Not Sure How To Tell This Story

If you read my last post, or Allan's, you know that something went down while we were in France. It happened last Wednesday.

I've been trying to think of a good way to tell the story, but I'm coming up dry. [eyeroll]

So there was this snake. On the beach. Now you have an explanation for the Snakes On A Plane references.

The snake bit my son. Panic did not ensue, but a trip to the hospital (with a bonus two-day stay) did. Before I go further, let me say that T is fine. Some of his curiosity has been curbed, but he's just fine.

All I can do at this point is copy and paste some words I wrote elsewhere about the adventure.

Actually, I didn't believe him at first. I thought he got pricked by a bush that was right there. Honest. He'd been walking ahead of me, so I didn't see any of it happen.

A few minutes later (after I had lain on the sand, imagining it had been a real snake and making movies about what the venom might do to him), he came to me and showed me that it was turning purple. We left the beach and drove to the hospital, after talking to a doctor on the island.

T. said it was a small snake. I imagine that an adult would have caused a quicker reaction, in which case I'd have reacted much more quickly, too.

And then, in an e-mail to my friend Anne:

I am doing fine. I was pretty relaxed about the whole snake bite thing because -- and this might sound completely weird -- the reaction was not immediate. I will admit that before T came to show me that it was turning purple, I made movies in my head about the effects of snake venom and what it might do to him. So 10 minutes later when he was like, "Hey mom, check it out," I took one look and said "You're going to the doctor." We called and made an appointment with a doc in St. Pierre, who wasn't going to be in his office for half an hour. By the time we got there, his secretary had spoken to him (he was still out) and said that in the case of snake bite, a doctor will always send the person to the hospital anyway, so that we should just go to the emergency room. Now, since T was walking, talking, and breathing, I thought that we ought to just take him to La Rochelle and not Rochefort [a closer-but-smaller hospital]. Which we did. If he had been in obvious distress, I'd have called the SAMU [the ambulance] and not the doctor!

Heh, and the kids wanted to go the beach "one last time" before we took them back to LR!  Bad idea. I have come to the conclusion that the Ile d'Oléron is MAUDITE for me.  Anyway, I spent the next two nights in the hospital. Allan and I drove back to Oléron on Thursday to get our stuff and to leave a note and some cash for the gîte owner (who was out of town that week) for the cleaning of the place. I had said we would do it ourselves, and although we did have the time that day, we were just like "Let's get the hell out of here."

Allan stayed in a hotel, but was quite present for me, which was good. By Thursday night, I was ragged. I had barely slept the night before, because the machine that T was hooked up to kept beeping. It was monitoring three things: his heart rate, breathing rate, and the amount of oxygen in his blood. And his heart rate went down after he fell asleep, naturally. And it set off the alarm, because it dipped below 60. The first time it happened, I got up to look, realized what happened, and lay back down. The thing went off EVERY TIME I drifted off to sleep. Finally the nurse came in to adjust the machine. He asked me how old T was, and set the thing to 55 beats per minute. For a while that helped, but as T went into a deeper sleep, his heart rate dropped even more. Beep beep beep beep beep! The nurse came back in and reset the thing for 50 beats per minute, and I was able to sleep, finally. T? He didn't hear a thing.

The upshot? My son's finger, hand, and arm got swollen and then bruised. The hospital stay was for observation purposes. The toxicology reports were negative, and as I wrote to my family, the conclusion was...inconclusive. T was discharged on Friday morning, and a follow-up visit the next day was clear. He'll go back to school on Monday. Apparently his classmates think he's Indiana Jones. Maybe now T will share Indiana's fear of snakes. I think he has at least learned that a snake on the beach is not like a crab that hides at low tide, and that a snake bite is worse than a crab pinch. My fearless boy may have some reservations about the animal world now.

And so ended our trip to France. Please excuse the rehashing of other writing here. I just can't think about this anymore, though.

Comments

[Thomas]

Bastard snakes! I admire your restraint by not going out and clubbing all the snakes back to Ireland.

