Woman Bitten by Venomous Snake in Virginia Restaurant

A woman was bitten by a venomous snake as she walked into a restaurant in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. 

Rachel Myrick said she was at a LongHorn Steakhouse earlier this month when she felt a sharp pain in her left foot.

She reached down and realized she'd been bitten several times by a roughly 8-inch-long copperhead that apparently had gotten inside the restaurant's foyer.

"I got bit! I got bit!" Myrick said she yelled. 

The pain was excruciating, Myrick said. She was taken to a hospital for treatment, where she was given antivenin.

She spent the next five days in the hospital and was told it could be weeks or even months before she can get back to work as a real estate agent. 

Almost two weeks after she was bitten, she was walking and using crutches and still can't place weight on her foot.

Despite the ordeal, she said she's thankful it was not her teenage son or another child who was bitten. 

"The fact that it wasn't a child, a million times over is a blessing," she said. 

A spokesman for LongHorn said the restaurant chain wants to provide any assistance it can to Myrick and is taking steps to prevent anything similar from happening again.

“Our primary concern is for the well-being of Ms. Myrick, and we want to provide any assistance we can," he said. "This was a highly unusual incident, and we are working with our facilities team to see how this may have occurred, and we are taking steps to prevent it from happening again.”

Myrick said she was shaken by the experience. 

"It was five seconds that turns your life upside down," she said. 

Snake experts said the chance of a snakebite is remote.

If bitten, call 911. Do not apply a tourniquet or ice. Don't cut into the wound or use suction, and avoid alcohol or drugs -- even ibuprofen. 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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