How Julia Almost Lost Her Foot

Monday, November 27, 2006

From BAD to WORSE
Current mood: indescribable

Things are gettin' BAD...
So ya, I had been trying to keep a stiff upper lip and being positive about the farm I was just on (left TODAY----HOOOORRRAAAYYYYYY!!!!!) BUT it is time to be honest. I hated it. Let me be a little more specific. I did not hate the work, or the actual farm, or where it was located (even though it was in the middle of nowhere, far away from town) I hated Iris, the woman who ran it. I have never met a ruder, colder person in my life. (Although she did warm up in the end, a LITTLE). She was constantly getting after me, belittling me, finding ALL my mistakes (which in turn made me nervous so that I made even MORE--it was a very bad cycle). And then not even really talking to me hardly at all. BUT, since I had left the first farm so early, I was BOUND and DETERMINED to stick it out and finish the month there.

As if sh%£ could not get worse---IT DID!!!! MUCH WORSE!!!!!!
But not because of Iris, oh no. Our fearless, stubborn, determined traveler just happened to get bitten by a VERY poisonous spider ON THE F&%£!ç@ HEEL, which then made her whole foot swell up immensely, and unable to really walk. (But, because she was at a farm where she had to earn her keep, she kept on truckin') So, she took on the persona of Igor and the hunchback and, with a tight-lipped grin, hobbled and limped all over the farm. At this point I had NO IDEA it was a spider bite. I thought it was just some infection from an ingrown hair or something ridiculous like that. So, what do I do? I don't go to the doctor, heavens NO (not before I at least try to fix it myself---plus, it would be painful, expensive, confusing cause of the language barrier, etc.), Yep folks, I tried to take care of it myself. With an old scalpel that GianLuca (Iris's hubby) provided me with. (I OF COURSE doused with the bottle of 80 proof alcohol they gave me AND AVOIDED the part of the blade that was rusty...) So. Obviously that doesn't really do much good. It just keeps getting steadily worse. That was Wednesday 2 weeks ago.

Then, on Saturday, when I can no longer hardly limp, and can not even stand LOOKING at my own foot, I ask Iris to take me into the ER. Oh boy. The doctors immediately cut in to me (but not before they administered FOUR of the most PAINFUL anesthesia shots I have EVER HAD and probably ever will! before of which they had said "Now, we're going to give you some anesthesia shots, but because the area is so inflamed, they are not really going to do anything..." Anyway. What followed next was 40 minutes of EXCRUCIATING PAIN as they cut into my foot and cut out the whole area on my heal and then proceeded to SQUEEZE it as hard as they could to get everything out of it. They were right. The anesthesia didn't hardly do a thing. My god.

So ya. Fun times in the ER in po-dunk Italy. So I thought that would help, and it did---got the swelling down, but turns out I had to go back for them to clean it every 2 days (which was also extremely painful cause they filled in the hole every time with gauze and medicine--and they were not too gentle as they JAMMED it in every time). So, this last Friday, I am thinking my foot is getting much better, I can start to walk a little, and I went in that morning thinking that it was going to be my last visit (they said that I would need to go in max of 3 more times before and Friday was the 3rd or 4th time). So I say my hellos to everyone (I know them pretty well by now) and lay down on the table all happy and excited thinking this was going to be my last bout with pain. As I'm laying there happily humming to myself I over-heard the doctor say to the nurse "prepare an anesthesia shot." (by that time I understand a little ER Italian). Yep. They had to cut me open AGAIN. At least that time though, the swelling had gone down so the shots actually worked. After the operation, the doctor told me that it still was not healing at all and that I needed much stronger antibiotics. INJECTION-ABLE antibiotics. She gave me a prescription for 7 doses that I was supposed to INJECT MYSELF (at this point we still don't really know it is a spider bite). I graciously, if not very nervously say thanks and leave (thinking all the while--Ya RIGHT! AS IF! HA!)

So ya. It is time to finish this story (cause I gotta go catch a train to Milan in a bit) I talked to my Mom that night on the phone and she found out that it in fact was a spider bite and found a description of the symptoms, what the doctors will do if you DON'T bring in a spider with you, and what the spider looks like. Well, it just so happens that EVERYTHING was EXACTLY what happened, with my foot and the doctors AND it just so happens that I actually SAW a spider of that very EXACT description sitting on my bed a few days earlier!!!!!!!! It also turns out that there is no anti-venom or anything really that a doctor can do with the bite, you just have to let it do it's thing (for several weeks....) and give it MONTHS to heal properly. ISN'T THAT GREAT?????!!!!

I will end my little saga letting you all know that I still have to go in another time to get my foot all cleaned out. Should be fun. Did I ever say that I JUST WANT TO GO HOME? Shiza.
2:01 AM