The Bravest Girl I Know

As a child there was nothing I feared more than what was outside the basement window of my bedroom.  It was not that I knew what lied at the bottom of that window well.  I was afraid of what could be at the bottom of that window well.  In the event of a fire I worried that I would need to climb out it and face the unknown on the other side.  And what did I fear most was there?  Black widows.

I was sure as a child that at the bottom of that window well lived a black widow.

I never had to climb out of that well.  Never dropped anything in that I had to retrieve.  Never saw a black widow...

That is until now.

My bug-loving, pet-collecting daughter, Hadley, found herself a black widow.

When a child comes to their mother at 5:00 complaining of something, that child does not get the mother's full attention.  More often than not there is no husband around at that time of day and the mother is overseeing homework, practicing, dinner preparations, carpools and sibling squabbles.  A mother can only multi-task so much, so a complaining child gets brushed aside.

It wasn't until Hadley came to me a second time saying that her arm hurt that I stopped what I was doing and took a good look at her arm.  A bee sting?  Not a bee.  Arizona has a plethora of critters and there was only one way to find out.

When I went outside to the lounge chairs where the girls had been playing I was looking for a scorpion.  I figured that must have been it and was seeking confirmation.  I threw pillows from the chairs looking.  I didn't see anything.

Then Hadley shouted, "Spider!"

Curled up in fold of one of the pillows was a large black spider.

My childhood fear right in front of me.  I threw a cup over the top of it.

Was it a black widow?  Was it just a spider?  Hadley began to complain more and more about the pain in her arm. Ryan was unreachable.  Darn that doctor husband!

I began calling physicians we know.  I needed an opinion.  An ER doctor from the neighboring ward returned my call.

"Take a picture of the spider on the top, then flip it over and take a picture on the bottom and text it to me."

Are you kidding me?  Did he not know that the only spider lover currently home just got bitten by one?

Facing my fears I had Braden remove the cup, I snatched one quick photo, and then we threw the cup back over the top.

"The picture's not good enough.  You'll need to get closer."

What?

In the end it was determined that it was a black widow.  Hadley spent several hours at the ER where she was treated for pain.  Anti-venom is not readily available and as long as the pain is treatable, they don't administer it.  So we watched her.  She had a high fever for 24 hours and difficulty breathing.  She ate little and slept the majority of the next four days while the poison worked its way through her little system.

My poor bug-loving Hadley, having none of the same fears I had as a child, was bitten by a black widow.  All I could tell her over those four days was that she is the bravest girl I know!