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Regular readers know that I went to visit my family in Texarkana, Texas over the Labor Day holiday, the first time I’ve been back for several years. My son Grant decided to go with me and meet some relatives he had never seen before. As we both have bad backs, we made a solemn pact not to push ourselves on the drive and to stop each afternoon to rest overnight so we wouldn’t arrive “all stove up.”
We left on a Tuesday morning around nine-thirty and started driving east on I-40. Our first over night was planned for Amarillo, but Grant noted that there was a lot of daylight still remaining when we arrived in that city, so we pushed on to Childress another hundred miles down the road. The long and the short of it is, we arrived after two days of driving instead of three.
As I am the eldest of my three siblings by eight years or more, they all welcomed me with the respect age is due… ignoring some of the nasty things we did to one another when we were growing up… and greeted Grant with open arms. In short, the visit went quite well.
My sister and her husband and the younger of my twin brothers and his wife took turns taking both Grant and me plus my elder son Clai, who lives in Texarkana, for evening meals. The older twin, who is ill, and his wife hosted us for lunches. They live on a home and something like eight acres at the edge of a forest just south of Texarkana. His wife is a beautiful woman and a marvelous cook, so this arrangement suited us just fine.
The first day, they introduced us to their dog Lady, a two-year-old golden retriever. She was friendly and feisty and apparently approved of us. The next day, however, when we arrived, my brother told us she had been bitten by a copperhead about an hour after we left. The older of their two sons and his wife are both veterinarians, so the dog received prompt treatment and was pretty well recovered by the time we arrived for lunch the next day. When I asked what the treatment was, the answer came back, “Two Benadryls and a baby aspirin.”
A bit disbelieving, I asked what the treatment would have been had the bite victim been a man.
“Probably two Benadryls and a baby aspirin.”
*****
Who knew? Apparently a rattlesnake bite requires an anti-venom, but a copperhead bite does not. (Please don't take this as a medical fact. If you are bitten seek treatment from a doctor.) Don’t think anyone particularly enjoyed this true tale, but I hope you learned something from it.
The following information provides contact information and the DSP Publications links:
Blog: dontravis.com
Facebook: Don Travis
Twitter: @dontravis3
As always, thank for being a reader.
Don
New blogs are posted at 6:00 a.m. each Thursday.
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