Las Vegas: Stung by a Scorpion

View of Vegas Strip from Korol Seniors' Backyard

We spent a week in Las Vegas at the Korol Seniors' home -- basking in the comfortable space that they have created in the desert wonderland that is Vegas. Staying at their home feels far away from the debauchery of the Strip and closer to nature. Even though the Las Vegas Strip is visible from the backyard, a 10-minute drive brings you to bounteous hiking/climbing and the occasional 15 inch herbivorous chuckwalla lizard in Red Rock Canyon National Monument. (I would insert a link here to Red Rocks but many federal websites are currently suspended due the government shut down.)

When we arrived in Vegas, the Korol Seniors warned us about some unpleasant nature that had been frequenting their home -- Bark Scorpions. Bark Scorpions are the most venomous species of scorpion in the U.S.and the only species that can be considered life threatening. And according to Desert Musuem's animal fact sheet, the Bark Scorpion can also be "found in many places due to its ability to climb. It can be found not only under rocks or in rock crevices, but also in trees or high on rock walls. They also can be found inside of peoples dwellings trapped in sinks or bathtubs, climbing walls, or in a dark closet." The Korol Seniors ahd found three scorpions in a one- week period -- two scorpions in scorpion sticky traps and one on top of a tall dresser. The one on top of the dresser was alive and subsequently quickly squashed. The Korol Seniors' household is usually scorpion free but I guess that in the Fall and Spring, Bark Scorpions come out in abundance. These two shoulder seasons are scorpion mating season -- when the male forcibly inserts the sperm into the female's abdomen with his pincers. Lovely creatures.

I met one of these creatures in the garage on Saturday at 1:20 pm. I had just begun organizing some of our stuff and packing for our next adventure when I grabbed Wilson's timbuktu blue laptop bike messenger bag. I started to open the back, hookiing my fingers under the flap of the bag, when I felt an intense sting on my right index finger. The pain shot into my finger like a tylenol sized surge of lancinating zapping. I froze with pain and thought -- "wow, I am such a wimp, I didn't think that hornet stings hurt this much." I dropped the bag and saw something yellow and brown fling to the garage floor. I didn't pay attention to what I thought was a hornet because I was too obsessed with the electric shocks pulsing through my finger. I ran into the house and put my finger under cold water as I breathlessly told Wilson and Mrs. Korol Senior that I had been stung by a hornet. As the zaps ran up my finger into my arm, I went back to the garage to look for a hornet nest in the garage by the bag and I expected my "hornet" sting to subside. As the pain worsened and no hornet nest was to be found, it eventually dawned on me that perhaps, I had seen a yellow/brownish scorpion scuttling away when I had rushed to run cool water on the wound.

Sure enough, I began exhibiting all the signs of a scorpion sting as the tingly pain worsened and traveled from my right index finger to my armpit. I called my sister, who is an urgent care doc, and poison control. Poison control told me that scorpion stings are usually only life threatening to the very young, very old or very weak. They also told me that no emergency room visit was needed unless I began to shake, have my mouth close up and restrict my breathing, excessively vomit, and the other usual signs that something is seriously wrong. My sister adsded that the next five hours were the most serious so I should stay quiet, keep my hand quiet, and try to relax so that I didn't induce a more powerful response to the toxin. She also warned that I should have the Korols watch me for "foaming at the mouth". Delightful.

Luckily, no "foaming at the mouth" occurred and after 24 hours of icing and taking Alleve painkillers, the tingly pain and subsided from my armpit to my elbow. At its worst moments, the pain was somewhat intense and other parts of my body tingled. That night, I couldn't sleep on the bed and so I slept fitfully on the couch to control my arm position in order to minimize the pain. But after 24 hours, the pain had mostly become the sensation that you have when one of your appendages "falls asleep" -- a lot of tingling. After 36 hours, the tingling sensation was mostly restricted to my hand. This was a good thing since we took a red-eye on Sunday night to the East Coast. And now, 5 days and 107 hours later, there is slight numbness, heat, and itching on the back of my index finger but no mark. In fact, during this entire time, there has been almost no swelling and no visible signs of my unpleasant nature experience. Ah well, one bad experience in an abundance of good experiences in Vegas nature is not bad stats.

 

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