It's a...spider bite? Really, welcome to Texas.

My Mom. She is one of the most cautious people in the world. If she sees an article in the newspaper or something on the news and it is pertinent to me or my sister, she calls us immediately.

Did you see this? Or, did you know that? You need to be careful of ___________.

After 31 years, I am now used to these phone calls. I am amazed that I don’t have a complex from some of the studies she has shared with me, but at the same time it has made me more aware.

I really do appreciate it, it might sound like I don’t but that is not the case.

Last week, on Friday, mom was making the bed in the spare room. Her sister was coming in to visit and she was getting everything ready. As she was pulling the sheet down, she said she felt something like a carpet tack stick into her big toe. Fairly quickly she got a blister of some sort, and it started to swell.

The next day, the spot had moved from the side of her big toe to the top. It was swelling even more. We thought it was a blister and I thought she should just pop it with a sewing needle.  Luckily, she didn't listen to me.

My mom has always been good about going to the doctor when she gets sick.( She gets frustrated when I try to fight out my sicknesses on my own.) So, on Monday, she made an appointment with her new doctor.

The doctor told her it was one of two bites. A brown recluse or another type of spider bite. She referred her to a dermatologist the next day and gave her two heavy doses of antibiotics.

The dermatologist concluded it was a brown recluse bite. She also gave her a topical antibiotic and cautioned her that if the skin started to turn black, that she would have to have surgery to remove the dead skin.

A week later, it is still oozing a bit. It is very red and peeling, but there is no sign of any blackness on her skin.

Poor thing. She has only been in Texas one month, and she gets bit by a brown recluse spider. What are the odds? I spoke to some of my friends who are native Texans, and it doesn’t seem that brown recluse bites are common.

However, in talking to one of her neighbors—another person got bit by a brown recluse on their same street—just this week.

And, another one of my friends said she just got bit by a brown recluse spider and finished up with her antibiotics.

Apparently, these brown recluses are out with a vengeance this summer. My mom is on the watch for them, and honestly, it has made me a lot more cautious when I get something out of the garage, or get something out of a bag in my closet.

I hope she feels better soon. I hope that they catch that brown recluse that was in their house. (She sent Dad out to get some of those glue traps, so we can see the evidence.) Otherwise, I don’t know if my mom will sleep much.