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Snake Bite Dangers in CR story
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Author:  Californicationdude [ Tue Aug 10, 2010 1:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Snake Bite Dangers in CR story
Teen Survives Pit Viper Attack In Costa Rica
By Ann Butler, Durango Herald

A Durango girl's trip to Costa Rica to learn Spanish turned into a life-threatening experience. Katherine Pecor, who graduated from high school in May, was hiking with a group in the Costa Rican rain forest in early June when she felt a sharp pain in her foot.

"There were a bunch of anthills around there, and the guide was stomping around her foot, she thought to stomp ants off," her mother, Sandra Pecor, said. "Then her foot went numb, and the group decided she was OK to go on up to see a waterfall."

By the time they reached the waterfall, Katherine was feeling hot and vomiting, but she walked out with the group to the bed and breakfast where they were staying. The lodging was owned by a man and his wife, who was a veterinarian.

"When the woman saw the foot, she hit the ceiling," Sandra Pecor said. "The woman gave her a shot of antivenom from her veterinary clinic because she didn't know if she would make it to the hospital in time."

Katherine had been bitten by a pit viper.

"There is a little confusion regarding which of the pit vipers bit her," Sandra Pecor said. "There is a language barrier, but in some records e-mailed to us from Costa Rica, the atropoides nummifer Mexicanus (Central American jumping pit viper) was the snake listed, and in other records, the bushmaster was listed. Both are in the pit viper family."

During the first four weeks after the bite, Katherine received 11 doses of antivenom in five different rounds while hospitalized in Costa Rica. Doctors also discovered she had a hairline fracture in her foot where the snake had bitten.

"They wanted to keep her because they had the right kind of antivenom," her mother said. "The rattlesnake and cottonmouth are U.S. pit vipers, but the antivenom is a little different."

Katherine was completely "venomized," doctors told her family, with venom even showing up in the fluid drawn during a spinal tap.

"When they told her they wanted to amputate her leg, we decided it was time for her to come home," Sandra Pecor said.

While Katherine's leg is numb from the knee down with some nerve damage in her thigh, the color is returning. She is going to physical therapy to learn to walk again.

Sandra Pecor isn't too surprised at how tough her daughter has been through the experience.

"This is my K*D who broke her arm 10 minutes into a soccer match and played until halftime without telling anyone," her mother said.

Still, the physical injury is difficult for a young woman who was a talented soccer player. Katherine had been invited to try out for several Division I schools.

"Katherine had decided academic excellence was more important to her than playing soccer," her mother said. "She did not plan to try out for any of the teams even before her encounter with the pit viper."

Katherine, who was home-schooled and already has completed a year of classes at Southwest Colorado Community College, was accepted at Stanford and Georgetown universities. She will have to put off beginning her college education until at least the spring semester because she still has some serious recovery time ahead.

"We're hoping for a full recovery," her mother said. "She's doing better every day. But we almost lost her."
Author:  Orange [ Tue Aug 10, 2010 1:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snake Bite Dangers in CR story
Californicationdude wrote:
"When they told her they wanted to amputate her leg, we decided it was time for her to come home," Sandra Pecor said.

The great Costa Rican healthcare system at work.
Author:  Californicationdude [ Tue Aug 10, 2010 2:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snake Bite Dangers in CR story
here is a link with a pic of the results of that snake bite on a ecuadorian boy.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bothrops_asper
Author:  Berk2302 [ Tue Aug 10, 2010 3:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snake Bite Dangers in CR story
Orange wrote:
Californicationdude wrote:
"When they told her they wanted to amputate her leg, we decided it was time for her to come home," Sandra Pecor said.

The great Costa Rican healthcare system at work.


The conclusion that the best course of treatment was to amputate was not made by the "system". It was made by one or more physicians who actually had knowledge of the case. The very same conclusion could have been drawn by a physician in an American hospital.

