Madrid native bit by rattlesnake
After enjoying a typical day of sun and sand at Cedar Vue at Lake McConaughy, things took a turn for the worse for one local family as they packed up to head home.
Brooke (Lee) Namuth, formerly of Madrid, and husband Jordan, along with their two children, Taryn, 7, and Barrett, 2, were packing up their car around 11:30 p.m. on Friday, June 29 when Namuth was suddenly bit by a rattlesnake, roughly three feet from her car door.
“The pain scale [of the bite] was similar to a bee sting,” Namuth explained.
“The snake didn’t rattle or anything to give a warning that it was there, until after I was bit.”
Namuth’s husband saw the snake and knew immediately his wife had been bitten and they needed to act quickly.
“We just tried to remain as calm as possible because the kids were with us, but his first reaction was just to get in the car and get going as fast as we could,” Namuth said.
Approximately five minutes after she was bit, Namuth said her airway started to close and her tongue and limbs went numb, followed by loss of control.
Jordan headed straight for Ogallala Community Hospital and called 911 en route. The 911 dispatcher instructed him to elevate Namuth’s leg to heart level.
Namuth further explained they were told that elevating the bite above heart level would cause her body to absorb the venom faster. However, depending on the bite, keeping it lower than the heart could cause additional tissue damage. Therefore the best thing was to elevate the bite to heart level.
After the 911 dispatcher confirmed anti-venom was available at the hospital, they offered to dispatch an ambulance. However, the couple was already on the road and said to inform the hospital they were on their way and to be ready.
According to Namuth, the anti-venom treatment takes 15-20 minutes for the venom to be mixed as it has to be rolled, not shaken, due to bubbling.
Namuth was at the hospital for roughly 30 minutes before receiving her first dose of treatment.
“The first dose really took care of my airway and limbs. It didn’t take long to kick in,” she said.
She received four doses in total, which were administered every six hours via IV and took one hour each.
Although she felt immediate relief in her airway and limbs after the first dose, Namuth experienced residual effects well after the bite took place.
“I still have significant swelling in my leg. I wasn’t able to walk on it till Sunday, but with elevation and icing it’s progressively getting better every day.”
A week later Namuth reported severe bruising and swelling that spread to her foot and up her calf.
Although she experienced a traumatic injury, Namuth and her family were not deterred from returning to their favorite spot over the Fourth of July.
“I think seeing a rattlesnake at 11:30 at night, right by our car, is a pretty freak deal. I don’t think that’s something that happens all the time,” she said, adding that both she and her husband have lived in the area a long time and are familiar with rattlesnakes and the risk they pose.
According to the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, prairie rattlesnakes are the only poisonous snake found at Lake McConaughy. They are most commonly found on the south side of the lake, near rocky areas. However, they can also be found on the north shore.
“I think the craziest thing was that we didn’t get any warning,” she said.
“My daughter was walking right in front of me. So we’re blessed she didn’t get bit and I did. It would have been totally different and 100 percent worse if it had been her.”