Jun 26, 2007 9:20 pm US/Mountain
Teen Recovers After Getting Bit By Rattlesnake
Prepared for cbs4denver.com by Matthew J. Buettner, Web Producer.
WINDSOR, Colo. (CBS4) ―
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An occupational therapist worked with Ditus trying to keep his hand mobile which helps the venom-damaged tissue recover.
CBS
A teenager from Windsor was released from the hospital Tuesday after being treated for a rattlesnake bite.
Trenton Ditus, 14, was at friend's house in Wellington on Saturday when he reached into a bag of clay target pigeons and was bit.
Ditus needed anti-venom at Poudre Valley Hospital, which costs as much as $10,000 a dose. The hospital won't confirm that figure, but another source said $10,000 per dose is in the right ballpark. Ditus had 13 doses.
Monday, Ditus got some therapy on his hand before being released from the hospital. He said moving his fingers is excruciating because of a giant blister left by bite.
The snake was a 13-inch long prairie rattler.
"I went to go grab the clay pigeons and something nicked my finger," Ditus said. "So I whipped my finger back and I saw two puncture wounds."
Ditus said he knew immediately he'd been bitten by a rattlesnake and he felt the venom beginning to work.
"I felt tingling and then it started to go numb," Ditus said. "It started going up my arm."
Ditus remembered what he'd learned in a video about snake bites.
"I put a ton of pressure right below the bite so I didn't let all the venom go up my arm," Ditus said.
An occupational therapist worked with Ditus trying to keep his hand mobile which helps the venom-damaged tissue recover. Ditus said he's thankful to be recovering after the fear he first felt after realizing it was a rattlesnake that nipped his finger.
"I sat there and was like, 'Dear God, please don't let me die, please don't let me die,'" Ditus said. "And I'm not dead, so I guess it worked."
It was the second rattlesnake bite treated at Poudre Valley Hospital in the past month.
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