Snake Bite

We had a very traumatic night the Wednesday night. Elijah my 10 yr old autistic child got bit by a venomous snake. We never saw the snake, he never saw the snake and didn't know what bit him. He was in the backyard at dusk and something bit him. I was in the kitchen finishing up cooking dinner when I heard him through the open window. He was standing there crying and asked me to find the "enemy" that got him. Once I got him inside I saw that it was a snake bite and knew we had to go to the ER. JB made a last look around for the snake, I grabbed his Medicaid card and Arianna got her shoes on. I made sure everything in the kitchen was off, threw Jenny in the crate and we force Elijah into the truck to go. Elijah did not want to go and didn't understand how important it was that he go to the doctor. After we got to the hospital and finally got him to the exam room I had to keep him there. All he wanted to do was go home. The doctors got a good enough look to verify that it was a snake bite. They ended up giving him a sedative so that they could really examine him and do a blood draw for labs. The sedative didn't work very well, Elijah fought it. But I helped hold him still in a chair while they quickly drew the blood. After that Elijah finally calmed down and started to understand what was going on. I think the pain was getting to him. He willing started laying in the bed. He started talking to us and told jokes with Arianna. Elijah's blood work finally came back and was clear. They said that it was a mild bite and he got only a little venom, but not a dry bite. We had to stay a little longer after that because poison control said the bite area had to be monitored for 5 hours for change. Elijah's foot and ankle were swollen and red, he was bit on the top of his foot near his ankle. But it wasn't spreading and there wasn't any other discoloration. The biggest success was Elijah willingly lat the doctors look at his foot. He didn't even really fight getting his tetanus booster shot before we left. Elijah was so happy to leave when he was finally released, he even thanked the doctors for helping him feel better. On the way home JB and I were talking about how we think it was a defensive bite from the snake because it didn't hang around, bit and fled. Elijah then told us that the snake said it was sorry. After we got back in the house Elijah thanked us for taking him to the doctor. Thinking about that still makes me want to cry. It makes me feel so good.
Yesterday Elijah spent most of the day in the recliner elevating his foot, as he is supposed to. He does get up for small stretches, depending on how much his foot is hurting him he has also been using JB's wheelchair or my crutches. He has also been walking on it. His foot is not getting worse. We are so thankful that it wasn't any worse than it was. Elijah should recover well and doesn't seem to have become afraid of snakes. Arianna has expressed interest in now having pet snakes. I did have to explain why she can't have a king cobra, but that non-venomous snakes are ok.