I have always been interested in the healing power of God given herbs. I have studied and taken a couple of classes, in my spare time.

The following story is not for those with a weak stomach, because I do give graphic details.

June of 2006 the Cherokee Sentinel did an article on a man who could heal the Brown Recluse spider bite.  Here's the link: http://www.cherokeesentinel.com/news/2006/0621/Front_Page/006.html.
Now, I kept that article because I wanted him to teach me some of the things that he knew. Little did I know I would get up close and personal with it.

My son was staying at a friend's house, helping the guy and his grandfather do construction work. They had a bathroom and plenty of windows in their basement, so he set him up a bedroom down there.
About a week later he came to see me and he had two spider bites. One on his right leg, thigh high and one on his left leg below the knee on the calf. They had both swelled up and had a red place on them and were painful. Since we weren't quite sure what they were, I told him to put some ointment on them that I had and let's watch them. Well, they continued to get bigger and redder. Now the one on his thigh was progressing faster than the one on the calf. We decided that he needed to pop them and let the infection out. He decided to do it himself. He then called me the next day and said it was really hurting bad and getting worse. I told him to hold on a minute. I pulled up the article and called Mr. Kisselberg and he said to send him down there that night. Well I couldn't go, but told my son to pay attention to what he told him and let me know.

That night he came by and had a poultice on his leg and it was wrapped in plastic. He also had the other leg looked at and treated while he was there. Well, he said it felt better and left. He was told to come back the next day and let Mr. K take a look at it. He didn't have any pain that night and went back the next day and the one on his upper thigh was healing. Of course not paying attention the next day the poultice came un-taped from his calf so he threw it away, BIG MISTAKE.

On Thursday I was in Alpharetta, Georgia getting school uniforms and supplies for my daughter. My son called me and said he was in some much pain he couldn't walk and his leg was swelling to a busting point. I told him to head on over to the E.R. Now we don't have insurance, but he could make payments at the hospital while an urgent care center would require payment before you leave. (It's a shame that you have to calculate what you can afford before you can receive medical care). So off he goes to the hospital. $225.00 later with a $40.00 prescription he is diagnosed with a staph infection. They gave him Keflex and Bactrim (sp?) to take. So that I night I tell him to get started, because staph is a dangerous, infectious thing that you don't want to fool around with.

Friday morning he call's me and is in the most excruciating pain you can imagine. I tell him that my husband and daughter are home and to go to the house so he will be with someone that can watch him. My daughter call's me often with updates and my husband is really starting to get worried. He tell's me that my son is running a fever, his leg is swollen grossly and he is in pain. My son is taking prescription grade Ibuprofen along with his prescriptions. I go home that night and his foot, ankle and leg are swollen so much that his leg look's ready to bust. The wound is draining continuously and it has been oozing blood and infection all day long and the pressure from the swelling is causing it to bleed more. When he get's up to go to the restroom or move around it gushes' and causes intense pain, he has to lean on someone to walk. I discuss it with my husband and we decide to go back to Mr. K to see what he could do.

I call him and he say's to come right down. We get there and it's about 8:30 and he takes my son right on into his kitchen and has all of his stuff ready. He is most sterile and uses rubber gloves and gauze. My son goes in and put's his leg up for Mr. K to examine. Well Mr. K get's right to work. He cleans the wound and we discuss staph and how contagious it is. He say's that spider bites and staph look the same but he still believes it's a bite. He cleans the area around it with Betadine and alcohol. My son is sweating profusely and say's he has never experience pain like he was having. Shooting pain up and down his leg, and feeling like something cold is trickling down his calf. It has red streaks, and the bite area is swollen to a grotesque point. Mr. K look's it over, get's out his poultice and applies it to the wound, giving me instructions about it. Telling me the story of how he learned about it and who all he has treated.
After he get's the poultice on to the wound he wraps it with gauze and tapes it. He then applies plastic wrap around it and tapes it. We had instructions to come back on Sunday to take the poultice off. Do not remove it before then. Well, we sit there and visit a bit, about 20 minutes. My son ask to use the restroom and walks back with out any problem. When he comes back I ask him how it's feeling and he says there is no pain at all, he is only walking with a slight limp because the foot and calf are swollen and it adds pressure to his leg. I ask Mr. K should he keep taking the antibiotics and he said "Yes, don't stop taking them."

We thank Mr. K and I ask him if he will show me his plant's on Sunday when I get back and he say's that he would be glad to, that the knowledge needs to be spread.

I get my son home and we watch a movie and monitor his leg until about 12:00. His girlfriend goes home and he get's into bed to rest.

Saturday morning my husband, daughter and I are up, 5:00 a.m. bustling around to get ready to sell our honey and soaps at the Blairsville Farmer's Market. My husband look's in on my son to see how he is doing and he say's he feel's fine, no pain. We look and his leg and all of the swelling and redness are gone. You can actually see the ankle bone. I tell him to stay off of it as much as possible and that we would be home around 2:00 and he say's ok.

