$200 and some stress later…

So yesterday we all woke up feeling a bit lazy. It was a busy and rather intense week. We decided to take it easy. I fussed with my blog, Ernie read the paper, the guys did Leo and Owen things….. Then we had to take the guys to a birthday party—two hours of my life I would just as soon get back but it was somewhat amusing in retrospect. As it became dusk, I was sitting in the front yard reading a magazine, drinking a glass of wine and watching Ernie play frisbee with the guys and some neighborhood kids in the field next to us. Ernie walked over and picked up a beer he’d left sitting near me. He went to take a drink…..and screamed and threw it down. Something must have been on it and it bit him on his lower lip. He was yelling in pain and I got him some ice to put on it. I figured it was a bee and wasn’t particularly worried because he’s had bee stings before and never had a problem. Part of me was thinking, gee, he’s made this great dinner (Asian flavored pot roast with bok choy and shitaake mushrooms)…I hope he can eat it with a stung mouth.

I slowly realized that we were beyond that particular worry when he told me his vision was all blurry and he was having problems standing. Sweat was pouring off him in sheets. I said I was going to call an ambulance and of course he refused. He said he just wanted to lay down for a little while. HA. I ran over to our neighbor and told him I had to take Ernie to ER and he said ‘don’t worry about the guys’. Thank God for good neighbors.

We got to ER and they were checking him in. The nurse was all cheerful and started taking vital signs. When his blood pressure came out as 70/40 she cheerfully said “oh, that cuff must be too big for you, sometimes that makes it read low”. So she did it again with another cuff. As it registered 70/40 again Ernie started leaning over saying he felt very light headed. All of a sudden she was much more serious and had me get a wheel chair and got him into a bed and onto oxygen.

Someone else came in and said, “so this is a reaction to an insect sting?” When I said yes, she asked me if he had a living will or medical directives. Now perhaps this is just a standard question but I was really starting to get freaked out. At this point his mouth was totally swollen and he was covered with terrible hives. He was just a little out of it the whole time. Long story short—-an injection, a couple of pills and a few hours later he was doing better. Of course to top things off when we went to leave we had to pay the $200 emergency room co-payment. I forgot it had gone up. sigh.

We still don’t know what stung or bit him—they said we should have allergy testing done on him and perhaps carry one of those pens to inject yourself. We got home about 10:30—-the boys were still up and WIRED. By 11:00 I’d poured everyone into bed and got into bed myself but couldn’t sleep. Ernie feels better today, his lip looks almost normal, but of course he still feels pretty shaky. I called my folks and they told me not to take my father to church today. I feel guilty but it is a relief. I made my mother promise that if my father tried to walk to church that she’d call me. I’m exhausted. Tried to go back to bed but couldn’t sleep. I’m off now to go fill his prescriptions….maybe a nap later.

At one point in the ER Ernie looked at me, all red and bumpy with a swollen lip and oxygen tubes and said, “well, this will make a good story for the blog.”

My sweet pea.