Does this look familiar? In case you do not know, it is an EpiPen used when a person has a severe allergic reaction. This EpiPen now resides in our home. Last night, hubby had a severe allergic reaction to shrimp. We attended a shrimp boil last night at a friend's house(more about that tomorrow) and Mark was one of the chef's as well as one of the partakers of said shrimp boil. Things were going well, and I noticed about an hour into the evening that he was turning a bit red. He had been on the soccer field all day, it was a bit warm in the house, and the champagne and wine were flowing so I did not think much about it. Well, around 11:00 pm, his palms started itching. We gave him some benadryl and made our way home. After we got home, the symptoms kept getting worse. He started itching all over and then his chest started tightening. Now, when your chest starts tightening, it is time for medical intervention. We headed over to St Vincent Emergency Room and got in straight away. By this time, he was turning as red as a lobster and the itching became unbearable. They gave him a shot of benadryl and a shot of steroid. This seemed to be working until they gave him an IV with saline solution to re hydrate him. He became very dizzy and started itching again, now down his legs and feet and his blood pressure and pulse ox shot up sky high. This action bought him an ekg. By this point, I started to go a little into freak out mode. I mean, this is my Mark. It was awful to see him this way. They finally gave him a shot of epinephrine which then caused his heart to race, gave him the shakes, and his blood pressure shot up even more. Scary stuff. Finally, about a very long 20 minutes later, the shot started to work. Within another 30 minutes his redness was almost completely gone and he fell sound asleep. This was around 2 am. I climbed in and snuggled up against him as we were going to be there at least another 2 hours. At 4:30 am we were released, me armed with prescriptions and strict orders to go to the 24 hour pharmacy to get our new EpiPen. I dropped Mark off at home, and left Jake to "babysit" him while I went to get our Pen. The pharmacist at the Walgreens on Bowman was so nice and helpful. She gave me refresher course on how to use it and sent me home with two pens and a tester so we could practice. I got home and got us all tucked in around 5:30 am. Needless to say it was an exhausting night. I have not had many dealings with allergies so this episode completely freaked me out. Everyone in our house is now well versed in the use of an EpiPen. I want to thank everyone for their texts, calls and messages regarding my Mark. He is doing much better today, but is exhausted. We are now aware of his shellfish allergy and are taking this very seriously. I have definitely been the helicopter wife today, but I will not apologize. We went through some scary stuff last night and I am still not completely recovered. Anyway, to all my friends and family out there who suffer with allergies, I have a much greater appreciation of what you go through. So, when you come visit us, please leave your shellfish at home and if you come around him with shellfish, I will take you out. Not really, but really. I personally, am done with it myself. I am a huge seafood lover, but I do not want to put hubby in danger, EVER. It is just not worth it.
Hug your loved ones today. I am definitely holding on extra tight to my Mark today.
Hugs!!!
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