Your statement reflects your ignorance regarding the practice of medicine. :roll:
Author:  Orange [ Tue Aug 10, 2010 4:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snake Bite Dangers in CR story
Berk2302 wrote:
The conclusion that the best course of treatment was to amputate was not made by the "system". It was made by one or more physicians who actually had knowledge of the case. The very same conclusion could have been drawn by a physician in an American hospital.
If a doctor works for a Costa Rican hospital then he's part of the "system". By the way, did you read to the end? The American doctors were not so quick to try and chop off her leg.

Berk2302 wrote:
Your statement reflects your ignorance regarding the practice of medicine. :roll:
When did I claim to be an expert on the medical profession? :roll: :roll: :roll:
Luckily for me, comon sense made up for my "ignorance". 8)
Author:  Thirdworld [ Tue Aug 10, 2010 4:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snake Bite Dangers in CR story
Hate snakes, these kind of stories make me cringe.... That pit viper must be worse than our rattlesnake. An aquaintence had a huge terciopelo out by his pool sunning itself last week.... Always good to know where has anti venom. :shock:
Author:  Icantstayaway [ Tue Aug 10, 2010 5:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snake Bite Dangers in CR story
I take a lot of crap from friends because I am always "SR. Safety" watching the ground and turning down the Vehicle Stereo Volume at intersections and the like but I have seen many snakes and just Sunday night a policia van tore through an intersection that I would have hit if I hadn't of turned down the Radio.

Watch were your walking ! Especially , All the time. And buy those rubber shoes to wear in the oceans.
Author:  LocoHombre [ Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snake Bite Dangers in CR story
Thirdworld wrote:
Hate snakes, these kind of stories make me cringe.... That pit viper must be worse than our rattlesnake. An aquaintence had a huge terciopelo out by his pool sunning itself last week.... Always good to know where has anti venom. :shock:

:) :) i'd rather get bit by a pit viper than marry a Russian :| :|
Author:  BondTrader [ Tue Aug 10, 2010 11:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snake Bite Dangers in CR story
Orange wrote:
Californicationdude wrote:
"When they told her they wanted to amputate her leg, we decided it was time for her to come home," Sandra Pecor said.

The great Costa Rican healthcare system at work.



Or did you mean to say: The great USA healthcare system at work"......When it comes down to life or limb or death...Obamacare or not...the USA has the BEST medical care on the planet. Let's not "F" that up........
Author:  BondTrader [ Tue Aug 10, 2010 11:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snake Bite Dangers in CR story
Californicationdude wrote:
here is a link with a pic of the results of that snake bite on a ecuadorian boy.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bothrops_asper


DAMN!!!!!!!!! That looks TERRYIFYING. What if the snake had bitten his...as Austin Powers would say.....MOJO......
Author:  JazzboCR [ Wed Aug 11, 2010 2:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Snake Bite Dangers in CR story
BondTrader wrote:


Or did you mean to say: The great USA healthcare system at work"......When it comes down to life or limb or death...Obamacare or not...the USA has the BEST medical care on the planet. Let's not "F" that up........

My, my didn't we turn political on a CR human interest story? Yes the U. S. has the best medical system in the world FOR THOSE WHO HAVE TOP-NOTCH HEALTHCARE INSURANCE OR CAN OTHERWISE AFFORD IT--for the 45% who don't or can't, not so much.
Remind me to wear my Timberland boots when trekking around the CR bush.
Author:  HikerTom [ Wed Aug 11, 2010 10:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Snake Bite Dangers in CR story
JazzboCR wrote:
Remind me to wear my Timberland boots when trekking around the CR bush.


It's why I never wear sandals anywhere! :D
Author:  Crazyhorse0017 [ Wed Aug 11, 2010 6:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Snake Bite Dangers in CR story
Jazz: I haven't seen any bush in CR in a LOOONNG time...I ask the chicas to let it grow out a bit, but no luck so far.
CH
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