A spider bite causes a woman all sorts of problems. Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied
A MOTHER-of-three nearly died after being bitten by a spider while sunbathing on holiday.
Doctors had to operate to save Sue Isaac after the wound became infected by a rare flesh-eating bug.
She feared at one point they would have to amputate her leg.
Mrs Isaac, 58, was bitten on the bottom by the spider while relaxing by the pool in southern Spain.
At first she thought nothing of it but within days she began to feel unwell and a bruise that developed on her thigh began to spread. She ended up in intensive care and surgeons operated to remove dead tissue from her leg.
But she required months of further treatment before she could return home to Braintree, Essex.
Widow Mrs Isaac had been on a six-week holiday to celebrate her retirement after selling her hairdressing business.
Last night she told how she was bitten at a friend's villa at Albox, in Almeria province, on the second day of her trip last July.
"I got a sarong that I'd left out overnight on a sunbed and sat on it and thought, 'Ooh that really hurt' and I realised I'd got bitten," she said.
"It brought tears to my eyes, it was like a bee sting but it didn't go away. I put insect repellent on it and didn't think any more about it."
But over the next week Mrs Isaac started to feel unwell and noticed that a small bruise had developed on the inside of her left thigh.
"I felt poorly all the time," she said. "I had a fever, no energy. I felt giddy, I thought I was going to faint. But it was very hot so I put it down to that."
Within days, the bruise had doubled in size and was surrounded by clusters of blisters. Mrs Isaac could not get out of bed. She was taken to hospital and admitted to an intensive care unit where doctors told her an infection had entered her body via the spider bite.
Mrs Isaac was given antibiotics intravenously but, after eight days in hospital, her left thigh had swollen to three times its normal size and the bruise had grown to 10in. Lab tests found 14 types of bacteria in the wound, including flesh-eating Streptococcus pyogenes.
Doctors said that because the antibiotics were not working, the flesh had begun to die and had to be removed to stop the bacteria spreading to her vital organs. Mrs Isaac feared they would have to amputate.
"I thought I was going to die, or, at best, I thought I was going to lose my leg," she said. "The doctor came on his rounds and said, 'Right, we've got to cut it open'."
When she asked about anaesthetic he told her she wouldn't feel it because the tissue was "completely dead".
The operations saved Mrs Isaac's life – but her ordeal was far from over. After three weeks in hospital she was discharged and stayed at her friend's villa but had to visit a local hospital daily to have the wound dressed.
Doctors had to remove more dead tissue every week for three months to stop the infection spreading and allow the healthy tissue to heal.
It took a further two months for her to be well enough to return home. It meant she missed her goddaughter's wedding, the 21st birthday of one of her daughters and the 30th birthday of another.
But Mrs Isaac says she is lucky to be alive. "At one point I asked to be left alone because I wanted to be by myself to die," she said. "I can't believe I have got through this."
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