Post what you are thinking right now, part two

[Queen Victoria]

Trying to pay a bill on the Internet was a nightmare.  I finally gave up and applied chocolate ice cream to my shattered nerves.  They healed well.


Follow-up

G_d damn, MF, SOB.  Part of the payment went through.  The part for the bill, not the additional stuff I was ordering.     Yeah, I am pissed.

[Phoenix]

I've been thinking of getting a scorpion, myself. probably Parabuthus spp., P.transvaalicus being the ore interesting of the genus, as either it alone, or the genus alone, among scorpions, are capable of firing their venom defensively. Not that I'd deliberately piss it off just to see it scared, wouldn't be right.

Or, alternatively, the israeli deathstalker, Leiurus quinquestriatus, not so much for the creature itself, but for the potential money due to the fact deathstalker scorpions produce a peptide in their venom, named chlorotoxin, that is highly selective in binding to certain types of brain tumor cells (malignant glioma, one of the nastiest and hardest to treat) I've had the idea for a long time, but you can just see the potential in that without being a medicinal chemist, radiolabeled chlorotoxin could be used both to image the cancer, with I should think, an extremely high resolution if one of the non-critical hydrogens were to be replaced by a fluorine-18, a as fluorine can often behave as a bioisostere of hydrogens, although non-labile to metabolism, hence frequent use in enzyme inhibitors. such as organofluorophosphate nerve agents, and fluoroacetate/aka the nasty as hell pesticide 10-80, as the fluorine makes the molecule often LOOK similar, from a steric and electrostatic point of view, so can often bind in a similar way to what a hydrogen substituted molecule with the hydrogen/fluorine position being the same, but it can't easily be chewed off metabolically, save for a very very few exceptions.

Bingo, ligand for either accurately imaging (18F is a radioactive isotope of fluorine, synthetic, short half live, around 100 hours, and decays via positron emission) which would make it ideal for PET scanning malignant glioma, or potentially, given the right radioisotope, nuke the bastard, not with a baseball bat like modern chemotherapy, but more akin to an IR laser-guided airstrike, surgical precision to deliver radiotherapy)

I've never been a dog person, rescued one once because she needed to be rescued from her bastard 'owners' but usually it's been either cats or rescue critters.

Brown recluse bites? confirmed?  Hey at least it's likely as not to have been the commonest of the rescluses (recleese? recleeses? ), Sicariid venom is nasty stuff. Apparently their bigger, far, FAR more dangerous relatives, Sicarius (recluses are in the same family, Sicariid spiders, the word meaning 'assassin' in latin.) Loxosceles are at least small, but their Sicarius relatives are actually ending up in the exotic pet trade....jesus H. Apparently not very aggressive, and people have had very few envenomations, as the natural habitat is deep in the deserts, where they bury themselves in sand, to ambush prey, but are lightening fast, and think 'same kind of venom, just uploaded into a massively more powerul delivery vehicle, only ever read of two bites, but of the two, one of them died, the other lost the arm he was bitten on. Heard the bite compared to that of a gaboon viper in effect, and most likely, outclassing either australian funnelwebs, either Atrax or Hadronyche, as well as the brazillian wandering spider. Its just good luck they don't live near people, and the only people that live near them, KNOW they are there, and exactly what they are capable of (a recluse bite can cause nasty nectrotizing wounds, as you doubtless know, but Sicariius are another matter entirely, expect to end up dead, slowly and nastily, and that's if you are lucky. Although IF I had to choose any of the three as a pet, it'd probably be a Sicariid, or Atrax, as at least they don't actively go for people, I've heard things from people with Phoneutria as pets, that would make your skin crawl, like their running headlong towards the tank and trying to fling themselves over the top, and even accidental imports on fruit, people trying to squash Phoneutria (brazillian wandering spiders) with a broom, only to find the spider legging it up towards them ready to throw down. Real berserkir little bastards from every account I've ever heard.

Confirmed. I caught the spider both times. The second time I was bitten I was pregnant hence the hospitalization.

[Lestat]

No long lasting scars I hope?

Apparently Loxosceles laeta, the chilean recluse is spreading considerably, throughout the US and has reached canada, although you aren't going to see the other large Sicariids around your way short of someone having a pet one, at least I don't think so. The recent split between Sicarius and Hexopthalma, with the transfer of the african desert species to Hexopthalma whilst Sicarius, in it's current sensu-stricto usage, includes quite a number of south american species, and one in central america, but their preferred habitat isn't the sort of place to find in canada, what with their strategy of burrowing into sand in arid areas. Apparently they re-examined Sicarius in terms of venomous potential, and it turns out it's those which have been reclassified in the genus Hexopthalma, are the really, really dangerous ones.

Still, I'd definitely not want to get bitten by the american  Sicarius spp. Since the entire Sicariid family possess cytotoxic venom based on sphingomyelinase-D, and the american species can grow up to a body size of a couple of inches, so still able to deliver a fair bit.

