Along came a spider 
This was my myspace blog that I thought I'd share with DA
So life has it's special little ways of messing up your plans and testing your limits for no real good reason. I sit here on Halloween weekend, with no costume and no tricks or treats, just thankful this ordeal is nearly over. Early last Thursday morning I was lying in bed trying to sleep and felt a little prick near my knee. Just though I had dozed off and pulled off a knee scab from my Long's Peak hike and didn't think much of it. The next day I thought I had an ingrown hair (since I was still shaving my legs for my last race) and kind of picked the hair out of the redding area and didn't think too much about it. As the day went on my knee really started to hurt and my the end of the day I was having trouble bending it due to swelling. I had no idea what was going on so I went to sleep and awoke to even more swelling and pain. I was planning on finishing my new painting, "A Cry For Help" that day so what ever was going on w/ my knee would have to wait I guess. After a near 10 hour sitting I finished and signed the thing, a very proud moment for me. But every time I got up my knee hurt more and more and the redness was spreading. I still thought it was an irritation from something and though I'd be ok by morning. But before I went to bed I googled spider bites in Colorado and had a suspicion it was a spider that had bit me.
By morning I could barely walk the pain was so intense. My knee was twice it's size and I had a 1'' hard red area that looked like a boil. I spent a long time online and believed it was a brown recluse spider bite. My wound looked identical to all the early stage photos...but I was still in denial. C'on how bad can it really be. Shit I've lived here nearly 12 years, camped all over the state and spent weeks in the Utah and Arizona deserts and I'm a fucking ironman triathlete; no way a spider bite would KO me. And yes I did look at all the worst case photos of people losing feet and fingers due to this little spider, but that won't happen to me.
I got up late on Sunday in terrible pain. In the middle of the night it hurt so bad that I popped a vicodin left over from my surgery 2 years ago. I could bearly walk 10 feet and grabbed my old Willy Wonka cane to make it to the kitchen. By now I felt helpless and fucked. The main reason I didn't go to the ER the day before was cost, I have insurance but it might still be a few hundred bucks so I said fuck it. By Sunday night I had no choice and drove to the ER, sweating from a 100* fever and in terrible pain. I was in w/in 30 min or so and instead of telling a long story to the nurse I just ripped off the bandage and said "spider bite!" And I have no super powers or anything yet...that joke went right over their heads. But eventually they got the joke.
I think the nurse stepped back to say "holy shit" when I showed it to her. She left and came back ready to do business, you know get old the 10 scapel and cut in. Just before this person was going to send my pain threshold through the roof she grabbed 3 students to observe the procedure. It was kind of like the chest waxing secene in 40 Year OLd Virgin but I didn't yell out Kelly Clarkson, but the word FUCK! was a rather popular part of my vocabulary. So a few cuts, blood samples, 1 vicodin, and a white ribbon bandage coming out of my knee I was set to go home, and come back in exactly 2 days. I called my friend to pick me up from the ER and we went to his house and I showed him the damage and him and his wife cooked up some stew and I made a lot of jokes about it. What a great Halloween wound, too bad it's real.
The next day I picked up my antibiotics and pain pills and went about my business. That night I undid the bandage and was in complete horror. The small opening doubled in size and was now infected, oh shit! I called the ER and explained everything and was back there in 25 minutes. This time things were a lot more serious, they were going to really cut it open and drain it. They gave me a good sedative and stuck a needle in the wound to numb it, again and again and again...I was hoping to pass out from the pain but my wish wasn't granted. Only one thing in my entire life hurt more and that was my dislocated shoulder and I did go into shock after that had happened. Finally the area was numb enough and he cut in and worked on it for a long time, every now and then I felt the scalpel and dug my finger nails into my fists. It was bloody, messy, and I kept on making horror movie jokes. Then he tried to work out the infection/ puss like popping a gigantic pimple, another fun 15 min or so. Followed by an irrigation, IV and night one of a four day hospital stretch. At this point I felt pretty fucked. How could something as simple as a spider do this to me? I also felt my vacation plans fade away to be replaced by hefty ER bills. I looked down at the large hole next to my knee and said that's huge, I could smuggle diamonds inside of it. My Dr. replied "Yes you could, but I wouldn't advise it."
