By Staff
important for treatment
To the editor:
I live next to the Meadows on Edgewood Drive and my husband tries to keep our yard mowed between the showers every week. I thought I would help him make things look neat in the backyard before it started raining again.
As he mowed, I began to pull some grass from inside of the shadow box fence where you can't weed-eat. He finished mowing and as he was coming through the gate I got bit. I started screaming that a snake had bit me on the finger and he needed to take me to the hospital. Dancing around the yard holding my finger and screaming at the top of my lungs, I thought I would have to run up the hill to the hospital by myself and be dead when I got there. He calmly got the metal handled broom off the porch, killed the snake, put it in a plastic jar and told me to get in the truck. When we arrived, I found out just how important the snake's presence was to the doctors. They quickly identified it as a copperhead.
Who would have thought that a poisonous snake would be in a freshly cut yard! I would like to remind people that with this hot and rainy weather snakes are on the move to higher ground even in the city. If a person gets bit then getting the snake to the hospital is extremely important. I learned that people do have some time before they have to take the anti-venom if needed.
The doctors at D.W. McMillan are very aware of how to identify snakes and treat the bitten patient. The doctors and staff took good care of me and I was truly lucky thanks to them. They took a very conservative treatment approach, of which I was thankful because the anti-venom has side effects and you don't want to use it unless it is necessary.
I experienced just another example of why Brewton was designated one of the best 100 small towns to live in even though it has snakes. Also, my husband is definitely a keeper!
Carol Carmichael
Brewton