My adult son was bitten eight times by a young brown recluse spider one week ago. He has had all the symptoms, fever, swelling. He has had to go back to work, though. He was bitten 8 times, 4 on the right side of his head at the hairline, once above the eyebrow, once on the eyelid and 2 times on the nose. The worst swelling is the head because most of the venom went into the first few bites, so we are told. He still has a fever and bad swelling. Can this venom make its way to the heart or heart valve? Also, can it affect the optical nerve? How long until the swelling goes down? They had him use the RICE method.