[Phoenix]

Faint mark, nothing more. The interesting thing was the massive amount of steroids they had to give me, despite me being pregnant because the steroids were less dangerous to the baby than what was circulating in my system from the infection of the bite. The wee one ended up being born a preemie and his lungs were more developed then they expected them to be and that was from the steroids. Even though he wasn't breathing when he was born, he stood a far higher chance of survival because his lungs got a kick start.

[odeon]

"Impeach the motherfucker."

[Lestat]

Glad you both pulled through. The results from that kind of venom can be horrific, it's just as well Loxosceles  can only deliver low volumes of venom, given how potent it is. Read something interesting, given how, evolutionarily speaking, scorpions came first (well there are the sea-spiders, but the Pycnogonids are very, very different from true spiders), with huge sea-scorpions eventually having some of their smaller species come to land (the biggest of the Eurypterids wouldn't have been able to support itself on land, but they ranged in size from a couple of meters to quite a lot smaller)

I think I mentioned them in passing, but there is an ancient, primitive sister-group to the mygalomorph spiders, Liphiistiidae being the only surviving family, venom-less trapdoor spiders which retain the scorpioniform plating on their abdomen, known as mesothelids.

I have to wonder, given the scorpions presumably thus ended up giving birth to the evolutionary precursors of the early spiders, Mesothelae presumably first, since they lack a tail, and have no venom, followed by evolution of the Mygalomorphs, seeing as evolutionarily, it's less complex to adapt a system already present (I.e the large, downwards-thrusting fang configuration) and then finally Araneomorphs (I'm really not sure where to place the Uloborid spiders, which lack venom also, tiny things, or their other non-venomous relatives, or that one vegetarian spider known)

Apparently Hemiscorpius lepturus venom (Liochelidae, most of the dangerous scorpions are in the order Buthidae, but Hemiscorpius is the joker in the pack, so to speak), and it seems the same with the Sicariidae spiders, (Loxosceles, Sicarius, Hexopthalma), in that seemingly the sequence-homology of the amino acid peptide structures which make up the venom of Hemiscorpius is pretty similar to Sicariid venoms, being the only known animal examples of a sphingomyelinase-D based venom, usually it's a cytolytic enzyme of bacterial origin, not animal.

Makes me wonder if they are related in some way, it would make intuitive sense IMO.


And this kinda puts recluse venom, given the similarity between it, and that of Hemiscorpius lepturus,

http://www.pharmacophorejournal.com/en/site/storage/article/file/AC389Article.pdf

Quite small scorpions, tiny telson and gracile overall build, but DAMN is it's venom potent, 600 nanograms of fresh venom in the study, was diluted to make a 50:50 solution in saline, and even diluted, just 0.9ug of the diluted saline solution was sufficient to kill 100 mice.

And apparently people don't notice they've been stung a lot of the time, due to the tiny size of the sting,  and reported lack of pain-inducing properties, and it's slow acting, like recluse venom, so often goes untreated for several days, as the venom goes systemic, starts causing oedema and necrosis of internal organs, rhabdomyolysis, massive haemolysis, DIC, then not infrequently, death after several days in humans. Ugly stuff, I've seen a picture of what it can do, both in mice and humans, the mouse had a gaping rotting hole where it's torso used to be, clean through one side and out the other, whilst the human had their arm flayed to the muscle, and a MASSIVE wound, right up the forarm.

[renaeden]

This will have to go here:

At about 6 last night, Kayleigh had an accident with a stick blender. She was trying to take the blade fitting off when her hands slipped, one onto the blade and the other onto the power button. Blood sprayed the kitchen, even the ceiling. I'm glad I was in my room. She let out a shaky, "Oh no", and I was out there. Couldn't tell what the damage was for all the blood. We made the decision to go to the ED.

We weren't there for long before she was treated. The doctor removed the rest of her index finger nail because it was hanging off anyway and gave her four dissolvable sutures. The local anaesthetic didn't work very well so she was in pain the whole time. She's really going to feel it today but she has some good pain meds so hopefully not too much.

It's surprising how much the index finger is used, even on the non-dominant hand. She's already bumped it a few times and she says it's like an electric shock. Ouch. She also wonders how she's going to play games on her Switch.

The doctor gave Kayleigh a referral letter to a plastic surgeon near the city, so she'll go there tomorrow or Friday. He said it was because the wound was unusual.

After we left the hospital we got McDonald's because it was late and neither of us felt like cooking.

["couldbecousin"]

This will have to go here:

At about 6 last night, Kayleigh had an accident with a stick blender. She was trying to take the blade fitting off when her hands slipped, one onto the blade and the other onto the power button. Blood sprayed the kitchen, even the ceiling. I'm glad I was in my room. She let out a shaky, "Oh no", and I was out there. Couldn't tell what the damage was for all the blood. We made the decision to go to the ED.

