DOUGLAS COUNTY NEWS PRESS (Castle Rock, Colorado) 23 September 04 Douglas County man recovering after run-in with rattler (Alex C. Pasquariello)
As he lay in the emergency room Sunday afternoon at Sky Ridge Medical Center, Steve Hinkley didn't know if he would live or die as doctors waited for the antidote for the poison coursing through his body.
Earlier in the day, a large rattlesnake bit Hinkley's right calf while he was hiking in open space between his home in Surrey Ridge and Sky Ridge Medical Center. In the hospital's intensive care unit 24 hours later, Hinkley rested peacefully, counting his blessings as the antivenin that saved his life continued to pump through his veins.
"I thought yesterday was it," Hinkley said, looking down at his swollen right leg. "I just prayed to God, and he answered my prayers."
Hinkley was hiking with his three children and a friend, Castle Rock resident Wes Bean, around 3:30 p.m. Sunday when the viper struck. Hinkley said the group hiked about a mile north of his home to an old homestead ruin when it encountered the snake while walking through tall grass.
"Wes asked me if I had seen any snakes since we moved (to Surrey Ridge) and I said, 'no,'" Hinkley said. "No sooner did I say that than I felt a tremendous sting in the back of my leg."
Hinkley instinctually swatted at what he thought was a bee. Instead, he hit the head of what he and Bean estimated to be a 4-foot rattlesnake.
"That's when he started rattling - after I swatted him on the head," Hinkley said.
Bean said Hinkley must have startled the snake because it struck without an audible warning.
"I wouldn't have known anything happened except Steve shouted, 'Ow!'" Bean said. "Then it rattled, but slid away."
When he looked down at the two bleeding fang punctures, Hinkley began to panic.
"I didn't know what to do," he said. "Cell phone coverage was patchy and we were at least a mile from my home. I just knew I needed to get to the hospital and I wasn't that far from it."
Hinkley tied a sock as a tourniquet below his knee and sent Bean and all but one of his children back to his house to get help. He then began walking due east towards Surrey Drive with his oldest daughter.
"I figured my daughter and I could get to the road and flag a car to take us to Sky Ridge faster than help could get to me," he said.
But the venom took effect faster than Hinkley could have imagined. As he and his daughter began the hike to Surrey Drive his body began tingling, it became harder to breathe and his heart was racing. Soon, his appendages went numb.
"There is nothing I can compare the sensation to," he said. "The tingle moved all the way up to my face and head. My head felt like it was swelling and would explode. There was also a burning sensation and I've never felt thirstier."
Fearing he might lose consciousness or die, Hinkley sent his daughter back to Surrey Ridge so she wouldn't see him suffer and could tell authorities where he was.
It's a decision he now regrets.
"I didn't know what to do," he said. "I just didn't want to her to see me die."
Alone, Hinkley continued eastward, hoping he would reach Surrey Drive before losing consciousness.
"I started praying and just kept moving," he said. "There were a number of hills. I would make it up and then tumble down them."
After cresting the final hill above the road, Hinkley said he threw himself down an embankment and sprawled on the side of the road. Slipping in and out of consciousness, Hinkley said he can't remember how long he waited for a car to pass, but he is sure if it had been much longer he may not have survived.
"I remember a Toyota 4-Runner came by and I flagged him down," he said. "He took me to Sky Ridge. I don't remember his name - Hughes, maybe. I think he said he lived in Castle Pines North."
The Good Samaritan brought Hinkley to Sky Ridge Medical Center's emergency room, but his ordeal didn't end there. He waited 10 to 15 minutes for the hospital to find the antivenin that would save his life.
Nancy Falk, spokeswoman for Sky Ridge Medical Center, said Hinkley was the first rattlesnake bite victim treated at the 1-year-old facility, and the hospital had to have the antivenin rushed in from another hospital.
