It was bound to happen, it was only a matter of time. At 1a.m. CST this morning in Leon, Nicaragua, I (Sandra) was stung by a scorpion on my toe AND I live to tell about it. Ha-Ha. The good news is that the scorpions that reside in our home are not deadly. The bad news is it burns like ...........Yes, that is the only way I can describe it to you; after the initial sting, the affected area burns. Imagine spilling a pan of hot boiling oil on to your foot. That is the sensation I have been feeling for the last several hours.
Let me start at the beginning. I went to bed at 11pm but was unable to sleep. My husband is a snoring man and last night he chose to be especially noisy. It was also a very hot night and Mordecai decided he wanted to sleep next to his mama. No amount of talking to either Preston or Mordecai worked to get them to change positions in order to give me some relief from the noise and the heat. I tossed and turned and punched the pillow many times. At 1a.m., I was still awake and needed to use the bathroom. As I got up, I was whining to PT that I would love to see his behavior the next day if he ever did not get a good nights sleep. It was more for my benefit of relieving the frustration than his. I NUNCA (never) turn on the lights when I head to the bathroom, so last night was no exception.
The following details may be a little graphic for some of you, so you have been forewarned. I went into the bathroom and backed myself up to the toilet (we do have a modern home with a modern toilet); but in the dark, that's how I approach the toilet. As I was about to sit down, something stung my left foot. I knew instantly what it was. In my shock and fear, I let out an expletive. When I think back, it was a word that I usually did not use years ago before my "holier" days. At this moment there was nothing holy about what I was going through. Now, I know that as a Christian missionary this is behavior most unbecoming. However, before you get all righteous on me, I wonder what might have come out of your mouths had you been in the same situation. So, no judgements, please!
In the mean time, I had jumped up from the toilet and ran towards the light switch. PT and I seemed to get to the switch about the same time, because I think the expletive got his attention. I was yelling, "there is a scorpion over there". He ran over and stomped it with his shoe. This was amazing because he never wears shoes in the house, unlike me, I refuse to go barefoot - our floors are always dirty no matter how many times a day they are swept or mopped. Friends, it's Nicaragua! And at this time of year, it is horribly dirty. By the way, the dirt spot in the photo is not my dirty floor, it was from where PT had stomped the scorpion. I just wanted to clarify that I am not a sloppy housekeeper.
PT was worried and started asking me questions, there were many and I can't remember them all because the pain was really bad. I know that he was concerned about whether we had something in the house to counterattack the side affects. "Uh, not that I was aware of". He then remembered that our wonderful new friend Steve Jacks had left a bunch of stuff with us after his trip last year. PT rummaged through the stash and found a stick of benedryl. I think a person is suppose to ingest benedryl, not rub it on yourself when you are stung by a scorpion. But, I was willing to try anything.
After the commotion died down, neither of us went back to bed. PT watched me and I monitored my breathing to see if there would be any adverse reactions to the sting. If any problems developed, we had stored in our cell phone, the names of 2 taxi drivers who worked at night that we could call to take me to the hospital. We went to our desk and got on the computers to pass time. PT worked a couple of jigsaw puzzles online. I did a Google search about scorpions to get some information about what I might expect. During the search, there was a story about scorpions in Nicaragua, so I looked it up. I spent the next 2 hours reading a blog written by a couple from Seattle who left their jobs and moved to Granada, Nicaragua for a year to experience life in a poverty nation. The husband had been stung by a scorpion; that was why it had gotten mentioned in my search. The blog of their year of adventure was very interesting and helped pass the time.
During all the commotion, the dogs had gotten disturbed and at first were bewildered. They sat in the office with us for awhile until Mordecai decided he had had enough and began whining; pitiful whining. He did not want to be up, he wanted to go back to bed. Well, no one was stopping him. But, where we go, he goes and he was not happy. I finally heard enough and led him back to bed.
At 3a.m., PT and I determined that there was no danger to my health and we decided to go back to bed. As we laid in bed holding hands, I told him that if I didn't wake up in the morning, I wanted him to know that I loved him. He barely heard that because he had started to fall asleep. How do I know? He was beginning to snore again. My thoughts wondered where that scorpion had been living prior to being next to the toilet. Had he been in our closet, in our dresser drawers, in the clothes hamper, or maybe in the towels stored in the bathroom? He had not magically appeared, he had been living somewhere. I also thought about Esther. She had been sleeping on the floor because it is cooler for her than on our bed; what if she had gotten stung. Or the boys, how many scorpions are living in their room?
This morning, during our devotion time, I shared the story with the boys. Freddy said he had heard us and Israel said he had seen the lights on in our room. We reminded ourselves to take time to search before sticking our hands into a drawer to get out clothing. Turn our shoes over and tap them before putting them on. Check the bedding before climbing into bed each night. Precautions that we have taken for granted, but no more for me.
I am very grateful to God for keeping me safe by not having to experience any side affects from the sting of the scorpion. My toe still hurts, a lot, but I can endure it. It is a new day in Nicaragua and we have many things to do as we continue on with our adventure of living in Nica.
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