Eastern brown full envenomation bite

[redbellybite]

After reading the other thread ,and seeing some people's so called 'nesessary' thinking that you need to kill the snake to ID rubbish thinking ...thought I would actually tell you what happened and show you a few actual pics (they arent the best as I used my phone) of my husband in the ICU at Nambour Hospital on the Sunshine Coast QLD ...this was on the 10th of March 2010..

Senario ,He is a carpenter by trade,He lifted up a roof tile ,felt a wack NO PAIN ,he first stuck his thumb in his mouth as a reaction ..had the good sense to get down off the ladder ,was feeling a bit paranoid as to what bit him ,he said he told himself to get a grip ,then he felt a wave come over him ,he then thought !@##$$% and tried to get back to his work truck but collapsed as he got to his door .Fortunantly the lady at the house was following him as he said to her he thought he had been bitten ...when he fell to his knees she was able to brace herself and allowing Matt to slide down her body before hitting the bitumen...that was it for him ,he remembers nothing more till being inside the ambulance ,but the people that were around him applying first aid said it was the scariest thing that they had witnessed,he fitted 3times (specialist said he had 3 heart attacks)he foamed at the mouth and started turning purple blue/black ...HE DIED ...the ambos got him back ,and rushed him off to our local hospital to stablise and ID the snake etc ...
He was given anti ven and a trial study of FROZEN FRESH PLASMA ..he had no clotting ability what so ever and so all the grazes and I mean TINY miniscule grazes he got from hitting the road BLED NON STOP ...he had 3 compression bandages around his head and other bandages on his body to try and stop the loss of blood ...He was in criticle condition and was transferred down to ICU by ambulance...Its been 7 months now and he is still seeing our local GP and is also under one of the top specialists care,who deals with toxins...He has got nerve damage and his body still is not 100% although he is way better then a few months ago ..NOW DID WE THINK ITS NESSESARY TO KILL THE SNAKE ...NO ...DO WE HATE SNAKES...NO ..EVEN THOUGH THEY ALMOST KILLED HIM AND MADE ME LOSE HIM ...NO its wasnt the snakes fault at all it was a bad situation and an unfortunant accident ,that sadly the poor 3 FOOT(yes thats right a small one)
was put out of its misery by me ,due to it having terrible injuries caused by it being caught up under guttering and it had severd itself almost in half ..it reacted because it was in pain and scared and obviously thought Matt was a threat ..

My point is YOU that say KILL them are willing to put yourselves in harms way all because of your NAIVE thinking ....MORE FOOL YOU!

here are a few pics

and see even after all this he can give me a smile

 

[Kristy_07]

Now, that smile is love.... delirious, morphine-induced, envenomated love

Amazing story, mate. So glad he is on the up and up. Is he back working yet? Or still not well enough?

 

[redbellybite]

We are hoping that he will be able to get back soon ..he sees the specialist again in November so will know after that as he will have the last lot of tests results back by then ...its been a rough few months for him and me (he drives me insane being at home he gets bored to easy ) ...

 

[Kristy_07]

All my sympathy to both of you - rough times, no doubt. It's certainly nice that it hasn't changed your opinion or attitude towards vens or whether they should be killed etc. But, personally, it's nicer to know that you're both going okay after such a major and scary event

 

[cockney red]

Thanks for that, RBB, and good luck with your old mans full recovery

 

[Scleropages]

The Brown was in a roof?

 

[redbellybite]

The Brown was in a roof?

YEP its not that uncommon ....ask Jonno ...CALLOUTS can involve eastern browns in roof cavities...although in this case,I believe a bird of prey dropped it onto the roof ,as there were no trees ,fencing or any other type of climbing structure around the two story place

 

[The-Freak]

Amazing story, good to hear all is well on the mend tho.

 

[sammy_sparkles]

thanks for sharing,
hopefully he gets the all clear in november.

there needs to be a pamphlet made for the general public or something, as i have asked my friends what they would do in simmilar situations, they ALL said kill the snake first...

 

[beatlloydy]

We RBB...sorry to hear this....your story of your hubby has made me do a reassessment of my environment...I go out MTB'ing quite often..sometimes I remember to take compression bandages...sometimes not...but even if I have em sounds like in a worse case scenario they would be useless unless I tell all my friends about them and they are all aware of how to administer the first aid (If I am the poor sod who is bitten). I was thinking If bitten a victim could calmly stop what they are doing and apply compression etc...sounds like this is not how it works...so I guess we need to ensure that everyone travelling in a group is aware of where the bandages are and how to apply them.