We weren't there for long before she was treated. The doctor removed the rest of her index finger nail because it was hanging off anyway and gave her four dissolvable sutures. The local anaesthetic didn't work very well so she was in pain the whole time. She's really going to feel it today but she has some good pain meds so hopefully not too much.

It's surprising how much the index finger is used, even on the non-dominant hand. She's already bumped it a few times and she says it's like an electric shock. Ouch. She also wonders how she's going to play games on her Switch.

The doctor gave Kayleigh a referral letter to a plastic surgeon near the city, so she'll go there tomorrow or Friday. He said it was because the wound was unusual.

After we left the hospital we got McDonald's because it was late and neither of us felt like cooking.

  Oh my word, what an awful freak accident. 


   Can confirm that even the pinkie finger on one's non-dominant hand is used and
   depended upon more than one might think, as I found out when I broke mine. 
   I really hope Kayleigh heals well.  Did they prescribe antibiotics?

[renaeden]

They gave Kayleigh a script for antibiotics. She'll pick them up today. She also had a tetanus injection.

[Phoenix]

Gah. How terrifying. Thank god you were home.

[Queen Victoria]

I remember the time Mom walked into the living room and asked Dad if he could remove the fork from her finger.  She'd speared it while trying to break off some butter from a frozen stick of butter.  He removed it.  She wrapped it in gauze and tape.  Dinner was a few minutes late that night.

[renaeden]

Gah. How terrifying. Thank god you were home.

Yeah, because she doesn't drive she would have been stuck bleeding at home. And it was a lot of blood. The doctor even commented on how much Kayleigh's finger bled.

I remember the time Mom walked into the living room and asked Dad if he could remove the fork from her finger.  She'd speared it while trying to break off some butter from a frozen stick of butter.  He removed it.  She wrapped it in gauze and tape.  Dinner was a few minutes late that night.

Your mum reminds me of me. Cut a chunk out of my thumb, stuck a bandaid on it and finished cutting the onion. I have a small scar.

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

Ren,

I hope Kayleigh will be okay. I'm glad you kept your act together. That sort of thing can be very confronting to have to deal with.

I had a similar incident about 10 years ago.

I had just started a job in Thailand and we rented a house.

I had just had a tooth extracted and it was torture. The local anaesthetic didn't work when they were taking the tooth out and then he left me with a dry root which meant agony and no sleep for about 3 nights. Dentists in Thailand are good but they really don't give a fuck how much pain you are in.

I walked into the kitchen and my wife was trying to cut the plastic binder on a set of cheap saucepans with a super sharp Japanese knife I had just bought. I took it off her and said something like "you can't use a knife like that, do you have any idea how dangerous that is?".

And then, in my groggy state, I proceeded to do exactly what I had warned my wife not to do.

The knife went straight through that thick plastic binder like a hot knife through butter. And continued on through much of my left index finger in the same way.

The knife was so sharp that it initially felt like a paper cut, just a sharp but fairly minor pain. I looked at my finger and the blood was spraying out. I grabbed a teatowel and pressed it tightly around my finger but in the few seconds that took I had sprayed the kitchen cupboards and floor and fridge and benches in blood. When they asked me to take the teatowel off at the hospital and the blood squirted out again the poor nurse nearly fainted - maybe I should have said "I nearly chopped my finger off" instead of "I cut my finger" so she would know what to expect. My wife just froze in shock, she saw the blood spraying everywhere and thought I'd chopped my arm off or something and that I was a goner.

They sewed me up at the hospital and booked me in to see a specialist the next day as they thought I had done some damage to ligaments and nerves.

They were surprised that I had apparently missed the nerve altogether, considering that I'd gone about halfway through the finger at the joint. I had 100% feeling initially but as the wound became stiff and swollen it compressed the nerve I got some minor numbness along one side of the finger, that lasted for a few years along with some minor stiffness. Now, apart from a faint scar (I've got really thin skin, like a baby, that doesn't scar easily) there are no lasting effects.

[renaeden]

Geez, MOSW, that's a tale to tell! If I was your wife, I would have been peeved at you hurting yourself so badly. Peeved and worried.

Kayleigh has 100% feeling. She knows every time she bumps her finger. Not sure if it will last though.

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

Geez, MOSW, that's a tale to tell! If I was your wife, I would have been peeved at you hurting yourself so badly. Peeved and worried.

Kayleigh has 100% feeling. She knows every time she bumps her finger. Not sure if it will last though.

That's a good sign.

As it heals it will swell up and stiffen for a while and that might compress a nerve, but that should only be temporary as it was with me.

My wife pretty much went into shock. I was just in shorts and T-shirt, I put a pair of thongs (rubber sandals) on and walked up the road to catch a taxi to the hospital. I had to tell my wife "put some shoes on, now put some shoes on our son, now grab the key and lock the door behind us". I couldn't leave her there in the state she was in.

I'm a klutz. In 2017 I managed to drip smoking hot oil onto my big toe. That wasn't much fun. That did a lot more tissue damage than the knife, and took longer to heal, but apart from discoloured skin it's completely healed.