Thursday, September 07, 2006

This is a true story....

I was listening to the radio the other morning and a young lady was in the studio talking to the two Radio Hosts (djs).

She is a teacher at one of the schools here in Birmingham. She was talking about a day toward the end of summer when the teachers had come to the school to prepare their classroom for the upcoming school year.

As she was organizing her desk, she opened a binder to get a piece of paper when all of the sudden she felt something pierce through her hand like a hot poker with exploding glass being injected into her hand.

When she pulled her hand up, a copperhead snake was clinched onto her hand injecting venom into her hand. It bit her three times.

The snake had been curled up in the pocket part of the binder. Of course she did what anyone would do (at least what I would do)....screamed and flung her hand as hard as she could. The snake released and dropped to the floor by her feet.
Now at this point, the Radio Hosts were reacting so loudly that I did not actually hear if she killed the snake or how it was killed, but the snake ended up dead somehow.

She ran to her door and saw a man on a balcony on the second floor. She called over to him saying "Excuse me, I have been bitten by a snake, could you get someone from the office". He looked at her with confusion, so she repeated it. At this point she realized he was of foreign descent and did not understand her.
So, she ran down the hall, down stairs and to the office. When she told them she had been bitten by a snake, of course, they were in shock, and called for paramedics.

While waiting for them to arrive, someone had put ice on it, but the hospital told her to take the ice off and keep her hand downward (below her heart).
Since the hospital staff was notified by the paramedics, they were ready with the anti-venom medicine when she got there. She said her hand had swollen so much that she could not touch her fingers together and it was swollen all the way up to her armpit.

She was given the anti-venom (18 vials) and had no bad reaction from it.
It saved her life.

The bill came in from the hospital.

Guess how much the anti-venom cost.
.... $51,700!!!!

Lucky for her, she said she had a $100 deductible, and that was all she had to pay. Wow, this was incredible.
I couldn't believe this really happened.
I am terrified of snakes.
I don't know if I could have been that calm.

29 comments:

Foto Man said...

... but she died of heart attack later on 'coz of the high hospital bill , right ?

jamwall said...

crikey!

Unknown said...

Wow, I'm from the Birmingham area and I've not heard that story! I'd love to know the details (like what school/what station you heard this on) if you want to email it to me... Cool (but scary) story!

Lee Ann said...

Foto ~ Well, I would have most likely had a heart attack, but she was alive and telling her story!

Jef ~ Wow, how awful! I am sorry your mom went through that.

Jams ~ I know!

gkw ~ Hey! Nice of you to stop over here.
It was on Y94.5 (Rick and Bubba) Sept.5.
I am not sure which school. They had new furniture delivered to the school. The company they had a contract with to move the furniture, moved it in a horse trailer. Which is how the snake got into the school. It was in the room next door to her's and made it's way into her room and crawled into a binder. The hospital she went to was UAB.
Hope you will come by more often.

Carl Spackler said...

i'm glad i have health insurance!

Ty said...

A similar thing happened in Missisippi Maybe there is a conspiracy bet. the hospitals and the snakes . There is so much of that going on . Or these are Al Queda snakes .Ever heard of 'suicide snakes' ?

JLee said...

wow! that is insane...I used to not be afraid of snakes, because all we ever had where I grew up were harmless ones. Well, one time I picked a small black snake up and it bit the skin between my thumb and index finger and wouldn't let go! I literally had to pull the snake and let the teeth rip through the skin to remove it. The teeth were very small, but it still was not pleasant. I didn't think it was poisonous, so did nothing and I'm alive, but for a few minutes I was sweating it!

Polyman2 said...

I hope the snake had burial insurance.

Bathroom Hippo said...


Thank God for insurance.

And for capitalism!

And for Talk Radio!

Cinderella said...

Ewwwwwwwwwwwww!!! *Goose bumps*...I hate snakes and that story makes me fear ever opening a binder again!!

BKS said...

I have picked up a copperhead before....now before you start calling me stupid or crazy....I was picking up leaves and felt something hit my hand and looked down and there was a fairly small copperhead in my hand and I had him right behind the head....if I dont let go fast enough he could strike me....so I carry him in the house ...again quit calling me that lol....and I get a knife out to cut his head off....end of that story AND the end of me picking up leaves for a few days. I dont mind snakes as long as I can see them. Most of them will not mess with you unless provoked.

Brad

Hotboy said...

Don't know what a $100 deductible is, but there's a National Health Service in Blighty. But no copperheads! Thank God. Heard about a guy in Australia going to sleep in his sleeping bag in the desert when he saw the tail of a snake disappear into his sleeping bag. Had to wait till dawn till it crawled out again. Be a long night that! Hotboy

MIA said...

THEY SHOULD HAVE NEVER EVER MADE THAT MOVIE, it just got all the snakes pisssssssed off.

Ellen said...

I'm with cinderella on this one. I hate snakes too.... and don't care how "harmless" they are. They just frighten the bejeebers out of me!

Otis said...

Did you hear about the lady that got bitten by a pygmy rattlesnake at Lowe's in Orlando last weekend while shopping for plants?

BeckEye said...

That sounds like an urban legend. I'm so cynical these days, I don't believe anything. :)

But if the mighty Croc hunter can get pierced through the heart by a stingray, I guess anything's possible.

Spinning Girl said...

Wow, what a story.

Lee Ann said...

Carl ~ Me too Carl!

Ty ~ Really? It is a conspiracy!

Jlee ~ Oh wow! I touched a snake once....creeped me out so bad. I still cringe.

Lee Ann said...

Poly ~ haha

Hippo ~ Yes, yes and yes! ;)

Shannon ~ It certainly makes you think about it! I am with you, I am terrified of snakes.

Lee Ann said...

Brad ~ Oh crap! I nearly stepped on a coral snake once! I screamed so loud...it could have been heard 4 miles away! I had a sore throat for days.

Nike ~ I know, shock isn't it?

Hotboy ~ Oh gosh, that would have scared me near death!

Lee Ann said...

Mia ~ haha...you might be right!

Ellen ~ I am with both of you! ::heebie jeebies::

Otis ~ Oh man! No, I had not heard of that. That is scary!

Lee Ann said...

Beckeye ~ If I had not heard the girl telling her story, I wouldn't have believed it either. I know, what a freak accident that was!

SG ~ I know, I was amazed! So were the Radio Hosts!

Becky said...

Holy Shit! You could've warned earlier that the post was going to be about snakes! I have little to no fear in this world, rats no problem, spiders just kill it, but snakes!!!!! Can't describe the terror and many sleepless nights because of snakes.... They are just evil and people who keep them as pets are just weird and crazy... that's the nicest thing i can say about anyone who would own a snake!

Lee Ann said...

Becky ~ I completely understand your fear of snakes, I have it too!
::cringe::

~Tim said...

ugh! snakes give me the creeps.

Lee Ann said...

tvs ~ me too!

jiggs said...

holy crap!

onan the bavarian said...

Good story and good pictures. The nearest I've ever got is getting my hand bitten by one of those loose-leaf binders snapping shut.

Lee Ann said...

Jiggs ~ I know, right!

Rob ~ Oooooh, I hate it when that happens.