Spider Bite

Make sure to see a doctor if bitten by a spider

Late last Saturday afternoon I was watering plants outside in my yard when I felt a bite or a sting on the back of my calf.  I swated whatever it was away, but I didn't get a look at it.  I figured it was a bee sting.  I went in the house and took some benadryl.  As the evening went on my leg started to really burn.  Sunday morning the area was about 4" in diameter, swollen, red and hot.  I had company on Sunday (my grown sons and family) I showed them my leg...it was hard to miss, but they suggested that I shouldn't be such a wuss.  As the day went on the area grew to about 6" in diameter, it was more swollen, red, hot to the touch, it burned and hurt when I stood, walked or flexed my leg or ankle.  Monday morning I went to urgent care.  The area now was about 8" in diameter, blistered, extremely swollen, hot and it had become difinite that it was getting worse.  The doctor said that it was good I came in.  She said it wasn't a bee sting it was a spider bite and that I had a serious infection caused by the bite.  The doctor put markers on my leg so, I could tell without question if the infection continued to spread.  They told me that if my leg got worse I was to immediatetly go to the hospital. They bandaged the area to prevent further infection in sores caused by open blisters.  They put me on predisone to take down the swelling and they gave me a 10 day course of antibiotics for the infection.  The next morning Tuesday I could see that the medicine was reducing some of the swelling and my leg wasn't as hot, but there were a lot more blisters.  Tuesday evening the area full of blisters turned a purplish color and this was concerning, because my online research told me that sometimes spider bites cause permanent skin damage (google spider bite images).  Good news by Wednesday morning the purplish color was fading, there were fewer blisters, the swelling was almost gone and the pain was pretty much gone.  Today is Thursday and the area continues to get better.  Only (1) blister remains, the area is not hot, it doesn't hurt and the discolored area has faded to a lighter red/purplish color that is still about 6" in diameter.  My guess it will probably take another week to fully heal.  I can only imagine what might have happened to my leg had I not gotten medical attention on Monday.  Until this happened to me I didn't realize that spider bites were a problem in Minnesota.  The doctor told me she sees them pretty regularly and they can be life threatening if not medically treated.