A BITE on the toe by a funnel web spider was the last thing Carol Taylor expected on a quiet night at a Glen Innes caravan park this week.
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Carol and her husband Neville spend their days travelling across Australia in a campervan fossicking for gems and Glen Innes is
one of their favorite summer
destinations.
"We love it up here as it's nice and cool when we sit in the annex, cutting out gem stones," Carol said.
"We have been living and travelling in the caravan for 12 years – we don't own any bricks and
mortar."
At about 10.15pm on Wednesday it started to rain and a shoeless Carol walked outside and began pulling down the awning on the annex.
"I felt a burning sensation in my foot, saw the spider and flicked my foot to get rid of it," she said.
"[Neville] squashed it ... and then thought he'd better keep it to show the doctors."
The spider had bitten Carol on the second toe of her right foot, deep enough to draw blood.
Neville drove Carol to Glen Innes Hospital where she was treated by GP Dr Ross Haron and given four ampoules of antivenom.
"She was sweating, shaking and had high blood pressure, and I immediately applied a pressure bandage," Dr Haron said. "I've never treated anyone for a funnel web bite before and as far as I know there has only been one other case in Glen Innes, involving a young child. "We've carried antivenom ever since, but have never had to use it, and Carol exhausted our supply.
"It's quite a rarity."
Armed with antivenom, Armidale Police met Glen Innes Police at a halfway point between the two towns.
Carol received more antivenom before being flown to Tamworth Base Hospital accompanied by Tamworth critical care physician Dr Chris Trewerthy.
Carol was released from Tamworth Base Hospital yesterday morning and the spider sent to the Australian Museum in Sydney for analysis.
"It wasn't a nice experience at all and if I had left it any longer I could have died," she said.
"I'm now known as the
spider-woman."