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Well, we are back in our house. I’ve slept my bed for 5 nights now… but our saga isn’t done yet for this summer.
Of course being back in our house means that we also need to work in the yard.
Time to mow the grass! Which Adam doesn’t love, but thankfully our yard isn’t huge so it doesn’t take over an hour to finish.
It was a normal Saturday. We ran errands early in the morning, ate lunch at the house, and got a few contractors to come out to give us options for a new deck. We put Aidalyn down for her nap, then Adam decided it was time to mow.
He was mowing the yard just like normal, but must have gone over an insect nest of some kind. We are thinking maybe yellow jackets. All at once his leg started burning and he realized that he was stung about 6 times. He has been stung before outside and figured he just wanted to finish mowing the yard. He came inside to get some water, sprayed insect repellent on his legs, then headed back outside.
A few minutes later, he came back in and said he didn’t feel good. He said he felt burning all over his body and he needed to “get it off” so he was going to get in the shower. I went over to inspect and saw that hives were starting to appear over his chest and neck. I read that heat was bad for hives so I told him to make sure the shower water was cold.
I gave him 50mg of Benadryl.
He had never had hives before.
When he got out of the shower he said he felt his face was starting to swell – think “Hitch.” First it was his ears, then he felt his eyes starting to swell. I gave him another 25mg of Benadryl.
I called a friend who’s husband is a doctor (He developed an alternative to an epi pen called AuviQ) and also their family has severe allergies. She gave the phone to him for me to talk to. He said to call 911.
Wow. okay. I’m dialing 911…
Adam was sitting in a chair and I was on the phone with 911 telling them everything – meanwhile he was still getting worse. His lips were swelling, his nose was swelling, he was telling me he is having more difficulty swallowing.
Adam asked “Are they on their way???” He was getting worried. I was too!
Finally the ambulance arrived. The EMTs checked his breathing and took him to the ambulance to get an IV in and take him to the nearest hospital.
The EMT saw Annaleigh sleeping in her swing and told me not to rush to the hospital – That it was going to take a while to get Adam processed and settled.
My plan was to stay put until Aidalyn woke up and then head to the hospital. She woke up about an hour after the ambulance left the house. I went to our trusty friend’s house and one of our friends went to the hospital to check on Adam.
Adam stayed at the hospital about 3 hours total. They ended up giving him a stronger dose of another type of “Benadryl” plus steroids. By the time our friend got to the hospital, Adam was sleeping and his swelling was gone.
Adam is now the proud owner of an epi pen and we now know that he needs to be very careful working out in the yard. Adam has a history of attracting every bug in a 5 mile radius when he is outside anyways. He reacts pretty strongly to most bugs like ants and mosquitoes.
I think I finally convinced him that we need to hire someone to cut our grass. It will be much cheaper than an ambulance ride and hospital visit.
I feel like motherhood was the most amazing thing that ever happened to me… but I had to discover how to not lose myself in the process.
Sound familiar?
I teach busy moms how to make simple healthy swaps that make a huge impact on their health and results.
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[…] few months ago, my family started seeing a naturopath after my husband had an anaphylaxis reaction to yellow jacket stings. Our naturopath, Dr. Amy, suggested that we go through an allergy elimination process called […]