[ally bean]

oh. my. goodness. gracious.

what a difficult time for you and for T. glad that all is well now.

snakes are icky and tricky. poor kid.

[cmhl]

I'm glad he is ok!!!!!

how bizarre, I didn't know snakes liked the beach!! eeeek! something new for me to worry about!

[Katherine]

Oh dear, glad T is ok, but not a good experience, especially on holiday.

[Monty]

I'm glad that T is OK also. I also think it's about ti,e I went to the surplus store for one of those flame throwers, not that I have an opinion, natirally.

[bhd]

Good for you for getting him something really good for show & tell.

I'm kidding, of course.

And I will reiterate my earlier comment. HOLY CARP!

[Margaret]

So, is this island cursed for other reasons? It is an exciting story, but I getting to the point in my life where I HATE excitement. Quiet, peaceful and calm--that's what I crave.

[Melissa]

Yeah I didn't know snakes went on the beach either. Yuck. Damn snakes. Hate them, hate them all.

Glad he's ok.

[Amber]

I use to like the beach in France... Glad you're'll (I say that all the time but have never tried to spell it before) ok.

[Neil]

He's going to have one cool story to tell for years on end. Imagine how big this snake is going to be when he starts telling girls in college how he wrestled it to the ground.

[newwavegurly]

Thomas, would that make her the Anti- St. Patrick?

Alison, I'm glad your son is okay.

So let me ask you this, in one of your movie scenarios, was the snake radioactive so that T would become some sort of Superhero?

[meredith]

I am glad your son is okay.

[owld_skipper]

Snakes really know how to wreck holidays. Bastids.

Glad to know that T is ok. An experience to remember. Who knew that they have nasty snakes in Francelation?

Wonder if the have them in Quixote country.

[barb]

oh my goodness, Ali, what a scare! I'm glad he's okay though. I never thought about snakes on the beach either. What was it doing there? Maybe it was lost. Well, I'm glad it's over with and y'all are okay.

[cassie-b]

Either you've heard from me a couple of times before, or I'm doing something wrong in trying to post
I repeat -
I posted this morning - I thought - but must have done something wrong.

As I just said to Alan, I'm so glad it all turned out with a happy ending.

Cas
So scary

Sorry if you heard this a minute ago.

[Karan]

I had no idea that there were venmous snakes in France...and after reading your story...apparently there are adders galore. I'm glad that T is fine and that you survived as well.

[bothenook]

your young man is indeed going to have a great story to tell as he gets older.
i was struck by a rattlesnake when i was a kid. been telling the story for 45 years.

only now it was 7 of the darned things, all 15 feet long, and 2 feet around. and there i was, just me and my....

[Gracianne]

I had no idea there could be snakes on Ile d'Oleron. Good for Indiana T. that you reacted so fast and calmly.

[Thesaurus Rex]

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

Glad he's alright. Poor fella.

For some reason I, too, thought that the beach was one of the places where you didn't have to worry about snakes. Ew.

[Heimo]

after I read this I was curious enough to quick google 'serpent' et 'france' to know what kinds of snakes are there around - the venomous snakes in France are about 4 different kinds of vipers - luckily they are not too poisonous - so in the very most cases you'll survive (here in Germany exists only one kind of venomous viper the 'Kreuzotter`), but still could dangerious to kids - Les vipères sont les seuls serpents de France dangereux pour l’homme. Et encore contrairement à ce que l’on pense, se sont elles qui ont peur de nous et ne nous mordent que sous la menace de l’homme (quand par exemple on lui marche dessus, on la prend dans ses mains…).
- So what I'm still curious about, did T. see the little snake before she bit him, maybe by trying to get her, examine her etc. - or was he bitten by surprise, by just walking over her etc. - because normally our european northern kinds of vipers aren't too aggressive & try to flee & hide from clumsy big mankind..

[Alison]

Heimo, my son got bitten because he was curious about the snake and tried to catch it. In his hands. I guess I should have mentioned that!

I think he learned his lesson!