I would think it's not a common occurrence for most people. I'm not sure I've ever done it before - before yesterday, that is. I think I would remember.
Main Man was in the back yard gardening yesterday afternoon. At one point, he came in and headed down the hallway toward the bathroom. I thought nothing of it.
Moments later, though, a weak-sounding voice called from the bedroom, "I need help!"
I ran to him and found him lieing on the bed, perspiring and in obvious distress.
He had been stung by a wasp.Now, he's been bitten before without nearly this degree of effect. This was really frightening.
My knowledge of anaphylaxis is actually quite good; we have numerous students at my school who are fatally allergic to peanuts, and each year, we teachers are briefed on how to deal with such emergencies.
I ran to get him an antihistamine. The only thing we had was one of those 24-hour allergy relief pills, so I had him take that.
He had no visible hives yet, but he felt he had to go to the hospital, so I went to the back yard to gather #3 for the trip.
By the time I re-entered the house, Main Man was calling to me to phone 911.
I did.
The next 5 minutes were some of the most frightening of my life.
I spoke with the dispatcher, and she was absolutely fantastic in calming me down. She had the ambulance on its way as she coached me through everything.
I sent #3 to sit on the front step to let the ambulance attendants know they had the right house.
Main Man never lost consciousness, and, although he was obviously having trouble, he never fully stopped breathing. Those two points kept me going through this all.
I don't know how I would have reacted if he had lost consciousness.
At one point, I said aloud, "What's taking them so long?"
Even in all of his distress, still the voice of reason, he gasped, "It's okay - it just seems like a long time."
They did finally arrive, and gave him a thorough going over. He already seemed a little better than he had been. They felt he should go to the hospital, though, and asked if he would be able to walk to the ambulance.
He stood up, and said to them, "Wow, I couldn't have done that 5 minutes ago!"
By the time he was seen by a doctor in the ER, he was just fine. In fact, he was revved to get back to his gardening.
Me - not so much!
I was ready to go home, though. If I had to sit through him proudly telling one more pretty nurse that he quit smoking three months ago, I was going to gag!
Two final points, by the way. Turns out, it wasn't really anaphylaxis he was experiencing, but almost the opposite: his body had produced too much adrenaline to fight the effects of the sting. This resulted in heart palpitations and feelings of utter panic.
Also, he was told on at least two occasions by two different health professionals that this could have concluded in a much less favourable result if he had not taken that allergy pill right away.
How long do you think I can play the "I saved your life, Dear" ticket?
12 comments:
That was scary. Glad he is ok. I mean glad you saved his life. If it wasn't for your quick action who knows what would have happened.
I hope he realizes how much he owes you. I don't think he can ever, ever, ever, fully repay you. But he should try..
Every day. For the rest of his life..
Wow...I am so glad he is OK. My husband is also the unwavering voice of calm in our family. Glad everything turned out fine and that he was up for gardening! Yeah, I'm thinking you can file this away for the appropriate moment! ;)
That is horrifying! What have they suggested to do if it happens again?
(Make sure you rub it in a lot that you saved his life!)
YIKES!
I have always been scared that some of my kids would have a reaction like that. All three of our sons have many allergies AND asthma, so I am worried that they could react in a very bad way to a sting.
The oldest has been stung twice and nothing happened. So that is a relief. Of course, as your husband proved, that doesn't really mean anything now, does it?? SCARY!
Glad he was calm and glad you knew what to do.
Hope your boys did not bring too much junk home from their friends' houses! LOL
What kind of wife takes a picture of the emergency sign when her husband is almost dead!?!?
I say good day!!
Heh....Mentok the Bee Keeper.
Heheheh.....maybe he'll turn into a bee in the afterlife? Heheheh...Buddhism.
Thanks so much for all your kind wishes everyone. Everything is right back to normal here - though my heart skips a beat every time I see a wasp now.
Happy - You're right. I hope he does realize how much he owes me. I better remind him lots. ;-)
Jamie - Thanks. Yes, it's appropriately filed. ;-)
Barbara - You know, they half mentioned an epi-pen if it happened again. But I'm a bit confused, because if the problem was an "overdose" of adrenaline, how would adding more adrenaline help? Anyway, he'll see our family doctor soon and hopefully get it all sorted.
Lowa - Hope this doesn't happen to any of your kids. I think it would have been even harder on me than it was if it had been one of the boys instead of Main Man!
Hah! About the yard sale, I think one of the three boxes they took over was just a little less full when they came home. ;-) Actually, on the plus side, they made over $26 to split between the two of them, and they learned a bit of a lesson in stick-to-it-iveness, as they manned their table from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. I was pretty proud of them when all was said and done.
Karen - That course would be a great idea. I took a first aid course through the school where I teach, and, when #1 was a baby (12 years ago or so), I took an infant CPR course. None of that stuff seemed useful to me at all in this situation, but luckily, those yearly recaps we get on anaphylactic shock really helped! :-)
Hippo - I know. I'm a terrible wife. But not for the reason you describe. That picture is just another Googled image. We actually live in a community where the ER is open 24 hours a day. Whoa, eh?
Haha you said "eh" !
Send my best to Mentok the Bee Keeper.
In my recollection of the event, we came up with the idea of the allergy pill together.
We came up with the idea after I pointed out that your initial treatment method - holding a pillow over my face and screaming "You ruined my life you bastard" - was not especially effective ;-)
Nonetheless, I am grateful you saved my life and intend to show my gratitude in the only way we men know how...boom-boom chicka-chicka boom-boom.
That sounds like it was pretty scary -- glad to hear your husband is doing better now!
Thanks for stopping by my blog, by the way. I envy you for living in Canada. I keep telling my husband I want to emigrate, and he thinks I'm kidding...
Hippo - Thanks, eh? I gave him your best.
Mentok - Yeah, thanks for showing your gratitude.
Fraulein - How great to meet you! Thanks so much for stopping by.
You're right - Canada is a great place to live. But I always say - home is where you make it. :-)
Very scary. I'm glad he's okay now. And it sounds awful, but it all makes for a great blog post! (Just to reiterate, I AM glad he's okay!)
Ella - Hi there. Good to hear from you again. Yes, he's just fine now. And thanks for the compliment on the post.
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