IWANT TO THANK all of you for your thoughts, well-wishes and concerns for my daughter after her battle with a copperhead.
It's unreal how many calls, e-mails and comments I've gotten since I shared my family's story of when nature attacks.
My daughter, Diana, 27, was in the driveway of her home in Madison County when the poisonous snake lunged out and bit her on the heel. Her fiance, AJ, killed it and put it in a Glad storage container, which Diana took with her to the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville.
More than three weeks after the bite, Diana still has pain in the joints of the affected leg. Her family doctor told her, in a follow-up visit a week after the bite, that she could be hurting for up to a year.
All the dizziness and lightheadedness she was feeling was probably caused by the antivenin, the doctor said. That's some nasty stuff, too.
So, as you can imagine, Diana is pretty bummed out by the whole ordeal. She hasn't gotten any bills or information from her insurance company about how much she'll have to pay.
The element of the story that many of you keyed in on was the outrageous price of the antivenin to treat the bite. The doctor warned us it was rather expensive, and when we asked how much, said, "Oh, about $10,000."
My favorite comment came from a man who said the cost of treatment--for
"That would be a crazy price even if was a rare snake from Africa or Asia," he wrote in an e-mail.
I can't say that I've enjoyed the snake pictures that folks have sent me, but I do appreciate the effort.
The one of the 10-foot rattlesnake killed in Texas was the stuff of nightmares. I took one glimpse at it, closed the file and haven't opened it since.
Closer to home, a Fredericksburg-area man sent images of a parent and child copperhead with heads that were much flatter than normal. They met up with
One of my favorites came from a woman whose "beautiful little Bichon, Gordon," was bitten as the two took their nightly walk.
I could sense the tears dripping down the master's face as she described watching the pain her pup was enduring. The dog was bitten on the nose and spent the night in an animal hospital, getting painkillers, antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medicines.
"If he hadn't have gotten bitten, it would have been me," she wrote in an e-mail. "He saved me from that pain and agony and for that I will be forever grateful."
One unexpected side effect of this experience is that a lot of people have told me they don't walk outside anymore, at night, without a flashlight. I, too, think about where I put my feet when I let the dogs out before bedtime.
What seemed so freaky about Diana's bite was that she seemingly didn't do anything to trigger an attack. She was merely walking back from the neighbor's house, and, after passing through a row of pine trees, was bitten in her own driveway.
Diana still takes care of her neighbor and good buddy Mr. Dodson a few nights a week. When she has to go home to get something, she doesn't walk anymore.
She drives.
Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com