An "Access Hollywood" executive bitten by a rattlesnake -- just in time to put her out of action on the Michael Jackson story -- is expected back at work tomorrow after a nasty reaction and two-week recovery that required 22 vials of antivenin, she said today.

Sharon Smith's disastrous encounter with the cold-blooded viper occurred June 27 at a roadside rest area on U.S. 101 in Santa Barbara County. She was hospitalized for four days in Solvang, before repairing to the desert to recuperate in Palm Springs.

Almost as bad as the bite itself, Smith, "Access Hollywood's" director of research and video tape library, missed most of what she called the television news magazine's "the biggest story of the decade" -- the untimely death of Michael Jackson at age 50.

"Ironically, Neverland Ranch is about 40 minutes up the road from the rest stop," Smith told City News Service. "That was a big, big story. I felt like I was sidelined for the biggest story of the decade for my show."

Jackson died June 25 under mysterious circumstances in his rented Holmby Hills chateau as he was gearing up for a 50-night stand in London billed as "This is It!"

Smith, who lives in Burbank, contributed to "Access Hollywood's" initial coverage and on the following day. Then came the rattler.

That Saturday about 11:20 a.m., she and husband Bill stopped in the foothills of Santa Ynez Mountains en route to Avila Beach at a rest area north of Gaviota to let their dogs romp, Smith said.

Wearing long pants and leather sandals, she walked the dogs about 20 feet over bare dirt, turned around to walk back and felt "a very sharp prick on my foot," she said. "I thought it was a thorn and reached down, and there was a lot of blood. I heard a hiss behind me and immediately knew I'd been bitten by a snake."

Smith said she did not see the snake or hear the tell-tale rattle. But she was certain it was a rattler.

"I didn't run to the car," Smith said, adding that she told her husband she'd been bitten by a rattler and need to get to a hospital as soon as possible.

Using a GPS in their vehicle, the couple found the nearest hospital and headed for Solvang about 10 miles away. The log of the trip showed their SUV hit 97 mph at one point. Five minutes into the trip, Smith's tongue went numb.

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they hit bumper-to-bumper weekend traffic in touristy Solvang. Smith had her right foot propped up on the dash as she talked to a 911 operator.

"My hands were numb and I felt very odd," Smith said. "Tingly all over. My feet, my hands and face were all tingling -- like when your hand falls asleep but I couldn't shake it off."

Smith's husband used the center lane to get his wife to Santa Ynez Cottage Hospital.

"I could no longer walk," Smith said. "I felt paralyzed."

Initially, the doctors and emergency room medics treating her thought Smith had suffered a scratch and a panic attack, she said. "I felt a bit embarrassed, but I hoped they were right," Smith said. "I could live with the humiliation."

But her foot began to swell. After multiple conferences with poison control experts, doctors decided in the early evening she should be given antivenin and admitted to the hospital.

By 10 p.m., doctors agreed that she had been bitten by a rattler, possibly a very young rattler that had not shed its skin enough times to develop a loud rattle. Each time a snake molts, it adds a rattle to its tail.

The swelling moved up Smith's leg to her thigh and, by the next day, her whole leg was streaky red in places and black-and-blue in others, Smith said.

After 22 vials of antivenin, she left the hospital June 30.

Smith's ordeal is similar to that described by Riverside-area biologist Mike Zerwekh, who was bitten by a 3-foot-long rattler in the Cleveland National Forest outside Corona in April.

Just minutes after the snake bit him, Zerwekh said: "I could already feel dryness in my mouth, and tingling . . . all over my body. The pain got more intense. . . . I was losing motor skills, control of my extremities. It made it difficult to drive the car."

Zerwekh luckily got airlifted by rescuers to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he recovered.

Being cold-blooded, rattlers like sunbathing and can often be found in sunny spots along trails. They will typically shake their tail to warn off any threat, but if stepped on or frightened can strike without warning.

Anyone out for a walk in hot, sunny weather -- in paved and unpaved areas -- should remain aware of their surroundings and not step, or put their arms, in areas they cannot examine first, according to snake and reptile experts.

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