My wife thought that people would be
interested in hearing my bee sting allergy story.
Last summer I was walking behind
the house when without warning, a bee stung me on the top of the head. Since I had been stung the
previous year without any adverse effect my first thought was to grab
the weapon of my choice and return to the area to seek revenge. As I exited the
house armed for bees I suddenly realized that something felt wrong. I went back
and looked in the mirror. My entire head was as red as a tomato. I turned to my
wife and said, “look at my face."
She responded, "Emergency room?"
"Yes"
We jumped into the van with my wife in the
driver's seat and set out for the hospital. We soon were behind a slow moving
motorhome. I said "Pass it"
My wife said "I don't want to get a
ticket"
"PASS IT!"
(Lin: I had a hard time
believing that anything was really seriously wrong. Tom is the kind of fellow
that is hard to kill. It didn’t really dawn on me how serious this all was
until later.)
I tried to keep myself as mad as possible on
the way since I knew that adrenalin could help but it was hard to concentrate.
Even though it was only about eight miles it seemed to take forever.
As we went I was not afraid of dying,
but I prayed "God I'm not ready to leave Lin yet."
At the corner just over a mile
from the hospital we ended up behind a truck pulling a boat there was no way
around until they had cleared the corner.
(Lin: This was when I was
beginning to believe things were worse than I imagined. I began to be scared.)
At the bottom of hospital hill,
a quarter of a mile from the hospital, the world went white. Just faint
outlines on a white wall.
At the hospital Lin pulled up to the door and
asked if I could make it in on my own I said yes and staggered in through the
door and yelled across to the lady behind the counter "Bee sting allergy,
I’ve been stung!" I lurched over and grabbed on to the counter to keep
from falling down.
She said" Are you having trouble
breathing?"
"I can hardly stand up."
She grabbed a wheel chair and slid it under
me. As soon as my butt hit the seat I passed out for the first time in my life.
I came to a couple of times on the way to the emergency room and passed out
again.
(Lin: I came running in after
parking the car and tried to help get Tom’s feet right in the wheel chair. The
nurse looked at me and told me to go to the front and give the needed
information to get Tom processed for billing and all that crud. I wanted to go
to the ER with him, but they didn’t let me.)
When I came to in the emergency
room, I heard the P.A. say "We have to get him up on the gurney" I
looked around and saw a room full of small women and thought, "They're never going to be able to lift
my fat ass." so I stood up and laid myself on the gurney and promptly
passed out again. When I came to again she was saying “We have to get your
pants down so we can give you this shot in your thigh." so I arched my
back, pulled my pants down and, you guessed it, passed out again.
(Lin: When I finally got to go
see Tom in the ER, two hours had passed. The staff was still kind of hovering
around but not nearly as intense. Tom was covered with hives, and as I sat with
him, they were clearing up. It was like watching measles in reverse.)
I found out later that my blood pressure was
only 70 over 20. They said if it had gone much lower they would not have been
able to get me back.
They put in two IV's and filled me with Benadryl
and kept there for six hours.
I am very grateful to the staff for saving my
life.
(Lin: So am I.)
Here is the thing: Allergies can happen without rhyme or reason.
Tom had never reacted to be stings before. This time, it nearly killed him. He
was minutes away from dying. Thank God Paul Oliver Hospital is only 15 minutes
away!
Tom carries an epi pen with him
everywhere, and has taught people at his work how to use them should he be
stung again there. He does not go out without a hat.
Please learn the signs of
anaphylactic shock: Here is a great
resource I have found:
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