Rattlesnake Bite Sends
Mary Ann Potts to Hospital
Mary Ann Potts, of Motley County, was hospitalized at Covenant Care Hospital after she was bitten by a rattlesnake at her home, 20 miles east of Floydada, Sunday, June 2.
According to Potts, at approximately 4:00 p.m., Sunday, she went outside to drain the "kiddie pool" for her children. "I picked up the pool and the snake was nestled under it," said Potts. "It bit me on the foot and I dropped the pool and hollered. I said some words that children shouldn't hear."
Potts said the wound bled a little but that almost immediately she felt a deep ache in her foot.
"It was excruciating pain," said Potts.
Potts mother-in-law, Marisue Potts, was outside and ran into the house to get Mary Ann's husband, Jim. "Jim came out and smashed the snake's head with a 2X4," said Mary Ann. "Then he brought the snake with us. The hospital said that was a good thing to do because it was better to see the type of snake so they can give you the right anti-venom."
Ice was applied to the wound and then Potts headed to Floydada. "We called the emergency room at Methodist Hospital and they called EMS in Floydada and told them to meet us at the Lighthouse Electric intersection. The helicopter was also dispatched. We met EMS at Lighthouse and I was loaded onto the ambulance."
Potts said that no chances were taken with the snake. "They told me just to be safe they wanted a police officer to come shoot the snake and make very certain it was dead. So they did."
Potts said within an hour she was in the emergency room at Methodist. Within 1 1/2 hours she was being given anti-venom.
"The pain was so bad that the little bit of morphine they gave me was not enough. The pain medicine did not start working until Monday," said Potts.
According to Potts the swelling moved from her foot to her thigh. "It swelled for 18 hours but it has stopped now," said Potts. "Although the swelling moved--the pain did not . Luckily they did not have to cut me open to stop the swelling."
Potts said she may get to go home on Thursday or Friday.
The rattlesnake, according to Potts, was 5 or 6 buttons in size. "I don't know if that is considered small or not."
Potts has three boys, 3 years, 6 years and 9 years. "I am so glad it did not get my children--that would have been terrible."

Written by and used with permission from the
Floyd County Hesperian-Beacon, June 6, 2006, Volume 106, Number 23. http://www.hesperianbeacon.com/60602news.htm

Man Recovering
from Three Rattlesnake Bites

Courtesy "Hood County News" Granbury TX www.hcnews.com

BY GARY ENGEL HOOD COUNTY NEWS Don't worry -- Dell Purvis won't be applying with the circus for a snake charmer's job. After all, he couldn't cast a spell over as many as three rattlesnakes who bit him late last Saturday night. Purvis, 43, of the Acton area was recovering this week at Lake Granbury Medical Center from the bites. He said he might have to stay in the hospital through today. His father, Wayne Purvis, said Dell is lucky to be alive. "I always look for them," outdoor enthusiast Dell Purvis said of the snakes that populate his country home, in Hood County about a mile from the Johnson County line off FM 4. "But the one time I let my guard down, and didn't have a flashlight, that's when I got bit." Purvis went outside about 11:30 to try and hush a barking dog. The moon was providing some light, but certainly not enough to see snakes, he said. He had gone to his left knee to reach into the doghouse and remove the yapping hound when he was struck, as many as three times by possibly three snakes, on the outside of his left leg above the knee. "I didn't hear a rattle until after I was bitten," he said. Thursday, the back of his leg, from the knee to the waist, was a deep purple fading to black. "I hobbled about 50 yards to the house and wrapped my leg with a belt,"as if to form a tourniquet, said Purvis. "It felt like a bee sting," he said. "But bees aren't out at that time of night." Afterward, he first awoke companion Lisa Lafay, who is quite familiar with Purvis' rugged outdoor nature. When he said he'd been snake bitten, "I said, 'no way,'" Lafay said she exclaimed. "I said, 'yes, way,'" the affable Purvis replied. Within minutes, his leg had swollen as big as his head, and it was off to the hospital with Wayne Purvis at the helm, flying low. "I didn't know that car would go 85," Dell Purvis said. He said one of the snakes that attacked him was apparently a young adult female, about 2 feet long. The other was an extremely-lethal baby snake. He wasn't sure if there was actually a third snake, but doctors said fang marks seemed to indicate the possibility of another reptile's presence. A Native American, Purvis said he is well-versed on wildlife habits and is aware of what the experts say about baby rattlesnake venom being especially potent. Herpetologists said recently that rattlers are very active now as they fatten up for hibernation. Piles of rocks, such as for yard decoration, and firewood stacks are danger zones for snake attacks. Experts say towear gloves and take a good look into enclosed spaces before inserting a hand. The underside of doghouses are dangerous snake living spaces, too, as Purvis found out so painfully. Purvis had been through a dozen approximately-12-ounce anti-venom intravenous fluid bags Thursday. Purvis and Lafay had long, loud accolades for the staff at the Lake Granbury Medical Center emergency room. "They are responsible for about 90 percent of his survival," Lafay said. Purvis also said he knows prayer helped, too. Friends and loved ones formed a "prayer chain" that stretched "all the way to Oklahoma," Purvis said. Injuries, even brushes with death, are not strange to Purvis. There have been numerous rodeo injuries. In one mishap,he was thrown out of the back of a pickup and over an 18- wheeler. Once, his boat went down in the Gulf of Mexico. Without a life jacket, he said he swam five miles to shore. "I say he's like a cat, with nine lives," Lafay observed. The snake incident ranks near the top as the worst of the happenings, said Purvis. The couple was eager to talk to the press. They wanted to get the word out about the dangers lurking now in the weeds and sheltered places, and try to especially keep a child from getting snakebit. "A small child -- you don't know what could happen," Purvis said soberly .