I call him a couple of times during the day to check on him and he is sitting in the recliner with his leg up eating me out of house and home, watching TV.  After we leave the market, we go to deliver some honey and to grab a bite to eat. I call him again and receive his food order on what to bring home. A 360 degree turn around in less than 24 hours. The antibiotics, I don't think so.

We get home and all is well, leg is still wrapped up and looking good and the only pain he has is a slight bit when he walk's around. Now being 22 years old and superman, he thinks that he feels so good he is going to the races with his friends (now remember this is less than 24 hours later). I let him know that if he is up and on that leg and it get's bag again I would beat him. He say's ok and take's off that evening.

Sunday morning I am up, cleaning breakfast dishes and making a batch of soap and he call's me. He tell's me that the the plastic wrap around his leg if full of blood and leaking. I tell him to get to the house and we will go down to see Mr. K. I send him on ahead of me because I plan on stopping at the Dollar Store and picking up some replacement gauze rolls and tape  for Mr. K and I also take him some soap I have made. He doesn't charge for his helping anyone, but I don't want to use up his supplies. I tell my son and daughter not to do anything until I get there so I can see what's happening, I take my camera along to document it.

I get there and they are outside of the porch, the bandages and plastic wrap have been removed and my son has an open place on his leg that is about 1.2 to 1 inch open with a white, cottage cheese looking core in the center of it.
I ask Mr. K if he was going to pull it out and he said that he was. He carefully cleaned and kept sterile the area around the wound. Wiping it several times during the entire procedure. He tells my son "You look up at that flower hanging there and don't watch, because this is going to hurt." My son who is sweating from the pain by now grits his teeth and tell's him ok, he's ready. Mr. K takes a sterile piece of gauze bandage and applies a little pressure to the wound, getting any of the blood away from it and cleaning it good. He then takes a pair of plastic tweezers, grasp the white core and tug's gently on it. After a second or two he tugs again and a small white sac pulls out of the wound and he hold's it up for us to see. Saying "I figured it was a spider bite and not staph." The wound is open, and purplish looking. I get close enough to take a picture of it and I can see the hole the poison sack has made into and up his leg. You can see the muscle in his leg and the damage the poison has done. We asked him why it had bleed so much and he said he figured that with my done walking around on it causing the muscles in the leg to flex  irritated the blood vessels.

He then takes another poultice pack and applies it with gauze bandage and plastic, tapes it up and tell's my son "You be back here tomorrow and we will put glycerin and iodine on it and you will be well." My son explains that he was going out of town tonight and could it wait, Mr. K tell's him that he believes his leg is a little more important than his plans. My son grins and agrees and goes to his girlfriends house, telling me he will be back later tonight.

Mr. K then takes me around back to show me his different plants and herbs. I learn about House Leek which is excellent for psoriasis problems. I learn about the Wild Hydrangea/Seven Bark that he used on my son's leg. Wild Polk Berry that is not poisonous as we all believe but is used for bone spurs. Boneset for pneumonia. Joe Pye Weed for kidney infections. Wild Touch Me Not for itching from hives, poison ivy or whatever. (already knew about that one). I learned how to prepare them for use and truly thankful for the knowledge I received.

Now the most amazing thing about this whole scenario other than the healing is that there was no odor at all. No coppery smell of blood, no odor from the infection, nothing. I picked the bandages up from the cement porch and there were not any flies anywhere around it as you wold expect with bloody bandages. With a wound like that you have to have some kind on odor to it, or at least you would think so. I picked up the discarded wraps with a plastic bag, folded it in on itself and tied it up so that I could dispose of it. After the bag sitting in the heat for 2 hours, I got home and wanted to get a picture of the sac that came out of the wound. I carefully opened the bag anticipating an odor and there was only a slight smell of alcohol, Betadine and a very light hint of something sweet, probably the plant used. To me that was the most amazing thing other than the wound healing, no smell of decay, blood or infection. Found the sac, took a picture and bagged it all back up and threw it away.

Monday morning, my son just called to tell me he went to see Mr. K. They took the poultice off and all that is left is a wound in his leg that you can tell is slowly closing up. No infection, no bleeding, no pus, no swelling, no pain. They put glycerin and iodine on it, bandaged it up and he is on his way to Atlanta to start a new job on Thursday. He will be stopping by the drugstore to get his own batch of glycerin and iodine to mix up and keep in his car for any sores, scratches or anything else to doctor himself. My son is firm believe in the power of plants and will never forget the experience that he has had..

Thank you and Bless you Mr. K. You are a saint in my book.

In closing let me say that the Brown Recluse is a spider with a poisonous bite, usually you get a 2-3 day stay in ICU with IV antibiotics and it the wound starts to decay, they will excise it, removing the dead flesh. You never really recover from the effects of the bite and it can stay in your system for ever causing you sickness and pain. Research it online for more information.

I will provide pictures upon request. I am not including them with this writing because they aren't very pretty. My son's girlfriend took the initial picture with her cell phone and I am waiting on her to e-mail it to me. I have some from the past weekend and the final visit. I have instructed my son to get a disposable camera and take pictures every day for the next couple of weeks so that we can document the progress. So it will be a few weeks before they are all ready.

God Bless Mr. Kissleberg.