KTVK (Phoenix, Arizona) 29 August 06 6-year-old bit by rattlesnake (Steve Bodinet)
Dezirae Thomas is a lucky little 6-year-old from Yuma who is back home Tuesday after being treated for a snake bite.
Dezirae's dad, Dewayne, had just told his daughter to put some shoes on. But before the young girl could, she found a nasty rattlesnake hanging onto her leg.
"Most of the time, she was saying, 'It bit me. It bit me,'" Dewayne said.
Dewayne shudders to think of what happened Sunday when his barefooted daughter stepped on a rattlesnake.
"It was sharp," Dezirae said.
Sharp indeed as the rattlesnake sank its fangs into Dezirae's leg.
"I told my brother and he told me to tell my dad and mom, so I did," she said.
Dezirae was airlifted to Phoenix Children's Hospital.
"One foot's bigger and one foot's small," Dezirae said.
"The venom causes swelling in the area and it causes clotting abnormalities," said Dr. Paul Bakerman.
Bakerman said the Thomas family did the right thing following their daughter's run-in with the rattler.
"The important thing is to seek medical attention ASAP," Bakerman said. "That way we get the anti-venom in as quickly as possible."
That anti-venom did the trick, keeping the bite under control even though Dad's head is still spinning.
"Fear and dread that you could have done something to avoid all this," Dewayne said. "It goes from being angry at yourself to feeling for your kid to back to being happy."
Bakerman said don't worry about trying to capture the snake that struck because the anti-venom is the same for all bites.
In Dezirae's case, a family friend tried to catch the snake that bit her and guess what? He also was bitten and was hospitalized in Yuma.
A better footnote, Dezirae went back home Monday night.
http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/stories/KTVKLNews20060829_rattlesnake-bite_anti-venom.4a51bdb0.html