Your husbands misfortune will possibly help others lives be spared...thanks for sharing this with us and hope he makes 100% recovery.

Michael

 

[redbellybite]

Michael ,I asked him after he felt the 'wave' why he didnt just plop his butt to the ground and stay put ...he panicked...and was trying to get back to his truck to ring me ...WORSE mistake as it pumped it quicker ..it only took a few moments,we are not talking half hours nor 15 mins ,we are talking 3-4 minutes tops before he collapsed...now had he sat down straight away and remained as still as he could he may have had longer time ...Matt copped a big bite ,it showed up in the testing and so all the happenings after the intial bite ,like moving ,fast walking ,panic ,may have lead to his undoing ,also being bitten on the thumb pad was not the best place to cop a bite ...always take atleast 2 CBs with you and show each other what to do if bitten and how to apply properly a CB it will bide you time .

 

[Kristy_07]

We RBB...sorry to hear this....your story of your hubby has made me do a reassessment of my environment...I go out MTB'ing quite often..sometimes I remember to take compression bandages...sometimes not...but even if I have em sounds like in a worse case scenario they would be useless unless I tell all my friends about them and they are all aware of how to administer the first aid (If I am the poor sod who is bitten). I was thinking If bitten a victim could calmly stop what they are doing and apply compression etc...sounds like this is not how it works...so I guess we need to ensure that everyone travelling in a group is aware of where the bandages are and how to apply them.

Your husbands misfortune will possibly help others lives be spared...thanks for sharing this with us and hope he makes 100% recovery.

Michael

My partner MTBs all the time, and I hadn't really even thought of this. But, often he goes on his own! (geez, I hope I don't have to take up MTBing now.... )

 

[blakehose]

My dad goes mountain biking often - during summer he is always coming home telling me about the snakes he saw...It's a bit worrying, considering all we get around here are elapids.

On topic though - I hope your hubby continues to make improvements RBB. All the best to him!

 

[shellfisch]

Wow, what a story :shock:

Hope he is back to normal life soon.

 

[Tristan]

that is pretty scary RBB, i grew up in the Kimberley had a few close calls with Mulgas but never got bit, one got into our house i found it at night in the dark mind you lol, another i found in our back yard as well, well the cat found it thought it would be fun to play with it, i think its just lucky the snake was a bit sluggish.

oh perhaps your hubby got some of my blood or plasma or platelets im o- and donate regularly tho i doubt they ship the blood over east.

 

[redbellybite]

Thanks guys and yes I have confidence in the fact he will get better ..its just a matter of time ...My main issue about this thread was to get across to people that have that bad idea of trying to catch or kill ...look at the pics that could be you ..it was bad enough it happened to Matt and he wasnt there to catch or kill ..he simply lifted up a roof tile ...You set out to kill cause your angry n upset and scared as to what happened to your loved one or mate and could end up sharing the same ICU ....

 

[-Peter]

Thanks for that RBB, thumbs up to both of you.
He'll be back up, fitter than ever but he wont be the same. Some things will change. Every August is my wifes birhday, the same time as the Jasmine flowers. Now it smells awful. I cant stand it, One of my eyes is out of alignment, I get tunnel vision when I'm tired and other odds and sods but the snake that did this to me is still alive. In fact its in the gargage.

 

[cement]

All the best for your mans recovery, he must be a good bloke if he's a chippy!
He was really lucky, to have had the support on site that he so obviously needed.

Can I add here that crepe bandages are now deemed next to useless and the stretchy/elastic bandages are the way to go.

I know a bloke that was tagged under the armpit by a coastal Taipan and it was only because he was with mate that he survived. The right first aid can help, but a lot of the time it is having people around you that know what to do that makes the difference.

They should mandatory teach snake bite first aid in schools in Australia every student, every year.

Its amazing how many people i meet on relocation jobs that have absolutely no idea.

All the Best of luck with the recovery. I hope the side effects don't knock him around to badly.

 

[cement]

Now that I read it, I don't mean that post above to seem like I am knocking your hubs first aid treatment, far, far from that.

 

[Just_Plain_Nuts]

wow RBB that's the second story like this i have heard where the victim has passed out within a few minutes. In other words if you are alone or around people that dont have or know how to use a correct bandage, you are unconscious and dying before you could administer a bandage yourself let alone reach it in the house or car. What chance do your kids have, they would bolt straight to you...