Spider ID Please

@Drea I used to live in the okanagan and my family was in the pool when my mom found a spider in the pool and tried to pick it up with her hands. I very clearly saw it as a black widow. I told her not to pick it up but she tried anyway, I hit her hand away and moved it away using a Tupperware. I kind of wondered what would happen if I hadn't been there. What is it like to be bit? I have always wondered.

@cold blood TIL what I thought "daddy long legs" were actually called "cellar spiders". Thanks!

@thebronzedragon the bit it’s self isn’t as bad as one would think. Well not compared to the aftermath.

The area started to swell and bruise after a few hours.

8 hours into the bite, my leg was very swollen where the bite was, baseball size, the bruising spread far past that though and it hurt a lot. I was limping and struggling at work.

15 hours into the bite, it felt like I was hit with a baseball bat by a professional player. The area swelled up 4 inches and most of my otter thigh was bruised and it looked like I was hit by a car.

20 hours in my stomach started to cramp a little and I felt a little sick. The leg was just hurting like a mo fo and I tried to sleep it off. Couldn’t sleep though because it hurt to much and I kept feeling like I was going to toss cookies.

24 hours. I checked my leg and there were these very visible red lines through out the bruised leg. It looked like a two 2 year old drew all over my leg with a red marker. That looked constant to serious infections that I have seen in the past plus the cramps were getting worse so off to the ER I went.

I was cranking jokes and flirting with all of the hot docs and nurses and the doc came in and said I was too happy to be the ER and then I showed him my leg. His face... lol... still makes me laugh. He immediately started ordering meds.

I received 3 shots in my arm and one in my leg. One Tetanus shot which was pretty standard, an anabiotic shot, a pain shot, and an allergy shot in the leg, I had to swallow 2 massive pills (don’t remember what it was though) and drink 10 drops of the worst tasting thing I have ever had in my mouth. It was foul.

30 hours the cramps just got worse. 36 hours it felt like I swallowed glass and it came alive and was trying crawl it’s way out of stomach in all directions. That lasted for about 15 hours straight. Pain intensity was not constant though and some cramps were way worse than others. Swelling was down though so my leg hurt less.

About 55 hours in, the pain, cramps, and Swelling started to decrease every hour. By 72 hours, I was weak from not eating but all symptoms subsided. Only minor pain where the bite was.

So it was like stubbing your pinkie toe over and over again. Not the worst pain I have experienced. If I had to choose falling off a mountain with my bike again, full knee construction, tripping and falling into a large glass tank and ripping a hole in my wrist, or getting bit by a widow again, I would glad choose the bite without a second though.

@thebronzedragon what a novel. Haha I am that weirdo that carries a small catch cup in my purse because one never knows.