It’s a funny old world sometimes in blogland. There I was this morning up bright and early to see my first born child off to school – CAN YOU BELIEVE HE’S BACK AT SCHOOL?? It’s the bloody Easter holidays and some children have just broken up! Busy trying to make sure he’d had breakfast but not so secretly FAR more interested in what my friend in Africa had to say about her evening and mostly ignoring him. Typing and vaguely turning my head in the direction of the front door to say goodbye….
Once he’d been suitably ignored I went back up to get dressed and told Builder Bloke who was lying in bed ill with man flu that my friend Janelle’s friend had been bitten by a spitting cobra and was desperately ill at the snake clinic in Tanzania and he just switched from “I’m so ill” to “OMG, you’re joking? Why didn’t he check his bed first? How is he? Is he responding to the anti-venom?” and I slowly relayed the story as I got ready to face the scary suburban world outside our door, without the worry of having to check my boots for scorpions first. “He’ll be vomiting, no doubt” he surmised…..”and then it will take him ages to get the venom out of his system, all his organs will be reacting to the poison which will attack his nervous system causing neurotoxicity and possibly even necrosis” and I was thinking “you should SO be there and not here, lying in bed with man flu”.
Here was her report this morning:
“just as i was staggering to bed, around one this morning, jules – dear friend and neighbour – who had been at the dinner called me to say ethan had been bitten by a black necked spitting cobra in tarangire…tarangire is a national park about two and a half hours away from arusha and was being rushed to meserani snake park where they have a snake bite clinic. so donned the boots and the tassely jacket and hopped into the landrover and dashed out there. the empty road in the early hours of the morning – forcing your eyes to stay open, clinging to the side. and hoping hoping hoping it’s going to be better than you imagine.
we arrived at the same time as their rough old open canvas roofed landrover pulled in around 2:30am….. ethan was still in his pyjama shorts with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, pale and vomiting a lot. he vomited on julie.
the story: back in camp, he was in his bed and thought he felt a mouse bump his knee. then he felt the “mouse” bump his thigh until the black necked spitting cobra bit him just above his elbow…he is now on a drip with anti venom from pretoria…but he is reacting badly to the anti venom and is covered in a horrible fast spreading rash. help is there though….i think he will be ok….it’s just very painful. and those fang marks look mean….one can only hope that those fangs were half full and he didn’t get a full dose of poison. i think he’ll be ok. imagine a snake IN your bed. in the bush ALWAYS check your bed. and zip your tent up. ALWAYS check your shoes too. for scorpions.
needless to say, oh bestests, i am very tired. i sorta ‘slept’ stretched across the two front seats of the landrover which is very uncomfortable – with the handbreak poking into your ribs, and the seat belt thingys poking into i dunno, your shoulder? waiting to see if ethan would be ok….julie has showered the vomit off and they’ve gone back to check up on him. the other surprising thing was that the little snake bite clinic was FULL of people…which means lots of people are getting bitten….nice”
Apparently the snake is now dead in her fridge.
In my suburban fridge I have some mouldy old chicken legs and a bit of ham and my children are complaining (as ever) that my fridge is always empty. Perhaps a black neck spitting cobra lying dead in my fridge might shut them up for a minute.
Maybe I should ask her to DHL it and in the meantime I am keeping everything crossed for her friend Ethan.
janelle
April 15, 2011heh he….! will post this morning….it’s STILL in the bloody fridge. the formaldehyde arrived yesterday from town…so hopefully safari c will pop it into a big jar and tie a red ribbon round it and give it to poor ethan. he’s still at the snake park being monitored. in a bed not in a tank so everyone can wander around and look at him..but doing ok…think he’s in for the long haul though…shame. xx
Family Affairs
April 15, 2011Glad to hear he’s on the mend though – poor guy. Love the red bow jar idea – please send photo. Wear you’re red dress. Lx
Expat Mum
April 15, 2011That’s it – I am NEVER going camping, anywhere.
Love that word – bestests!
Family Affairs
April 15, 2011I agree x
Kelloggville
April 15, 2011That’s awful. Hope he picks up soon. Hubby is from snake country. We (daughter or I) sometimes hide fake snakes in his bed to scare him. Am thinking now maybe it’s not so funny and I’m understanding why it frightens him and he gets annoyed. 10 years I’ve been doing it!!!!
Family Affairs
April 15, 2011That is EVIL!! Lx
Anna
April 15, 2011Just last night I was reading a blog post by a Texan woman, who was also describing killing a snake and putting in her fridge. I thought “how odd”, but I guess you don’t just throw them out, you do something with them, for all the trouble they’ve caused. Nobody there was bitten though. Poor guy. All the best to him.
Family Affairs
April 15, 2011Yes, scarily common I fear, but I guess a pickled snake if you survive is a pretty good memento L x