I'm SO glad that you're OK & your snake is OK, and equally glad that you have shared this experience here. It's not as if this sort of thing happens often with
big snakes, but the fact that it CAN happen at any time without warning is very sobering. It's why I'd never personally want a pet like this...I'm a gal, not a big
strong guy, but even you guys need to be careful. Years back, I enjoyed working with rattlesnakes for many years, but to me that was only a matter of planning
my moves, never an issue of size & strength. Even though you don't hear many stories like this, I think it may happen more than you think- just that owners don't
always want to talk about it. Kudos to you for doing so.