Hinkley's doctors were unavailable for comment on Hinkley's specific treatment. As of Tuesday morning he was still receiving antivenin treatment to combat the snake's deadly toxins.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agency that regulates antivenins as part of its oversight of biological products, the antivenin used widely to treat rattlesnake bite is called CroFab. It is derived from antibodies created in the blood of sheep when the animal is injected with the snake's venom.
Antivenin is often the only treatment for venomous snakebite, according to the FDA.
Hinkley said the antivenin, and t he doctors and nurses who procured and administered the treatment, saved his life.
The avid outdoorsman said a serious rattlesnake bite is the type of thing he thought would never happen to him and, in hindsight, he knows he, his friend and children could have handled the emergency better.
A day after the near-tragedy, Hinkley wanted to make sure Coloradans enjoying the outdoors don't repeat the mistakes that led to his injury.
"Everybody who hikes or enjoys the outdoors should make sure they know how to avoid rattlesnakes and how to react if they are bitten before they leave their house."
http://www.dcnewspress.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12980047&BRD=1585&PAG=461&dept_id=213470&rfi=6
DOUGLAS COUNTY NEWS-PRESS (Castle Rock, Colorado) 23 September 04 Snake bites don't have to be fatal (Alex C. Pasquariello)
Every state but Maine, Alaska and Hawaii is home to at least one of 20 domestic poisonous snake species, according to a study in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The prestigious publication found that in the United States between 7,000 and 8,000 people are bit by venomous snakes each year and about five of those people die.
The Colorado Department of Health does not track snake bites in the state. But according to the American Red Cross Mile High Chapter, rattlesnakes account for most venomous snake bites in the state and nearly all deaths.
But an encounter with a rattlesnake need not be a life-threatening experience, said American Red Cross Mile High Chapter spokeswoman Janie Bennett.
That organization's first recommendation is to leave snakes alone, she said. Most bites occur because people try to kill or get a closer look at a snake.
Also, stay out of tall grass unless you wear thick leather boots and long pants. Mostly, she said, stay on hiking paths as much as possible. If a rattlesnake is encountered while hiking or picnicking just walk around and give it lots of space.
Most experts concede that some bites, such as those inflicted when snakes are accidentally stepped on or encountered in wilderness, are nearly impossible to prevent.
If you do get bit by a rattlesnake - or any other snake - the American Red Cross recommends the following first aid be taken:
* Wash the bite with soap and water.
* Immobilize the bitten area and keep it lower than the heart.
* Get medical help.
If a victim is unable to reach medical care within 30 minutes, the Red Cross cautiously recommend two other measures:
* A bandage wrapped two to four inches above the bite may help slow venom. The bandage should not cut off blood flow from a vein or artery. A good rule of thumb is to make the band loose enough that a finger can slip under it.
* A suction device may be placed over the bite to help draw venom out of the wound without making cuts. Suction instruments often are included in commercial snake bite kits.
Bennett said that snake bite kits are the best protection against potentially venomous attacks.
"Twenty years ago, maybe, first aid books would have recommended a tourniquet or making an incision below the wound and sucking the venom by mouth," she said. "The Red Cross no longer recommends those options. The best idea is being prepared with a snake bite kit when hiking or in the wilderness."
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates antivenin medical treatments for snake bites as part of its oversight of biological products, nearly all medical professionals are unanimous in their views of how not to treat a venomous snake bite. They recommend:
* No ice or any other type of cooling on the bite. Research has shown this to be potentially harmful.
* No tourniquets. This cuts blood flow completely and may result in loss of the affected limb.
* No electric shock. This method is under study and has yet to be proven effective. It could harm the victim.
* No incisions in the wound. Such measures have not been proven useful and may cause further injury.
For more information on rattlesnakes, first aid for snake bites or snake bite emergencies contact: Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center: 1-800-222-1222
Or log on to the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension Web page:
www.coopext.colostate.edu/wildlife/snakes.html
http://www.dcnewspress.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12987361&BRD=1585&PAG=461&dept_id=213470&rfi=6
