Beware of Snakes on the rivers !

[Jeremy]

Wow Wayne. No fun man!! Accidents, they get like that.

I'm glad to hear you got some good help and hopefully all will heal well. Sounds like he hit you good to get sick/poisoned like that. That's one thing I really don't have to worry about around home.

Good luck to you. Chalk it up to ..."shtuff" happens...Thanks for the post.

Jeremy.

[hoboflyfisher]

Dang sorry story hope you recover soon. I was out about 3 years ago on a local river (the Llano River) and had a Cottonmouth snake try a couple times for my fly which was a red crawfish imitation I tie sometimes. Made me take notice....this part of the river has many Cottonmouths in the spring of the year but they seem non-aggressive and go about their snake business. Still gives me the willies.....I don't care much for them critter's.

[Big Bad Wulff]

About a month ago here the snakes were out in big numbers. They have subsided a bit now but I am always looking for the %#%@$ critters.

[Uncle Jesse]

I looked around a couple of weeks back and had close encounter with a copperhead inspecting the Rebel Minnow tied on to the spinning rod strapped to the front of my tube. Too close for me to enough that part of nature. Had it been a cottonmouth I might had been repeating Wayne's story. Cottonmouths are territorial mean and nasty. I had a director of a nature center try to tell me there were no cottonmouth north of Atlanta, I haven't bought that story.

Take care of the foot and wish you a speedy recovery.

[waynep]

An update. The swelling has done down a little. But I can tell this wont be a quick process. The pain has subsided some as I am requiring less pain medication.

One thing the snake venom did was affect the coagulation factors in my blood. That was the reason they kept me over night in the hospital ICU ward. It makes the blood thin and not clot as well. They wanted that to be stabilized before going home. They took blood and repeated the test every 4 hours until it stabilized.

They don't give anti-venom these days unless you have other systemic problems, like heart or lung troubles.

-wayne

[Betty Hiner]

OMG!!! To test your blood that many time, in that short a period, you wouldn't need anti-venom!! You wouldn't have any blood left to circulate the venum!!! <ohhhh, seeing spots ... ringing in my ears ... needles ... gotta go lay down!>

[waynep]

OMG!!! To test your blood that many time, in that short a period, you wouldn't need anti-venom!! You wouldn't have any blood left to circulate the venum!!! <ohhhh, seeing spots ... ringing in my ears ... needles ... gotta go lay down!>

Took more blood this morning . . .

[hoboflyfisher]

waynep, thanks for the update on your ordeal. I didn't know that anti-venom wasn't used anymore, good info. You know where us southern boys live, fish, and hunt we are always under the event of getting bitten, just something you learn to live with and not fret over.

[waynep]

Current medical advice for snake bites is this: Get to a Hospital ASAP !!!

That is what I did. I was there 30 minutes after the bite. My foot was just starting to swell and the pain was still not unbearable at that time. By the time I got in a room and an IV started, it was time for pain medicine.

Current medical practice is watch, manage pain, and watch for systemic problems. Systemic problems are things like affected breathing, heart problems etc. I was on heart monitor, auto blood pressure cuffs, blood oxygen meter and a nurse checking on me several times an hour administering pain meds. Believe me, if you get bit, you'll need the pain meds. This is a very painful experience. Morphine did not work after the first hour. Had to go to Dilaudid which makes the room spin when given by IV as well as relieve the pain. I was on Dilaudid for almost 18 hours for pain management.

I can't imagine getting bit during a float and be an hour or more from a hospital. I think that would warrant a 911 call and a helicopter

-wayne

Betty My love;
Here in Tennessee we wear snake bite proof boots, carry .357 pistols and machetties to deal with the harmless water snakes we encounter. However all jesting aside, you check out all tree branches before walking under!! I make light of it because you must if you want to fish, just be careful!