losing his precious pet. He is one dedicated pet owner. Here is this snake intent on eating him, breaking off its teeth in his thumb, and he was defending her through his sobs, not letting his mom do anything that would hurt her. He definitely deserves 5 stars in pet ownership.

We, of course, had to take Calder in to the doctors. This was worse than Levi's and with the teeth still imbedded in his thumb, there was more work to do.

Calder, waiting for the Doctor:

Calder and his pet, in happier times:

Checking out the wound:

The doctor removing the teeth while looking at the x-ray:

We had to get him a tetanus shot as well. When he heard that he had to get one he freaked out! I started laughing. I asked him why he was afraid of one quick little poke from ONE needle that had a thinking human being in control of it, when he had just had 20+"needles" twisting around in his flesh for 10 minutes. I assured him that this would be nothing, compared to what he had just been through. He wasn't so sure, and asked to squeeze my hand if it hurt. I complied, but much to his surprise, not to mention mine or the doctor's, he didn't even flinch when the needle went in. With a big smile on his face he said "wow, that didn't hurt at all!"

Perpective, my friend.....it does wonders.

Here is the lovely snake bite, from a couple of views:

Oh, and by the way, while at the doctors we ended up talking to a boa snake expert who informed us that the pet store had given us bad information in regards to feeding/caring for Stix. We had, unfortunately, been unintentionally starving her. We were feeding her 1 pinky mouse a week, when we should have been feeding her 3 every third day. Poor thing, no wonder she was trying to eat Calder. When Calder, heard this he was devasted (yet relieved that the problem could be fixed) and said: "Mom, I wish that I could just go home and give Stix a big hug and tell her I am sorry! But, I will have to wait, she would bite me right now since she is so hungry!" He felt so bad, but happy that now he had a reason to keep the snake.

(Drat for me!)

Not even 2 days later, I get a frantic call from Joe that went something like this:

Joe: "Cami, Calder just injected himself with your Epi-pen into his hand!"

Cami: "What?! Why was my Epi-pen in your car???"

Joe: "I put it in there just in case of an emergency!"

Cami: "What emergency would entail you needing my Epi-pen? You have no

life-threatening allergies! If it belonged anywhere it would

belong in my purse!" (up until this point it had resided in the medicine cabinet)

Joe: "I don't know.... I just thought..... What should I do?"

Cami: (quickly looking it up on the internet) "It says that an adult dose injected into a child is an overdose, and it says never to inject it into the extremities because it will cause loss of blood flow, swelling, whiteness in the effected area, tingling, numbness, and temporary loss of use of the extremity. Overdose causes extreme heart racing and shaking. Umm... Honey, call 911 and get him to the emergency room."

Joe: "Okay, bye!"

We hang up and I wait nervously by the phone.

A little background on the above conversation:

Joe had taken Calder and Ansel with him to pick up the bikes from the bike shop down by their school. Apparently, he had left them inside the truck while he ran inside the shop (you park right by the front door, so they were in his sight). Calder, meanwhile had discovered this interesting looking device just sitting out in plain sight in the console, and couldn't resist picking it up and playing with it. Even after his ever cautious younger brother, Ansel, told him that it looked like he shouldn't touch it, he preceded to push the button.

To his painful surprise a needle shot out the other end and into the palm of his hand, injecting a painful clear fluid into his hand. Ansel, seeing his brother is great distress, ran into the shop and shouted "Dad! Calder did something to himself!!"

This all happened in the course of less than two minutes. Joe had just walked in and told the attendant he was here to pick up the bikes. The attendant had just walked out of the room to get them, when Ansel burst into the room with his pronouncement. Joe, ran out of the shop, never telling the shop keeper where he was going. I am sure he came out surprised that he was gone.

At this point is when Joe called me, and then called 911 (for the second time in as many days). When he talked to the dispatcher they wanted to send the paramedics to him immediately, and so asked where he was, he looked around and saw the fire station just across the street, and said "I am by the fire station....wait, I am by the fire station!" "I will just walk him across to it!" The dispatcher gives the okay, and then calls the fire station to let them know Joe and Calder were on their way. They received the call just as Joe rang the doorbell.

Back to me, at home.... I am waiting, not knowing what is going on, so I call Joe and ask him what he needs. Does he need me to come pick up Ansel? Yes, he decides that would be a great idea. So, off I go, down the hill to the fire station.

When I arrive, Calder is sitting in a chair, surrounded by three burly paramedics, being bandaged up. He sees me and tears start welling up in his eyes. He had been so tough, but mom walking in the door broke down his defenses and up came the tears. Poor sweet boy. He was obviously shaken from the experience.

They had done a bunch of tests, he was reacting fine to the onslaught of epinephrine and he was going to be fine. His hand, though, wasn't so lucky. It was swollen and (shock) white, and he couldn't use it. They assured us that given time that too would go away. He was instructed to call the medical dispatcher every 30 minutes with updates so they could track the progression of the white and swelling (not to mention the odd black spot at the center).

He didn't gain full use of his hand again until the next day, in the afternoon. At which time we all sighed a collective sigh of relief. Made it through, mostly unscathed, and hopefully wiser.

Calder, just after his evaluation, outside the fire station:

Then, 2 days later (on the fourth), we take the kids to the neighborhood bike parade led by the fire engine and fire fighters/paramedics. And, low and behold, there are the paramedics who had just worked on Calder two days prior. They called out to him and wanted to talk to him (razz him a little) and then told us that Calder had been the subject of story telling all week long, with his snake bite and epi-pen calls. Two 911 calls in two days, for the same kid!! They said that he made great late night story telling material.... Until the next crazy story came along!

Here is Calder, surrounded by his rescuers:

All I can say is, at least I have some good stories to write about....after the fact.