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A Colorado grandfather was hospitalized after being bitten by a rattlesnake three times during a family outing — which required 18 vials of antivenom to treat.
Michael Padilla likened the impact to being punched with a thorn and said he felt fuzzy within minutes after the attack, KUSA reported Friday.
He was attacked while just walking by a river during a pit stop en route back to Windsor — after celebrating his grandson’s 13th birthday in Estes Park, northern Colorado.
“Next thing I know, I got hit from the back — boom, like somebody punched me with a thorn,” Padilla said.
He scrambled back to his car, but his condition deteriorated, with his eyes turning red.
“We were probably driving for five minutes, and the next thing I know, I’m starting to feel really weird. I’m getting fuzzy,” he said.
Padilla thought he had only been bitten once, but there were several marks on his calf.
“And then I’m like that one bite, she’s [his wife, Amy’s] like, yeah, you got bit more than once. I’m like, what do you mean?” he said.
Padilla was left with six puncture wounds and three bites before receiving 18 vials of antivenom at the hospital.
“If I had tried to keep driving, this would have been an entirely different story,” Amy said, relieved that her husband received treatment.
Between 7,000 and 8,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes, including rattlesnakes, in the US every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But only five to six people per year die from such bites, Jeff Meyers, of the Arizona Game and Fish Department, told the Arizona Republic.
Americans bitten by rattlesnakes should stay calm, call 911, try not to remove venom, and go to the hospital, Meyers said.
“It’s best if you can get medical help within 30 minutes,” he told the Arizona Republic.
“But you do have hours. You’re not going to die in minutes. It’s not a black mamba.”
Meyers warned that around one-third of rattlesnake bites are dry, meaning the reptiles can inject little or no venom.
English (US)