They wheeled me up and started on heavy dosages of antibiotics and morphine. Never had morphine before, and it hit me like a warm wave, very strange and not too pleasant. I was soon vomiting but they had another shot for that. All night I was visited every few hours with more blood samples, vital signs and morphine injections fro the searing pain. I didn't sleep but felt my body drifting 6" above the bed from all the drugs while my fever raged and my internal organs felt numb. I did take advantage of the situation and listened to Dark Side of The Moon on my IPOD.
That morning I was visited by a barrage of doctors and specialists all dressed in protective plastic (more than usual) and play 20 questions with them. Half way through the day they told me I had one of those nasty antibiotic resistant infections called MRSA or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. I also
would need an MRI on my knee the next day. Essentially, if the infection had spread they would have to really open me up; yeah I was pretty terrified by now. What's more painful, a life ending infection or a triathlon career ending injury caused by infection? I didn't sleep much that night and was often in terrible pain and constantly being shot up with different drugs or having more blood drawn.
Wednesday morning, barely slept, just watched the fires burn up California on CNN most of the night. After a tasteless hospital breakfast I was wheeled off to get an MRI, at least I'm used to those. Throughout the day I was still met with the infectious disease and orthopedic doctors. Later I asked my nurse if they knew my MRI results, she eventually told me the most dreaded news. The infection had spread and they would need to do surgery but the ortho-doc would tell me more in the morning. That pretty much ruined all thoughts of sleep and I asked for more morphine after my wound was redressed. I was devastated, how could this be happening?
Around 9AM the doc showed up and told me that they read the MRI wrong and that I'm OK. I broke into tears, no wait that was because he ripped out the dressing from my open wound and probed inside the large bloody hole. Also the antibiotics were really working and the redness shrank to a small area, but my knee was still very swollen. They also told me that I may be able to leave if things continue to improve. I called up a few friends and told them the good/scary news. Around 7Pm my friend Brandon and his wife Fabian came by to visit, that really made my day, and they got to see what I have been dealing with. Followed by another sleepless night and a bad breakfast.
Friday morning, I forced myself to stay awake all day and walk around the room. Still had to endure the IV's the vital checks and the blood work. By now it was all routine to me anyway. I finally got the approval from the two main doctors and they released me around 5 pm. I had friends pick me up and after a quick trip to Walgreens for meds I was finally home. In my own bed, the same place I was bit 8 day prior. The scene of the crime. And I slept an incredible sleep.
Today (Saturday) I had a nurse stop by to change the dressing and show me the proper way to deal with it, it's a little complicated and rather painful, you have to pack it inside the wound. Tomorrow I'll do it all myself I hope. So at this point all Halloween plans and vacation plans are history. And actually I'm OK with it, this is my happy ending I guess, I 'll get to walk away from this one. The whole experience terrified me and let me know how NOT invincible I truly am. And I felt like a tough old S.O.B. after my Long's Peak/13 hour hell hike. Health is something you can really take for granted and I'll never wait days before seeking treatment ever again. I was also fortunate that I hadn't booked my airline and hotels in Thailand, all that money will in turn pay for one spider bite. Also I was just on the waiting list for the Phuket Triathlon and hadn't paid the $140 non refundable entry yet.
I would end up going out on Halloween night dressed as a vampire slayer. I was limping but the rum and vicodin numbed the pain. I've forked out $1,500 in bills and that was with insurance. If I wasn't covered the total would have been over $13,000, go to really love the American healthcare system. I won't feel better until all the bills are final and I stop getting letters stating "This is not a bill"; have a feeling they'll try to bleed a little more out of me. As of today the wound is finally scabbing over and much easier to deal with. I am looking into salvaging my vacation and now want to cave explore and trek in Northern Thailand, it's a lot cheaper then my initial plans and I want to backpacker/bum for a few months. And take loads of pictures and possibly get inspired as an artist again.
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