This past weekend was not that fun for me. Friday, my 8-year-old went to a party at a place that has the blowup jumpy houses. He came home, happy and full of birthday cake. Around 8:30, he came over to me to tell me something and I saw a white place on his arm with a red circle around it. Yikes – what was that on my son’s arm?
I had his dad look at it and we called his grandpa, who used to be an EMT. After sending him a picture of it, he said it might be a spider bite.
So, off to the minor emergency clinic we went. As it turns out, the doctors really can’t tell you what it was that bit your child is unless you see it bite him or her. Because brown recluse spiders are so prominent in the south, I was worried about that. The doctor said it might have been a brown recluse spider, but we wouldn’t know unless my son got a fever, the size of the bite grew, it developed into a blister, or he started vomiting.
Super mom decided to wake up every hour Friday night to check on him. Fortunately, he never got a fever, the bite mark never grew bigger, there was no blister, and he didn’t throw up.
I guess we will never know what bit him, but there are a few things to consider if you think your child was bitten by a spider. First of all, see if you can see bite marks. We couldn’t see bite marks on my son’s arm, but the fact that it was white and raised in the middle and dark red around the outside concerned me.
Secondly, check for things like fevers, chills, nausea, vomiting, and/or abdominal pain. Press the bite to see if it is painful. That is one of the first things the doctor did to my son’s arm (it wasn’t). She also said the center would turn into a blister within 8-10 hours if it was a brown recluse spider bite.
Wash the infected area with soap and water and elevate it if you can. Adults can take aspirin or Tylenol if there is mild pain, but use care when giving painkillers to teens and children.
The most important thing is to seek medical attention if you think it is needed. I was concerned, and then calmed down once we talked to my father-in-law, but I still knew getting a doctor’s opinion would make me feel better. There are 38,000+ different types of spiders – most are harmless, but you never know. The bottom line is better safe than sorry.