American born Edward McKinney is a 'self-confessed IT geek' who moved to Australia with his wife some five years ago, just before Covid closed down international borders. As a keen bushwalker, Eddie has also spent the last few years indulging his fascination with Australia's many dangerous and deadly creatures. He's undertaken plenty of recreational research into snakes, snake bites and 'what to do if you're every bitten by a brown snake.' But it's also fair to say that Eddie was not expecting his snake knowledge to be so definitively tested, just moments after stepping out of his luxury hotel room at Uluru and while on his way to the hotel pool! In this extraordinary episode #119 of the Flying Doctor Podcast, Eddie recalls how shortly after he entered the hotel hallway, with his 2-year-old daughter in his arms, the young father felt 'something like a bit of grass' brush against his leg. He looked down to see a baby brown snake emerge from behind his leg and then watched in disbelief as it slithered quickly away down the hallway. As he tried to process what had just happened, Eddie wasn't even sure he'd been bitten! But he also realised, from his ingrained knowledge of snake venom and snake bite treatments, that the signs and symptoms of snake bites can vary from patient to patient. He re-entered his hotel room and told his wife, "You're not going to believe this, but I just kicked a baby brown snake!"
After he and his wife Carmen had checked the snake's markings on their phones, to confirm it was indeed a baby brown snake, Eddie decided that the best course of action was to remain calm. "Maybe it was just a dry bite? A false alarm!" So he did what most blokes would do, on a hot, Northern Territory afternoon - and he decided to go to the pool and cool off! But shortly after arriving pool side, Eddie started to feel unwell. His leg began to sting and he quickly realised he was in trouble. With no first aid kit or bandages to hand, Eddie used a pool towel to wrap his leg as tightly as he could. But he also didn’t want to wait for an ambulance or medical help while stranded out in the pool deck sun! So he quickly 'hopped' his way over to the hotel's reception area and then calmly lay down on the floor and called out for help. "I've been bitten by a brown snake!", was how Eddie explained his bizarre behaviour to shocked onlookers. Unsurprisingly, the thought that a brown snake might be loose in the lobby sent the whole hotel area into minor chaos! But luckily for Eddie, there were also some great first responders in the room and an 'off-duty' nurse immediately came over to help him. Still unsure just how bad the bite might be, Eddie was taken to the Yulara medical center for treatment and a full snake compression bandage was applied to his leg. But with no Doctors or anti-venom located on site, the decision was quickly made to fly him out to Alice Springs Emergency Department and so the RFDS was called.
Thankfully, despite experiencing some leg pain during his RFDS plane trip due to the effects of altitude on his compression bandage, Eddie's symptoms were not getting any worse. After extensive preparations were made by medical staff following his arrival to Alice Springs, Eddie finally had his compression bandage removed. And, fortunately for Eddie, absolutely nothing happened! With no further snake bite symptoms or venom reaction symptoms emerging, Doctors nevertheless advised him to 'stick around' for overnight observation. But by early morning, Eddie still felt fine and was keen to just get back to his family in Uluru. That was also about the time he also realised that 'hitching a ride' from Alice Springs to Uluru at 4am in the morning, isn't quite as easy as it would be in the 'big smoke'. With no commercial flights or one way car hire available, an exhausted Eddie eventually found himself aboard a tour guide bus to Uluru, as he frantically tried to get back to his young family. After making it safely back to Uluru, Eddie concluded his outback adventure by completing the round trip walk to Uluru, with no ill effects from his earlier snake encounter. In fact, Eddie reckons "he's a real Aussie now" and he's here definitely here to stay!
