The other day, I was taking a student back to his accommodation and we just happened
to be walking under a pine tree.
I felt something drop on my neck thinking it was probably a leaf or twig.
So I went to brush it away, but as I did, I felt an incredible pain emanate from just
below the base of my skull.
At first, I thought I must have been stung by a bee.
But then I looked down and saw a hideous, brown spider sitting on the pavement.
He was definitely alive and scurried away into the leaf litter nearby.
I just stood there in pain, almost paralysed with anxiety.
It took me a few seconds to compose myself.
All the time, the student was asking me repeatedly, “What’s wrong?
What’s wrong?!”, but I didn’t reply.
I was just bent over in shock.
Finally, I gathered my wits and realised that I had to take a picture of the spider.
I got out my phone and spent a moment or two trying to remember how to use the bloody camera.
I got it open, but my hand was shaking uncontrollably.
I was trying to rationalise what was happening.
Was I feeling the effects of the poison, or was I just having an anxiety attack?
I pushed through the pain and took three or four photos of the spider.
All were blurred, however, as I couldn’t keep my hand still.
The student couldn’t help me as he couldn’t see – he is legally blind.
So anyway, I took the photos and decided that the best course of action was to get to the
university’s nurse as soon as possible.
The student didn’t mind, and was happy to come with me.
Luckily, things started to settle down after about five minutes or so.
The pain had subsided and I was still able to speak and stand up, so I figured it couldn’t
be too serious.
After a few more minutes, I was able to go in and see the nurse.
She had a quick look and said there was pretty much no sign of the bite.
I gave her a look at the pictures of the spider, but due to my shakiness at the time, they
weren’t very clear.
However, I did give her a good verbal description as I still had a very clear image of the spider
in my mind.
She decided to do an Internet search and together we were able to work out that it was probably
a Garden Orb-Weaving spider.
Not particularly dangerous, but certainly big and ugly and can cause a lot of pain.
Anyway, I got the all clear and went back out to take my student home.
I started thinking about the incredibly low odds of what just happened.
I was wearing a wide-brimmed hat at the time, so it would have been incredibly difficult
for the spider to fall onto my neck.
But I remember just at that moment, I happened to look down at something on the footpath,
leaving my neck exposed.
The spider dropped down from above, probably by accident.
I don’t think it had any intent on biting me.
It was only because I reached around to try to brush it off that it decided to sink its
fangs in.
I just think the whole situation was incredibly unlikely.
Like, a million-to-one shot.
I’ve never ever been bitten by a spider before, at least, not that I remember.
As a kid, I did a lot of running around in bushes, climbing trees, and so on, but was
never bitten.
It just amazes me that in the blink of an eye, a spider drops from above, sinks its
fangs in, and then I’m writhing around in pain.
What are the odds?
It started making me think of my own mortality.
Is that all it takes to die?
Just to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?
I mean, obviously I wasn’t in any real danger that day, but what if it was a deadly spider
that dropped on me?
What if the ambulance couldn’t get there in time?
What if the hospital had just used its last dose of antivenom?
Normally people get bitten on the arm or leg – not right next to their brain.
Surely, the poison would take effect much more quickly.
Since antivenom has been introduced in Australia, there has only been one documented death caused
by spider bite in the last forty years.
Between 2000 and 2013, 74 people were killed by horses, which is actually more deaths than
from all venomous creatures combined.
Australian animals are just not that deadly anymore.
But certainly, after having been bitten on the neck out of the blue, it reminds me that
we do not know when our time has come.
We should obviously try to live our lives in a meaningful way, and not just waste them
doing things that aren’t important to us.
Spider bite on the neck?
What the heck?!