Alacrán

Alacrán: the spanish word meaning scorpion.

So in case you were wondering, scorpions do live in El Crucero, Nicaragua. Even though they are not normally seen, they do make it a habit to pop up every once and a while, such as this last Sunday night. Since the girl who was taking care of the babies quit, I have found myself in the fortunate position of sleeping with the babies! Sunday night, I jumped when I heard one the babies scream. I grabbed her out of the crib and walked into the family room, not knowing what had woken her up so suddenly. That was when I felt it, the surge of pain/shock/burning flowing though my hand. I jerked it back, seeing the black object on the little girls back. It flung to the floor and I killed it as I realized what it was; a nice little scorpion.

A short time later we arrived at the emergency room. Fortunately, it appears as though the little baby did not actually get stung, although she got a shot just to make sure. I had most certainly gotten stung, and in case my burning hand didn't remind me, then the numbess in my tongue and lips did. The doctor decided to give me a couple types of medicine through a temporary iv. So the nurse came in to put the iv tube in my elbow crease. After digging around in my vein for a while, she decided to try the back of my hand instead. After that try was also unsuccessful, she decided to call someone else to try it out. Luckily the second nurse hit the vein on the back of my other hand the first time! So the meds were injected and I was free to leave.

My hand continued to burn most of the next day, but today, any pain seems to have subsided and all I have left are a couple bruises where the iv was unsuccessful, and an eventful Sunday night :)
And just so you know, I have no intention on ever seeing another scorpion in my entire life.