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Published: September 11th 2023
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Well, evidently David doesn’t like me to have all the excitement with being bitten by a triggerfish.
The day started well – we attended the 8:30 service at New Hope again, and the music and prayers and sermon were all wonderful, and we were warmly welcomed as before. We’d taken our swim suits, knowing that the winds always rise by the afternoon so we wanted to get in asap. Drove north about 45 mins from the church, changed in the restrooms, hauled our stuff the ¾ mile across the hot lava trail, and found that the winds were so high there were white caps in the bay!
Oh poo. We contemplated what to do, and decided that we should at least enjoy a very early lunch by sharing one of those tender-as-butter calamari steaks as it was most unlikely that we’d return. Yum. Then we packed up and started hauling our stuff back, stopping to look at the fish ponds along the route – enormous fish in there, 4 spotted puffers, and a huge white-mouthed eel. That was fun. And we took a selfie for our church with Flat Jesus, to ackowledge that our Lord is always with us,
no matter where we go. And then we noticed that the winds had dropped. Completely. No more whitecaps either. Hmmm.
So back to the beach area we went, spread out our stuff on the mat again, sprayed our masks, put on our boots (we have fins that go over booties – which enable us to walk on rocks and lava entries), and within 25 steps David yelped and couldn’t walk. He said it felt like a bee sting. He hobbled over to a chair and took off the boot. I saw blood and what I thought were 2 small slices. Glass? One of those thorns I’d read about?
He shook the bootie and we saw nothing fall out. No bee, no glass, no thorn still in the sole. And it was hurting worse, which a cut or thorn would not. He limped up to the restaurant once more and asked if there was a first aid station. One server was trained, gave us ice, looked at the toe, said she saw just one tiny puncture, and concluded that David had been stung by a centipede – which probably had crawled into the boot and didn’t like being stepped
on. The blood was no doubt his. They called for a car to take us to our car, but after 30 mins we realized that another emergency had gained that ride, so instead we squeezed into a golf cart to get to our car (there was no way David could have walked that ¾ mile again, even without lugging stuff!) Off we went to the Urgent Care about 20 mins away. Yes, the doctor said it probably was the centipede, and prescribed a cream to sooth the rash that was developing, an antibiotic, Benadryl, and a steroid. She said her husband was once stung and the foot still swelled up occasionally months later. ☹ In fact, everyone we talked to had a centipede story!!
From google “are centipedes dangerous?” Two are nuisance pests and pose no real danger to people. “Scolopendra is the most dangerous species of centipede living in HI. Their bites are painful and their venom strong enough to cause a reaction in people.” Evidently bites can be very serious. And, by the way, they always have an odd number of legs !!
So, now over 6 hours after the fact, half of his foot still
aches (less than before, when it hurt all the way up to the ankle). He has a bruising under the toe, but the scary red line going up from the toe has faded.
So, we’ll see if there is any snorkeling or birding in our future until we leave on Wednesday morning. Actually, your prayers are coveted. It hurts! And I had to do the driving again.
(My triggerfish was a lot scarier looking. See?)
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