The Spider Bite

March 10

Well, I've had an interesting week. We went to yoga class last Wednesday morning. I have to admit that I have a long way to go in that department. Wednesday afternoon, the top of my right foot began to itch. It kept itching on Thursday and was driving me crazy. I put cortisone on it, but that didn't help much. On Friday, it felt as though I had something in my shoe. I check, but could only find some lint. By the end of the day, it was really hurting. When I took my shoes off, there were blisters on my big toe and the one next to it. On Saturday, my foot was beginning to swell. Andy took me to the emergency room. The doctor said it was a bite or a sting and prescribed antibiotic and pain killers, which made me sick. My foot had swollen so much it looked like a football with toes and felt like plastic, the skin was so hard. First thing Monday morning, we went to see our guy, Dr. O'Connor. He looked at it and said "Brown Recluse" and for me to go check in at the hospital; he would call and tell them I was on the way. He wrote a long list of instructions for the nurses on two prescription forms. They wheeled me into a room and put me on antibiotics through an IV. All day Monday and Tuesday. IV, pills, heating pad wrapped around my elevated foot. Tonight O'Connor came in and said it looked good enough for me to go home. I'll see him again on Thursday. It is gross.

March 12

I was still concerned with my foot this morning when we went to see Dr. O'Connor at 0900. He took one look and expressed concern too. He made an appointment for me to see Dr. Torregrosa, a foot and ankle doctor at 1700. Dr. Torregrosa, however was not concerned. He said it looked to be healing nicely. He cut off the dead flesh to reveal a clean wound. Then he used a swab to collect four samples for the lab. I go back tomorrow for a change of dressing. Tonight we are both relieved.

March 14

Things are looking up when I am looking down at my foot. I was back at Dr. Torregrosa’s office in Tavernier yesterday.  He said I am continuing to make progress and prescribed an antibiotic ointment for me to change the bandage at home over the weekend.  Then it is back to the Doc on Monday.  He thinks I can stop the doc checks next week.

March 22

Emergency Room Doc - spider or insect bite

Dr. O'Connor - Brown Recluse bite

Dr. Torregrosa - Brown Recluse bite

Dr. Toomey - something else

Dr. Schiff - not Brown Recluse

Wikipedia - probably something else

I've learned more about Brown Recluse spiders than I ever wanted to know these past two weeks, most of it from Wikipedia. It's a good read.

I didn't see a spider, but a brown recluse has a violin pattern on its back.  It has six eyes rather than the usual spider eight. And, according to Wikipedia, they are not in Florida.  The exception is when they get transported in wood or cardboard, but they have not established residence here.  Wikipedia also says that 80 percent of the cases diagnosed as brown recluse bites are wrong.

There is a whole list of other things that can cause necrosis, meaning your flesh rots.

• ·         Pyoderma gangrenosum
  ·         Infection by Staphylococcus
  ·         Infection by Streptococcus
  ·         Herpes
  ·         Diabetic ulcers
  ·         Fungal infection
  ·         Chemical burns
  ·         Toxicodendron dermatitis
  ·         Squamous cell carcinoma
  ·         Localized vasculitis
  ·         Syphilis
  ·         Toxic epidermal necrolysis
  ·         Sporotrichosis
  ·         Lyme disease
  
  
  All that aside, my wound seems to be healing nicely.  I have stopped bandaging it and wearing the big awkward post-op boot. It is still red and still hurts.  

A Little More Weird

I got this email today, in response to my last post:

Hi Dinata,

I don't know if you remember me but I was the one that gave you a tour of the Rialto Theatre, in Joliet, IL, when you were passing thru on your boat down the canal.  Well anyway I just read your weird Mystery story. and thought of my weird story.

I received a email from a old neighbor that wanted to let me know that they were selling slides of me and my family from 40 to 60 years ago on ebay and were asking $5.00 to $10.00 for each slide.  Very weird seeing pictures of myself being sold on ebay!  We contacted the name that was selling them. He had no idea where they came from but goes around buying old slides from estates sales. But he made comments of the year they were taken and the town they were in. Never followed up on it after that. And now they are off the ebay site.  Just wanted to share my weird mystery story!

Just wanted to let you know I do read all your email you send out. You and Andy have chosen a very interesting life style. We were in Marco Island, Fl last month visiting my brother for 10 days. Wanted to drive down to the keys and I thought of you.  Did not make the trip but maybe one day. Hope everything is going well with you both.

Cindy Sellers 

This Is Weird

I don't remember what train of thought took me there, but yesterday I entered Andy's name in the Google search box.  I was surprised to see Amazon in the listing of sites including his name. I snorted with derision. "So now Amazon is going to try to sell me another Andy Misovec." HA!  One is enough, thank you very much.

So, of course, I clicked on the link just to see what model they are selling this year. I recognized it right away.

APPROXIMATE ELASTICITY SOLUTION FOR ORTHOTROPIC CYLINDER UNDER HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE AND BAND LOADS

That is Andy's PhD thesis!  What is it doing on Amazon?  Who is selling it?  And, Holy Crap!  Who would pay $129.70 to buy it?

It's another one of life's mysteries.

Social Security Office and Veteran's Administration Clinic

It was a Key West errand day.

The first stop was the Social Security office.This time we remembered to leave the phone, camera, and pocket knife in the car so we did not have to go back to the car to get into the building.  We still had to empty all pockets and Andy had to take off his belt to walk through the metal detector. There were three security guards in the foyer.  One of them said, "So, you're going to the Social Security office".  How did he know?  "You two don't look like you are on probation." The court is in the same building.

