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Monday, September 3, 2012

Stung By A Scorpion! FINALLY!!


Hello!

You might be wondering about the title of this post:  Stung By A Scorpion!  FINALLY!!  

Finally??  Really??

Allow me to explain:

Living in the Phoenix area you quickly realize your ARE going to have several varieties of uninvited house-guests...and among them are Arizona bark scorpions.

Bark Scorpion - Photo: Brian Basgen, Sahuarita, AZ
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.


I have two cats...and they have really kept the critter count down in my home and fortunately, I've read that cats are immune to scorpion stings.

But since moving here 16 years ago I've seen a number of scorpions inside...and if the cats didn't get to them first, I quickly help send them on their way to scorpion heaven.

Up until recently I even kept a jar that I would put them in as sort of a macabre way of keeping track of how many I'd thus encountered...AND it was over half full.  (including a few "deceased-by-my-hand" black widow spiders who'd also dared make their residence here)


So...you must be thinking Phoenix sounds like a terrible place to live!


Well........since we've just gone through numerous 114 degree days this summer accompanied by unusually high humidly...throw in a few scorpions and black widows...and I might be a little less enamored with desert living myself right now!!

; )   

Anyway...back to our scorpion tale  < Pun intended : )

I figured I'd probably be stung by a scorpion sooner or later.  Almost everyone you meet here has a story about a family member or friend who's been stung...or their own brush with destiny.

Over the years, I even considered just allowing one to sting me to get it over with...but always decided it'd be better to wait and let fate choose the day and hour.

Well...the waiting is over!

This evening I was walking barefooted into the kitchen and felt a very sharp pain on the bottom length of my 4th toe.

I've stepped on slivers of broken glass, or little thorns that find their way into the carpet...so I wasn't sure what had just happened.

It was a bit dark so I turned on some bright lights to investigate and right where I'd been walking was a scorpion that I immediately dispatched to meet it's ancestors.

 
Acrylic Painting:  "Fear" - Copyright 2007, Jephyr


I'd finally been stung! 

For a moment, it crossed my mind that some people go into anaphylactic shock...but reassured myself that as a kid in Colorado I'd been stung by so many bees over the summers...that I'd surely built up some kind of immunity.

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Now:  At least 3 hours have passed since being stung...and I can still really feel it.
 

Although, I've been bitten by red ants before and would put this below that on the pain chart.  OTOH it is much worse than those Colorado bee stings administered to me as a child.

There is still tingling and a steady but bearable pain just on that toe.  Some people report swelling but I haven't experienced any of that yet.

So now when people gather in darkened corners of rooms to talk in hushed tones about being stung...I can nod my head knowingly and officially say I too have felt the scorpions wrath...and have lived to tell the tale.

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NOTE:  While I've written somewhat
humorously (I hope) about this experience...some people do have stronger reactions to scorpion stings.

Bark Scorpion Photo:
Musides (Public Domain)
 

If so....usually more severe symptoms will happen within minutes.  This may include vision problems, muscle twitching, a racing heart, etc.  


So if you or someone you know is stung...and begin to have conditions worse than I've described...contact emergency help immediately.

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What To Do If You Are Stung By A Scorpion is a good resource for more information.




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Thank you as always for looking in on my corner of the world!

Please visit Jephyr.com for more examples of my artwork and photography.



16 comments:

  1. I can strongly identify with everything you've said. I'm originally from California, but I've lived in West Texas for the past fifteen years and, unfortunately, scorpions are everywhere.

    Last year there was an unusually large amount of them in the house. This year I haven't seen nearly as many but I still wear my boots at night so I don't step on one! They seem to enjoy scurrying across the kitchen floor in the middle of the night.

    I have a cat in my house and she has killed numerous scorpions with no noticable effects. I think it's true that cats are immuned to scorpion stings.

    I've never been stung (yet) but one time I discovered a scorpion on the headboard of my bed. That's too close for comfort.

    Anyway, I'm glad you didn't have any major ill-effects from the sting! Jon from Texas

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    1. Hi Jon,

      Sounds like our lives have taken us in a similar direction. Before moving here I spent 10 years in Southern California myself.

      It's true that critters can be worse at different times. We've had a lot of rain recently and I think that drives them to look for nooks and crannies along the foundations of our houses and they find their way in. A few years ago nearby land development did the same.

      I prob'ly should take to wearing shoes in the house too. " ) And I KNOW what you mean about those close calls. One dropped out of pair of pants I'd left on the floor recently...and I had one literally fall in my lap once while watching tv! THAT was fun! : )

      Thanks for the well wishes...it's been about 24 hours now and I notice the toe feels just a little swollen...but the pain was gone within 6 hours or so.

      I need to make it over to your blog and see what's new in your world...thanks for stopping by!!

