Here’s the run down on my spider bite in Thailand.
Day 0 (Wed May 22nd): Didn’t actually notice the bite happen if I did I thought it was one of many mosquito bites.
Day 1 (Thur): I notice it but assume it was just a mosquito bite or maybe small jellyfish sting. It’s a little bigger and itchier than a normal mosquito bite, but not much. I spend the day on a boat and motor scooter going from Koh Phangan to Koh Samui.
Day 2 (Fri): I notice some slight swelling and it’s a little sore. I’m also tired & have a slight fever but am not sure if that’s just from the prior day’s travel or from the bite. I feel like I’ve been in the sun way too much the last few days. Per my plan, I hope on my scooter, ride to the airport and fly from Samui to Bangkok. I arrive at my nice little air conditioned hotel room mid-day. I’m exhausted at this point, mild fever and headache. I lie down and rest rather than my planned shopping excursion. I end up sleeping ALL afternoon and through the night although I periodically wake to watch movies on Satellite TV. Regardless I literally spent 24 hours lying in bed resting.
Day 3 (Sat): Awake feeling WAY better, I figure I’m through whatever it was and spend the day walking around little India shopping for curtains for the new house. By the end of the day, my foot is seriously swollen though. It’s still not really painful, but it’s looking nasty, it’s starting to ooze a little.
Day 4 (Sun): Not much change, but I decide to wisely avoid walking much. The result is much less swelling but little change otherwise.
Day 5 (Mon AM): The wound is ever so slightly bigger, it is still oozing a tiny bit and the swelling is unchanged. The more I walk or don’t elevate it, the worse it is. So I decide to head to the doctor to get it checked out. I thought about going to Bumrungrad Hospital or Bangkok Hospital (both of which are big world class private hospitals in Bangkok that cater heavily to medical tourists and foreigners), but for something this simple I have no problem with Sukhumvit Hospital which happens to be a 5min walk from where I’m staying and is still one of the best Hospitals in Bangkok if not quite the class of BMG and BH
My visit to Sukhumvit Hospital involves:
- Filling out a single page form at reception. (no waiting and <5 min. It only took that long because I needed to look up addresses for “Person to Notify”.
- The staff kindly walks me from reception to ER where I wait <2 min. to see an ER doctor. He proceeds to instruct and observe his 3 helpers in thoroughly clean my wound with 3 different solutions and then scrape some of the dead tissue away. They are very gentle and there is no pain. The doctor then tells me there is a little infection, it’s not bad, just minor. Since I’m traveling he’s going to prescribe oral antibiotics (Amoxicillin) and a topical antibiotic (Sodium Fusidate). He tells me to keep it clean and bandaged and much like my dentist in Chiang Mai he tells me what seems like 10 times that it’s important to take ALL the antibiotics, not to stop early. Total time with the doctor and his 3 helpers, about 10 min.
- I’m walked by a nurse down the hall to the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions. I wait about 2 min and pay my bill while waiting for my prescriptions to be ready.
- I walk out.
Total time at the hospital, including time to pick up my prescriptions from the pharmacy, was about 20 min.
Total cost including my prescriptions: 1730THB (about $60 at today’s awful USD to THB exchange rate). So cheap I didn’t bother claiming it on my travel insurance.
Reviewing the week
Still not too worried about it, but I’m happy I got it checked out. I’m mostly glad I got on antibiotics early before the infection got worse. It might of gone away, but it might not of and taking care of it in 3 days back in the US would have been a huge hassle. Everything is just so easy here. I mean this was pretty difficult “as things go”, find a hospital, get myself to it, deal with potential language issues etc… but in Thailand it STILL ends up easier (and cheaper) than in the US. I spend a lot of time thinking about where I’d really want to live in Asia and Thailand has long been at the top of that list for all these reasons and more. Someday…
