John Goes to the Hospital…again

We arrived at the Bayou Segnette State Park Friday night, after leaving our “Thanksgiving day” campground. Since it was after dark, John only hooked up the electric to the coach and left the rest for the next day.

Saturday morning he went out to hook up the water so we could take showers and take the bikes off of the Jeep so we could go riding later.  He came in the coach 10 or 15 minutes later complaining that his foot itched but couldn’t recall anything biting him. He was breathing heavy and after he sat down said he didn’t feel so good. He took his sandals off and I couldn’t see any marks on his foot, other than it was a little red where he said it itched.

I noticed he was sweating and asked him how he felt. He said hot, dizzy and that he couldn’t see, the world was going white. Thinking he was just hyperventilating, concerned that maybe a bee had stung him, I told him to put his head between his knees and I would turn up the air conditioning.

I was in denial.

When I turned back around his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out. I called his name and tried to shake him awake. No good. His breathing became labored, like he was having trouble taking a breath. I checked his pulse and could barely feel it.

Anaphylactic shock. Shit!!!

Desperately trying not to completely panic, I remembered the EpiPen. My hands were shaking from the adrenaline rush but I managed not to drop it. I apologized to him, knowing it was going to hurt and stabbed him in the leg with it. Yeah he didn’t feel a thing.

I called for an ambulance and as I was talking to the dispatcher, he “woke up”, asked where he was and tried to stand up. Talk about surprised, I couldn’t believe it! I almost cried right then and there, but he wasn’t out of the woods yet.

Finally the ambulance got there and off to the West Jefferson Medical Center he went. The paramedics commented that it was good thinking on the EpiPen.

By the time I got there they had him pretty well stabilized. They gave him Benadryl, Prednisone, and fluids by IV. His blood pressure was coming back up too, from something like 80/20 or some ridiculously low figures and that was AFTER the epinephrine hit.

The doctor interviewed me and said the EpiPen saved his life. He even joked around telling John I saved his life and he owed me big. I’m going to hang on to that “card” and play it at just the right moment.

After about 4 hours of observation in the hospital, a couple of EKG’s to check his heart after the EpiPen stab, and some blood work to check for indicators of heart damage, he was released with a clean-bill-of-health.

As we walked out of the hospital he limped a little and jokingly said his leg hurt where I got him with the EpiPen and he would probably limp for the rest of his life. Well, he really left me with no choice right?

For those of you who don’t know, the EpiPen contains a dose of epinephrine (basically adrenalin), a pretty powerful drug meant to kick start the body again. It is delivered through a pressurized pen with a needle that is thick and long. This pen is strong enough to penetrate heavy clothing like jeans and get deep into the thigh muscle. Yeah, it makes an ouwie.

The next day we checked his foot.

You can clearly see two marks. He definitely got bit/stung twice but by what?

After some poking around outside I found two bugs, the mud dauber wasp and fire ants. The mud dauber is said to RARELY sting or bite and generally cause no to little reaction. They eat spiders.

Fire ants on the other hand, bite readily. Fire ants apparently vary greatly in size, but I thought they were all big. When I saw these little red ants, I thought they were like the “sweet ants” back home.

John was bitten by some fire ants a while back, about 6 or so of them got him in his foot. That was in Texas and they were big! I think it was our first year out. He had no reaction. Hmm. At this point we were blaming the wasp.

Day 3 this is what his foot looked liked. I looked on WebMD and this is exactly what fire ant bites look like 3 or so days after the bite.

I also learned that people who are allergic to bees are usually allergic to fire ants. Cans in hand, I sprayed all around the coach killing bees, ants, spiders, fleas, ticks, mosquitos and anything else that moved.

John says I have to calm down, I can’t keep him in a bubble. Right now I’m not letting him out of my sight, and he is not allowed to go outside unsupervised. He claims he knows how upset and worried I am. How could he possibly know how disconcerted I am? He said, “I know because you haven’t made the bed in 3 days.” Something I’m completely obsessive about.

We are joking around about it but I thank God every day that things turned out for the best. He is my best friend, my soul mate, and I don’t want to go through life without him.