Epic ER Visit #2

Yellowjacket--predatory wasp=bad

Yellowjacket--Mascot of my husband's Alma mater, The University of Rochester=good

I thought I'd go ahead and clarify that point for you.

Yesterday, I was busy assembling six cow costumes--one for each member of the family--for Chic-Fil-A's "Cow Appreciation Day" (come dressed as a cow and get an entirely free meal--Booyah!), when Nate came inside from playing with his brothers crying that he had been stung by a Yellowjacket. I looked at his foot and  I could see where it was already starting to swell. I sat him on the side of my tub and turned the cold water on it (well, lukewarm water--water doesn't get cold here in the summer) while I went and got a dish of baking soda to make a little baking soda poultice for the sting. (It's one of those folk medicine remedies that I figured it wouldn't hurt to try).We got the baking soda on the sting and I called David because I could tell that the swelling was progressing pretty rapidly. He suggested I give Nate some Benedryl, so I did. By that time I was feeling more calm and I thought we'd try some ice for the swelling. I scooped Nate up and put him on my bed and put the ice on his foot. He was crying because his foot hurt but I noticed something that made me more concerned: he was starting to get some little hives on his stomach, chest, face and arms.  I called the pediatrician's office. It was after hours but they said they'd have a nurse call me back. When the nurse called back she said to go ahead and bring Nate in to the after-hours clinic. I carried him out to the car (remember the sting was on his foot so it hurt to walk), and told Seth he was in charge until Dad got home; I knew David was on his way, but he wasn't there yet. As I was pulling out, Seth ran outside with the cordless phone. It was the nurse again. She said the doctor had advised that we take Nate straight to the emergency room, so that is where we headed.

On the short drive to the hospital I could tell that Nate was getting worse. His hives were becoming larger welts and his nose and mouth area began to swell. He said his nose felt funny and it was kind of hard to breathe. I carried him into the ER and checked in and we only had to wait a few minutes until they got us right back in a room and the doctor was there. They started an IV and gave him more Benedryl, a steroid called Solu-medrol and some Epinephrine. He was so good! He didn't even make a peep when they started the IV and he didn't try to scratch. I know how hard it is for me to not scratch when I am itchy so I was impressed with his restraint. The doctor explained a little bit about the allergy to me and told me we would be there for four to five hours for continued observation. He told me to go ahead and call David and tell him what was going on.

Of course in all the excitement I hadn't thought to bring a book with me. I called David and told him what was happening and that I didn't have anything to do for the next four to five hours. Nate said he was hungry and I was too. The last thing we had eaten was a bologna sandwich for lunch. We only have one functioning car right now and I had it with me at the hospital so we decided to ask our neighbors if we could borrow their car for a little while. By the time we got this all worked out though I had been there for more than three hours. David had to feed the other boys (obviously the Chic-Fil-A thing didn't work out for us) and wasn't able to get hold of the neighbors immediately. Meanwhile, Nate had fallen asleep and I was left twiddling my thumbs. I was just about to try to call David again when he walked into the room with a bag from McDonald's and a strawberry milkshake. I was SO happy to see him. And the food.

Nate was looking much better and sleeping soundly so we ate our smuggled-in food and I brought David up to speed on everything that had happened. Shortly after David arrived, Nate started to get worse again. The doctor had warned that the symptoms of a reaction like Nate's sometimes come back in a second wave so it wasn't unexpected. The RN, doctor and paramedic all came back in and Nate was given more Benedryl via the IV and another shot of Epinephrine. They put an oxygen tube in his nose as a precaution to aid in breathing since his system was so depressed from the Benedryl. Nate did not like that at all. I don't think he was really very aware of what was going on--he been roused from his drugged sleep to be warned about the shot but he wasn't really awake and on top of that he was having the adrenaline rush from the Epi. He kept trying to tear off the tube in his nose and even tried to pull at his IV. I had to hold his hands down for a few minutes but eventually he settled back into sleep.

When things calmed down, David and I decided that I would go home and return the neighbor's car. When he asked if I'd rather stay or go I told him the control freak part of me wanted to stay  and make sure everything was okay, but the part of me that was my back and behind sitting in a hard chair for the last few hours wanted to go so he told me to get out of there.

I headed home and two hours later, sometime after midnight, Nate and David made it home. Nate looked TONS better. His face was completely cleared up and he was tired but seemed in good spirits. He was also armed with two Epi-Pens and a prescription for Prednisone which he has to take for the next few days. He still looked pretty good this morning although the swelling around his mouth was returning a little bit.Today's dose of prednisone seemed to knock that out.

The doctor at the ER told us that bees belong to the order "hymenoptera" and all insects in the order share certain proteins so we should assume that Nate is allergic to all the insects that fall into this category: bees (honeybees, wasps, yellow jackets and hornets) and fire ants. Fire ants? They are everywhere around here!

David and I have decided that we are going to have to enforce a "shoes and socks outside" rule with the boys which is maybe not an issue for most people but we tend to be a shoeless family--especially in the summer. It is just not worth the risk with all the fire ants we have around here. *Sigh*


Anyway, I realize that this is a really long post but I have to get down the details so I remember them for posterity. This makes our second ER trip of the year. You may remember that back in February we paid a visit to the ER when Seth ate part of a solid heating tablet from an MRE thinking it was a cracker. All these years without a trip to the emergency room and now we have two in one year. Boys howdy! I'd better hold onto my hat if things continue this way. Let's hope that they don't.

On a lighter note, in the future should you find yourself in the emergency room for hours on end "for observation" without any reading material handy, I have composed a list of things to occupy you (aside from twiddling your thumbs). These helped, in a small way, to make the time pass ever so slightly more quickly for me:

1. Mentally arrange the blood collection tubes in rainbow order according to cap color.
2. Wonder what font the “X-RAY IN USE” sign uses.
3. Count the stack of pink kidney dishes on the bedside table.
4. Read informational posters on the door about "How to Use Dermabond in the Treatment of Various Lacerations" and "Emergency Treatment of Burn Patients".
5. Listen to the symptoms of the guy who fell off the ladder and the guy who just had heart surgery in the beds next to yours. Wish you had not overhead some of the symptoms of the guy who just had heart surgery. Believe me, you don't really want to know which body parts are swollen.
6. Wonder if the doctor always writes with pen on the bed sheets and how the people in the laundry get pen out of the sheets. Wonder if they still make erasable pens.
7. Count how many drips of saline per minute are being administered from the IV.
8. Read all labels, warnings and instructions on nearby medical equipment.
9. Actually read the hospital's privacy policy.
10. Stare at your toes and ponder pedicures (I've never had one). Count how many toes have chipping nail polish.
11. Call your husband/wife multiple times.
12. Text your sister.
13. Watch the minutes tick slowly by.
14. Debate with yourself about whether to ask for a blanket or not. Be really grateful when the paramedic offers you one and you don't have to ask. 
15. Count your blessings and be glad that your child (spouse/loved one/friend) is okay.