Snake-Bite Sam

I'm a bit late in posting this, but hey, I have 10 children.

About 3 weeks ago, Sammy was bitten by a little baby snake, outside a church.  It was close to 10:00 at night, and he, Tommy, and Kenny were heading out of a prayer meeting.  Kenny called to say they'd be a bit late, as they were heading to the ER to check out the bite.  The above photo shows the very beginning of the night, with the bite just under the top knuckle.  (Those dark lines are hospital markings to check swelling.)

 

 

Sam wasn't too thrilled to be spending the evening in the ER.

 

Throughout the night, I kept getting calls from Kenny.  The finger is swelling.  A lot.  His arm is swelling and in pain.  The photo taken on his phone of the snake looks like a baby rattler.  There is venom in Sam's blood.  He is in an ambulance on his way to St. Luke's in Denver- where they specialize in limb preservation.

Now I have to say, before I went up in the morning to see Sammy, I never felt panicked.  Why?  Because I am married to a very easy-going man.  And he never sounded disturbed.  Not sure I'd want him taking care of me if I was near-death or something, but then again, he'd probably call half the state and get a prayer rally going for me, as he calmly sat by my side.

Anyhow, Sammy spent a long day (15 hours) in the ICU getting vials of anti-venom and being monitored. He got to come home Saturday night and all is well.  Okay, he got his plum-sized, grotesque blood blister popped by (who else?) his oldest brother (an accident, I'm sure...).  But the swelling went down well and I praise the Lord for taking good care of my son.