As any parent knows, little kids have wild imaginations and love to make up wild stories, which is why one Australian mom assumed her creative 2-year-old was making everything up when he told her that he had been bitten by a snake in the backyard.
“I was out on the deck watching the kids and went inside to grab my one-year-old who had just woken up,” 28-year-old mom Sian Mitchell said. “Zeppelin came in and said he had been bitten by a snake, but he is always telling us about playing with them and crocodiles, so I thought ‘oh yeah another big story’.”
Later on, however, Zeppelin was telling his grandma the exact same story, and when Sian and her mom looked down at his foot, they could make out two faint fang marks.
“I went straight to my usual doctor,” Sian said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see my usual GP and the lady I saw said it definitely looked like a snake bite and called in another GP to confirm. They both advised me to err on the side of caution and go home and make sure that it doesn’t get infected, swell up and if he develops any other symptoms.”
Sian wasn’t convinced the doctors’ instructions were right, to she reached out to the Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers who told her to get straight to the hospital. “I confirmed that it does in fact look like a bite from a venomous snake and was quite shocked that the toddler had been sent home within an hour of the bite without any sorts of tests done on him. I urged the parents to take the toddler to the hospital and request further checks,” said Max Jackson from the Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers.
Zeppelin underwent hours of tests to see how much venom had been released into his system, but luckily the bite was just a ‘warning strike’ which is when a snake doesn’t fully release its venom. “You would just never think anything happened as he was always a happy smiling boy. Even when he was getting blood taken, he was still smiling.”
“Most doctors have never seen a snake bite before so I think they shouldn’t have dismissed it as quickly as that.” said Sian, who saved her son by following her intuition instead of listening to doctors. “It’s quite shocking really,” Max said. “Even if it didn’t turn out to be snakebite he should have been treated for one as they initially suspected it. Any suspected snakebites should be treated as potentially venomous.”
Can you believe doctors sent this little boy home without doing a single test? Let us know what you think in the comments below, and please SHARE this with parents on Facebook.
[Featured image: Facebook/Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7]
Doctors Send 2-Year-Old Home After Being Bitten By Deadly Snake is an article from: LifeDaily