Snakebite

What a day again. Today I had a snakebite and he was envenomated and had all the neurotoxic affect. He had droopy eyelids, weak limbs, slurring of speech, double vision, drooling…etc… He presented to the hospital 10 hours after the bite. He first got to the nearest health center but they don't have antivenom so by the time he got on the canoe and got to Kikori Hospital it had been 10 hours after he was bitten. The snake was a death adder. Well we started the antivenom but he started developing an anaphylactic reaction with wheals, coughing, wheeze. Normally I would totally panic but because everytime I did anything with the patient, I begin with prayers with the staff and it really makes a difference even when things don’t go right. Well of course I had to give the adrenaline, steroids, antihistamine…etc… and eventually the reaction went down. The problem is that he needs the antivenom so even with the reaction, you have to restart the antivenom. That was hard and thank goodness after restarting, he did not react. Phew!!! He then stopped slurring and was able to speak somewhat clearly. So I knew he would be ok. While all of this was happening, there were four other admissions, an axe accident, a cachetic lady, and domestic violence. Well no one died and everything was under control by midnight. Praise God!!!