I've Been Kissed - part 3 (a tale of love, beauty and stupidity)

continued......

Snake venom is broadly categorised into 2 types : 

hemotoxic and neurotoxic.

Hemotoxins destroy the blood clotting ability leading to continuous uncontrollable bleeding and cause tissue damage (the burning in my arm). 

Neurotoxins disable the nervous system, leading to paralysis and suffocation.  

The chances of receiving a venomous snake bite are very low.

Snake bite is a rare occurrence even among people who spend a great deal of time out doors.  

Luck - the rare chance of coming face to face with a venomous snake 

& 

Stupidity - putting my hand close to his mouth

.....made me the chosen one. 

Fortunately, I was bitten by a Saw-Scaled Viper (hemotoxic). 

Unfortunately we were running out of time.   

Some blood tests were done, with difficulty. 

My body was now in physiological shock. 

My green veins, which have been a pop up feature on my hands 365 days of the year, suddenly disappeared. 

The veins, 

inside my skin they slid deep 

playing hide and seek

refusing to oblige 

only going deeper inside

not just one but three-four doctors at a time

they tried 

but the veins

they just collapsed....

making it a long drawn, difficult and painful process.   

     

After the blood tests were done, the blood refused to clot. 

The red blood flowed continuously from the smallest needle prick. 

Blood had started thinning. 

The venom was doing its job.

My dad ran for admission registration while I headed to the ICU with my sister. 

They wired me up with ECG Electrodes to record my heart and pulse rate. The machine started to beep.

I was terribly exhausted and sleepy.  

No, the exhaustion was not due to the Saw-scale's kiss, but due to the non stop hard work we had put in the past month and for all the sleep we had missed. 

I got on to the bed in the ICU, asked for an extra blanket (which was one of the toughest thing to spare in this hospital). My eyelids slammed shut and immediately fell asleep. 

-to be continued

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