Yup - today's a good day Otherwise! Going to be hectically busy but rather that then an empty desk!
I've had better weekends
- Thread starter Gromit
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Gromit, please tell Farside he is in my prayers for a full and speedy recovery. I am so sorry to hear about your cat.
Thanks Carl, I will. Actually, we didn't realise how severe FS's situation was until yesterday. The surgeon said that the infection was within a millimetre of femoral artery and extremely deep and that it was really tricky cutting away the necessary; had the femoral artery been knicked or affected by the toxin, it would have become a critical situation. He also said that in his years of practice he'd never treated the same person twice for a necro-toxic spider bite - seems FS is a bit of an anomoly. No stitches, just a crater in his leg as DaveM described earlier. He's doing loads better but I think a scary lesson has been learnt.
I will never mess around with a spider bite again. Even though my one was years back the damage it did can still be seen.
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Wow, that's pretty shocking!!
Glad to hear FS is doing OK.
Thanks Rocky.
I think I'm going to have the house fumigated but I also want FS to have his office fumigated - it's just so strange that nobody else in the house has ever been bitten. I've sent a note to a university here in Jhb trying to get more info on this spider or if it was a different spider - Violins are quite big and not easy to miss.
I think I'm going to have the house fumigated but I also want FS to have his office fumigated - it's just so strange that nobody else in the house has ever been bitten. I've sent a note to a university here in Jhb trying to get more info on this spider or if it was a different spider - Violins are quite big and not easy to miss.
That is one SCARY lesson... I hope y'all don't have to take that class again.
I think that spider is related to our brown recluse and black widow. The brown recluse has the same purple violin; it's bite does the same as your violin spider. You do not feel the bite when it happens.
Carl, it is a definite relative to the Brown Recluse - actually, some people here in SA actually call it the Brown Recluse.
Our brown recluse is much larger that a black widow.
It's a big spider and when it's young, a lot of people think it's a 'daddy long legs' because of the legs - but when it grows up it's a different story.
That is definitely larger than our brown recluse.
The toxicologist is looking at the Sac Spider that we get here - nasty little bugger but the bite is not as venomous as the violin - lots of tests being done on the stuff removed from his leg - I'll let you know the final outcome - which critter it was!
You all do realize that spiders were on Earth before we humans invaded their territory??? 
Kidding aside......hope FS recovers ASAP and I'm sorry to hear he got bitten.
I'd love to introduce him to my 3 little eight-legged friends, but somehow I get the feeling he'd rather squash them!
Kidding aside......hope FS recovers ASAP and I'm sorry to hear he got bitten.
I'd love to introduce him to my 3 little eight-legged friends, but somehow I get the feeling he'd rather squash them!
Gromit, do keep us updated. FS is the only person I have heard of being bitten twice by a brown recluse!
Seeker, FS won't let me fumigate because it'll kill too many little creatures
Carl, you're right and the doctors are saying the same thing - spiders are naturally shy so for 1 person to be bitten twice is more than unusual. The swabs that were taken are now being tested for a gamut of other possibilities - the spider expert at the University I've been talking to has suggested that we have the swabs tested for a specific staph type bacterial infection too as apparently, this is often mistaken for a necro-toxic bite. We heard about the staph scenario a few days ago but are waiting for the results - the senior spider toxin medical expert in SA is in Cape Town and retired but still consults on special cases - we're hoping he'll agree to have to a look at FS's case.
Carl, you're right and the doctors are saying the same thing - spiders are naturally shy so for 1 person to be bitten twice is more than unusual. The swabs that were taken are now being tested for a gamut of other possibilities - the spider expert at the University I've been talking to has suggested that we have the swabs tested for a specific staph type bacterial infection too as apparently, this is often mistaken for a necro-toxic bite. We heard about the staph scenario a few days ago but are waiting for the results - the senior spider toxin medical expert in SA is in Cape Town and retired but still consults on special cases - we're hoping he'll agree to have to a look at FS's case.
Please keep us updated - and tell FS to quite playing with spiders!
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