. . . while you are busy making other plans. Yesterday, I had a plan for the day. Attend weight watchers meeting, walk the dogs, meet with the caterer for the party for Mark and Jayme, shop and prepare food for a family dinner and go to Julia and Julie with my girls. I got as far as getting ready to go shopping for food. Mr C had been in the front yard with the dogs. He started pulling out a locust sapling from the front landscaping and disturbed a yellow jacket nest. He came running into the house screaming and cursing with a cadre of yellow jackets accompanying him. We grabbed newspaper and swatted most of them. It became increasingly obvious that he was in distress. I told him to get in the car and I was going to drive him to the ER. We got two blocks and he began to lose consciousness. I turned around and went back home. I had Lisa go stay with him in the car while I dialed 911. A calm and efficient woman asked me lots of questions about him and what was happening which she relayed to the EMTs. It did not take long for them to arrive. By this time, he was retching and in severe distress. They loaded him in the ambulance and off they went

Lisa and I got the dogs in and followed them to the hospital. Because of his nausea and chest pain, they started treating him for a heart attack. By the time we saw him in the ER, he was not looking too bad. Then, things took a turn for the worse. He was breaking out in more hives, his blood pressure was falling as was his heart rate. He was setting off the alarms. They decided to do another EKG. I asked the doctor if he was going to be there for awhile and he said yes. Lisa and I went back home to grab a bite to eat and so I could put on warmer clothes. I was freezing. Steph met us at the house and she went back to the hospital with me. By this time they had called to tell us they were admitting him to the hospital for observation.

We arrived at the hospital to find him in a posh room in the cardiac unit. His vitals had stabilized; he had some food to eat and we all sighed with relief. I brought him home this morning. They decided that the symptoms were all related to the wasp attack and the resulting drop in his blood pressure because of that.

He was sent home with benadryl, prednisone and 2 epi pens for use if he ever gets bitten again because he will now be super sensitive. He had 15 – 20 bites, but it will only take one next time. Our co-pay was $50. We expect to get a bill for the ambulance.

Whew! I am glad that is over. I was so impressed with the response and efficiency of the EMTs and the 911 operator. I also felt blessed to have my daughters by my side.

I am pretty exhausted, but this afternoon, I finally finished updating my website. You can click on New Work up in the menu if you would like to see what I have added.