Gila monster ungrateful

But when the lizard turned his head nearly 180 degrees and bit my hand between thumb and forefinger as I held him, and I was unable to dislodge him with my free hand, I knew I needed help.

"Debbie," I called to my wife after walking the 30 feet from the pool to our back porch, "I've got a Gila monster on my hand."

Thus began an ordeal that sent me to the emergency room at Tucson Medical Center for eight hours, caused me to miss a day of work and left my right hand weak and painful for more than a week.

I was actually bitten twice. The 10-inch critter's teeth also briefly penetrated my left thumb as I attempted to pry it off the other hand.

And although that bite was much less serious, the left hand rivaled the right for pain as the effects of the neurotoxin set in.

That took about 15 minutes, after Debbie (Star reader advocate Debbie Kornmiller) pried the lizard off my hand with a plastic knife; he'd been attached for not much more than a half-minute.

The Arizona Poison Control Center, which we called immediately, advised us to seek emergency medical help and to wash the bite thoroughly because of the great possibility of infection.

Although Gila monster bites are not known to be fatal to people in generally good health, the pain was severe.

I became thirsty, disoriented and weak, unable even to hold a pen to sign the admitting forms at the ER.

Later, I became nauseated, vomited and was unable to control tremors in my extremities, especially my legs. I could walk, but barely.

I was given IV saline, painkillers, antibiotics and anti-nausea medicine, and a tetanus shot. My hands were X-rayed to make sure none of the lizard's teeth had broken off to be an additional source of infection.

Since Gila monster bites are relatively rare (only three people statewide so far this year, according to Poison Control statistics), no one in the hospital that night had ever treated anyone who had been bitten, and I became something of a medical celebrity as doctors came to check me out.

They joked about consulting "Dr. Google" to determine what my treatment should be.

Gila monsters are found throughout much of the southern half of Arizona and into California, Nevada, New Mexico and Mexico.

Most adults are from 14 to 16 inches long and can weigh 1.5 pounds. Some may be 24 inches long and weigh 2 pounds or more, so my assailant was probably a younger member of the species.

The neurotoxin mixes with the Gila monster's saliva, and the lizard chews it into the wound through grooves in the lower teeth. Even when the animal would open its mouth to re-establish the bite, I was unable to extract my hand, perhaps because the agonizingly sharp teeth angle back into the mouth and keep the victim attached.

Our home is in the Foothills, about a mile directly south of Sabino Canyon, and our property extends, unimproved, through brush and trees, east to Sabino Creek.

The Gila monster is only the second one I've seen in the wild, despite my 31 years in Tucson. The other was also on our property but was much larger and obviously not to be trifled with.

So, yes, I knew before I was bitten what a Gila monster looks like and that they can be dangerous.

Debbie says I told her immediately after I was bitten that I didn't realize at first what it was and just wanted to save it from drowning. After I went back to work, I told co-workers that I knew what it was all along.

Now, I'm really not sure what I was thinking when I plucked it from the water, except that I surely exercised too little care and that, now seeing the picture of the critter, it's hard to believe I didn't recognize it for what it was.

One reason Gila monster bites are rare is that, as in my case, you need to work to get bitten. Gila monsters move slowly, and handling them is the best way to get bitten.

As a Dr. Ward of Phoenix was quoted as saying in an 1899 Arizona Graphic article:

"I think a man who is fool enough to get bitten by a Gila monster ought to die. The creature is so sluggish and slow of movement that the victim of its bite is compelled to help largely in order to get bitten."

Next time, even if it's near the edge, I'll use the net. As for the lizard, my 13-year-old son, Cade, netted it from the backyard grass where it had been placed after being detached and released it into the desert.

Suspect poisoning?

• Arizona Poison Control Center: 1-800-222-1222, http:// www.pharmacy.arizona.edu/ outreach/poison/