THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 6, 1996 TAG: 9610040294
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: 99 lines
In the past when Barbara and John Fahey found a spider in the house, they would scoop the critter into a paper cup and let it go outside.
Nature lovers, both, the Faheys aren't feeling so kindly toward spiders any more. Barbara Fahey has gone through three weeks of pain and distress as a result of a bite by the very poisonous brown recluse spider.
Although she had an ugly white hole on her back, surrounded by a spreading swollen red circle, the worst part of the ordeal, she said, was not knowing what had happened to her.
When the lesion was finally diagnosed as a spider bite, she still felt at sea because she didn't know whether or not she would need surgery to repair the tissue damage from the poison.
Now she continues to be on edge because she doesn't know where the spider came from. Was it just a chance meeting outside, or was the brown recluse in her house where more could be lurking in some dark corner?
Fahey's encounter with the spider began sometime during a weekend three weeks ago. On Saturday, she had worked in the yard and that evening attended a Boy Scout ceremony, also outside, at which her husband was speaking.
The next day she was sore from the yard work and retrieved a heating pad from the closet to warm her aching back. Monday afternoon, she discovered the lesion on her back.
``I reached back and it felt like a blister and it broke,'' she said. ``Until then, I never felt anything and didn't know anything was wrong.''
Instead of being a watery blister, the fluid was sticky. ``almost like honey,'' she said. Even so, Fahey could only think that she had been burned by the heating pad. Because she has a tendency to get infections, she went to a doctor on Tuesday. He, too, thought the wound was a burn and treated it superficially.
By Saturday, the blister area was getting bigger and bigger and so was the red swollen tissue surrounding it. ``It was fiery red,'' said John Fahey, ``and becoming more dangerous looking and it had a very white raw center.''
Fahey went to the emergency room at Virginia Beach General Hospital. ``As soon as the nurse saw it,'' she knew right away,'' Fahey recounted `` `You have been bitten by a spider,' she said.
``I could have hugged that nurse,'' Fahey went on. ``Finally, we knew what we were dealing with!''
The emergency room doctor agreed. Since there is no anti-venom for the brown recluse spider's bite, the doctor treated Fahey internally with antibiotics, ordered a prescription ointment for the wound and said to change the dressing daily.
``He told me to see a surgeon within three days if there was no change,'' Fahey said.
Fortunately, she has been recovering since her trip to the emergency room. Although Fahey is sure she will have a scar where the center of the wound was, she will not need the services of a surgeon to repair the tissue damage caused by the poison
When John Fahey heard the diagnosis, he did a search on the Internet for information on the brown recluse spider, sometimes called a violin spider because of the characteristic violin pattern on its back. He found his wife's case was typical.
For one, the bite itself doesn't always cause pain so victims may not be aware they have been bitten. Two, the effects of the venom begins with a blister, surrounded by swollen red tissue and eventually causes a hole in the flesh to emerge where the tissue has been damaged.
John Fahey learned that brown recluse spiders are true to their name. Only about 1/2-inch long, they seclude themselves in dark places in the house such as in dark clothing and shoes, under furniture and appliances and in corners and crevices. Outside the brownish-yellow spiders may be found under tree bark and stones and in woodpiles, storage sheds and garages
``Now my biggest fear is I don't know where the spider came from,'' Fahey said. ``Was it in the house, in my clothing or in the heating pad or was it outside at the program?
``All of a sudden,'' she added, ``you become very, very aware that you have to be very careful.''
During her ordeal, Fahey became mindful that many people don't know anything about the brown recluse spider and its bite. She hopes her story will save others from being as ignorant as she was.
``It's not only very unpleasant,'' she said, ``but it's very frightening.''
P.S. In the column on monarch butterflies, my brain wasn't functioning when I said that Queen Anne's lace was in the milkweed family. It's not.
NORFOLK BOTANICAL GARDEN is holding its annual fall plant sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 13. Visitors can seek advice at an ``Ask the Plant Doctor'' booth.
THE TIDEWATER DAYLILY SOCIETY is holding its annual fall sale at the same times at Norfolk Botanical Garden. Members will be there to answer questions about growing daylilies. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know
about Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555.
Enter category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net. ILLUSTRATION: Drawing
The brown recluse spider, sometimes called a violin spider because
of the characteristic violin pattern on its back, is only about a
half-inch long. It secludes itself in dark places in the house such
as in dark clothing and shoes, under furniture and appliances and in
corners and crevices. by CNB