The Social Security office is right next to the foyer.  There are eight or ten chairs in a small room.  Another security guard was seated at a small table in the far corner.  We took a number and then a seat facing two windows with bullet-proof glass.  They had a pattern of holes in them so you could carry on a conversation with the person on the other side. There were two women back there, but they took turns and only helped one person at a time.

One young woman wanted to change her name on her social security card.  She also wanted to change her daughter's name.  The woman behind the window told her she had to get the baby's name changed legally first and then bring the documents for identification.  Another woman had four or five children's cards for which she wanted to get the name changed.  A loud man came in and sat next to the silent man next to me.  He kept talking to the silent man who answered in monosyllables.  The guard told the loud man to stop bothering people.  The scrawny woman at the window looked as though she is having a hard life.  She wanted to get a job and wondered how much money could be in her bank account before her payments would be cut off.  The loud man kept interjecting his opinion and the guard told him to be quiet again.  The loud man decided to leave and yelled, "I'll see you on Tuesday!" as he walked out the door. The scrawny woman still seemed confused when she left.

Finally our number was called.  A15 is the same number we had when we were in the office in 2012. I didn't remember that; I still had the old number in my folder. We were there to make sure that Andy is getting the extra payment for his military service.  His service dates were not correct in the Social Security database.  The woman made copies of his documents and said she would forward them to a specialist to get it straightened out.

Yes, we were very happy to get out of there. We had lunch at Goldman's Deli while we recovered.

After all the bad press about the Veteran's Administration, we were surprised how well that appointment went. We didn't have to wait long.  Most of the time spent with the doctor was an interview.  After looking in Andy's ears, the doctor put in orders for a hearing exam in Miami.  Then he told the nurse to give Andy a shingles shot. We waited half an hour to make sure he did not have a reaction and then we were on our way home.

Sombrero Beach

The television weather report tonight confirmed my hypothesis of a few days ago: Winter is Over. The forecast is in the low 80s for the next week.

Last summer I got the great idea to scan all the recipes I have collected over the years.  You know, all those torn out of newspapers and out of the magazines in doctor's offices.  And the handwritten recipe cards from friends and family.  And the cookie recipe on the bag of sugar. I dragged all of those out of the storage unit and took them with us in the motorhome. They filled a large box and three fat three-ring binders.  And, I've been falling over them ever since.  The scanner is way too slow. So today I decided to take photographs instead.  Today I took 347 pictures of recipes.

We got veggie wraps at Publix and took them to Sombrero Beach. It was very crowded and we were lucky to find a parking place. Then we were lucky to find a picnic table. A large iguana walked past us and into the tall grass on the beach side of the fence.  Then a young, bright green one came out of the tall grass to munch on the lawn. I made kissing sounds to get him to look at me.

This very large tree is near the street.  I think it is a mahogany, maybe.

That looks like a Strangler Fig covering the trunk.  If so, it will kill the host eventually.  I'll have to do some more research and a closer inspection the next time we go there.

There are many of these little crabs along the canal into the RV park.  I suppose they are all over the islands.  We regularly see this little one in the same spot at the entrance to the canal.

This yellow Hibiscus is in front of a trailer down the street from us. The pistil must be three or four inches long.  I didn't remember that word; I Googled it. The pistil is a female part. I didn't remember that either.

Crane Point

Crane Point held a street fair in the garden behind the museum today. We really went there for our normal daily walk, but stopped to see what was going on.

Our neighbor Sue was greeting people at the front door of the museum and putting red stickers on them.  She had just stuck a sticker on this smart aleck man and he jumped and howled as though she had stuck him with a pin.  It startled Sue and she also jumped and squealed.  We were lucky enough to walk up just in time to see it and get a good laugh at her expense
.

Sue Got a Shock

A man and woman were there with a telescope for looking at the sun.  Whoa! Won't that blind me? The man explained that he has plenty of filters on the telescope so it would not be too bright.  Wow, I could actually see the small fringe of rays around the edge.  There were not any big solar flares today. Here is Andy taking his turn.

Andy Scoping Out the Sun

They also had a Sunspotter.  The woman had to explain it to me.  With holes and mirrors, an image of the sun appeared on the paper in the center (when the instrument was oriented correctly). The image was so clear; it looked like a photograph.  It would be perfect for watching an eclipse or Venus transiting the sun.

Sunspotter with Sun on Paper

After a quick walk through the art tables, we continued on our walk through the park. Thatch Palms are actually used to thatch roofs.

Thatch Palms Along Bahama Trail

Close-Up of Thatch Palm Leaf

The Golden Orb Weaver is huge. Her venom, similar to a Black Widow is potent but not fatal.  Her silk is exceptionally strong. Check out Wikipedia for a picture of a cape made from Golden Orb Weaver silk.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_silk_orb-weaver

Golden Orb Weaver

I had pretty good luck getting portraits of some of the birds in the bird hospital through the wire.

Green Heron

Osprey

Peregrine Falcon

Plumbago in Key RV

And that was the end of our walk.

Camp Chappy and Pelicans

We just returned home to Key RV after spending three nights camped with 12 other motor homes next to the Seven Mile Bridge. Yes, it was a three day party where we did little else but sit, eat, drink, talk and laugh. This is an annual event with our great group of motor home friends.

This year a huge group of pelicans was fishing right off the sea wall in front of us.  They fished there all day.  These are not the best pelican pictures you'll see, but they are some of the best I've been able to get. I hope you like them.

It was foggy day and especially early in the morning when we walked out on the Old Seven Mile Bridge. We could hardly see the new bridge, to the right in this picture. I was looking back to Key Vaca.  We could not see the island at all, but the sun reflecting off the surface of the bridge and into the fog made for an interesting effect.