      Delete
  2. Hi Jephyr,
    I don't envy you one bit, so I will not expect a scorpion to bite me in the future ( the very things that job feard came upon him eh?). No, seriously, we lived in the bush in Western Australia for a while and there were scorpions and red backs, which are a member of the black widdow spider, all over the place. They only got into our house once in a couple of years, in spite of the mesh guards we had on windows and doors, but I am very glad that I was not bitten by one. I hope you have a complete recovery from the symptoms very soon if you have not already. Your painting is brilliant by the way!

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    1. Hi Brenda! Yes...I normally try not to "speak" bad things into my life. But in an odd way...I kinda wanted to experience the sting. Weird huh?!

      : )

      I've heard Australia has the most poisonous and sometimes deadly creatures in all the world...so I imagine mesh must be standard in most homes. And scorpion stings can vary widely from type to type. It's more rare that Arizona's bark scorpions cause real injury...although it can happen.

      As I said to Jon I'm almost 100% now...thank you! And thank you for your wonderful feedback on my painting. That was for a class and we were asked to choose an emotion and "paint" it. : )

      Thank you for stopping by!!

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  3. YIKES!! I'm so glad you are okay!

    Being in the north we don't have scorpions here but we do have a few black widow spiders and further south there are rattle snakes. My biggest fear is wasps and bees as I am allergic to both of them and need to carry an epi pen with me. I can't imagine being stung by a scorpion...*shudders*. Give me a cougar or grizzly bear any day over a wee beastie that is hard to see.

    I really am so glad to hear you have no bad side effects from this sting.

    Stay safe!
    <><

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Child of God! Yes I'm nearly 100% now...and no side effects...thank you!!

      That's so funny...if you decide to wrestle a grizzly or a cougar please let me know!! hahaha

      But seriously...I know how dangerous wasp and bee stings can be for some people. Isn't it wonderful that God has given us tools like an epi pen!! I wonder if scorpions have the same kind of poison as a bee in their sting? Thankfully it sounds like where you're living you won't have to worry about that (or rattle snakes...at least nearby!)

      Thank you for stopping by...and God Bless!!!

      Delete
  4. Yes, I was stung about a month ago in Phoenix and it was very unpleasant. Messed up everything for a couple of days. Haven't been able to bring myself to paint one yet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cindy! So you've had that delightful experience too! " )

      I'm still noticing a tight feeling on that toe and it's coming up on two days now. So it's good to know you were through it after a couple of days!!

      My instructor didn't like my painting at all...but since I was illustrating the word fear...I felt it'd been mission accomplished! haha

      Thank you for stopping by and commenting!!

      Delete
  5. Great blog, Jephyr, loved it.
    I'll folow you.
    Cheers from Argentina.
    HD

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Humberto! I followed you back...and took a quick look at your blog.

      I wonder if you are able to install the google "translation" tool on your blog...I'd love to be able to understand what you're writing about!

      Cheers back...and thank you again!!


      Delete
  6. Hi Jephyr,
    I hope you don't mind me asking. I noticed you mentioned the 'translate' tool regarding Humberto's blog. I enabled the tool on my blog, it has come up on the sidebar in the same position as your has. Although when I place the arrow on it, the arrow does not change to a hand, does it still mean that if someone of another language wanted to read my blog that the arrow would for them come up as a hand and they would be able to have my blog translated into their language? I notice that if I place the arrow on the word 'translate' in your sidebar that it also does not change to a hand. Is this because both my blog and your blog is in the English language? By the way Humberto's blog does have 'translate' on it but it is in the top right hand corner and you have to wait a couple of seconds for it to show itself. Many thanks if you can answer my question.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Hi Brenda!

      I understand what people will see will vary a bit from browser to browser and version to version when using tools like translate.

      I use the latest Firefox browser and a click with your cursor opens a pop-up window with a list of languages to select from. I tried it on your blog and it works just fine for me.

      But for me it isn't available when using the latest version of MS Explorer but works fine in Google Chrome.

      Thank you for letting me know Humberto has the tool...I'll go back over there asap!

      : )

      Delete
  7. Thanks Jephyr for the info. Just tried it - brilliant, I'm learning a bit more about blogs.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. You are welcome Brenda! There is always something new to learn isn't there! : )

      BTW...I left Humerto's blog open for quite a while...and the tool never appeared for me. Sometimes computers/the internet remain a mystery! hahaha

      Delete
  8. I just realized what BTW means Jephyr, 'by the way'. You will probably think I am a right lemon, but when you used it on a comment you put on my blog I thought that BTW was the name of a blogger who the comment was meant for. O-o-oh dear.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. : ) That is so funny Brenda. Now I know why you thought I'd posted it on the wrong blog.

      It's actually a good reminder for me because I use those shorthand abbreviations all the time...I need to remember that not everyone uses them!!

      As we said in our last exchange...there's always something new to learn isn't there!! " )

      Delete