I’m getting worried about going to work lately. First it’s this phone call. Now, it’s the following:
Mrs. WhiteCoat happened to be at the hospital seeing a patient and I get a call from Daughter WhiteCoat in the ED.
“Ummm … Dad? Yeah. Um Junior WhiteCoat got stung by a bee and I think he’s having an allergic reaction. Should I use the EpiPen?”
In the background, I hear my son screaming bloody murder with alternating “No no no no no no” and gibberish.
“OK, where did he get stung?”
“In the backyard.”
“Noooo. What part of his body got stung?”
“Oh. His finger.”
“Why do you think he is having an allergic reaction?”
“It’s really swollen.”
“Is he having any trouble breathing or throwing up or anything like that?”
“No. Just his finger.”
“How about you put some ice on it for about a half hour. If anything changes, call me back.” Then I thought about my wife’s allergy to bee stings. “Oh. And why don’t you get the EpiPen out of the closet just in case.”
“It’s OK. I already have it.”
“Good.”
A half hour later, I called back to hear a bunch of yelling in the background. Ah. Everything back to normal.
Only later did I learn that Daughter WhiteCoat was standing over Junior WhiteCoat like a modern day version of Psycho ready to stab him in the aorta with the needle. [cue this music]
We’re hiring a babysitter for the next couple of months.
Smart young lady though. It’s good she called you. That can go rough very fast, as you know.
Scary! Glad things are okay. i don’t blame you for wanting babysitter back up, though!
Funny, good picture to go along with the mental visual image
I have empathy for your daughter. Decades ago I was babysitting my 2 younger brothers while my parents went out to dinner for their anniversary. Lil bro got stung by a bee (in the backyard
and eventually his face did swell up. I had to walk him over to the neighbors house and they took us to the our pediatricians office (after hours!) and he was given injections (presumably benadryl and epi). Scared the bejeebers outta me since I was about 11. This was the era before 911 and way before cell phones. IIRC, they had to call the resturant to tell my parents.
Agree #1…an intelligent person knows when they don’t know something and needs help. So your daughter took the right step in calling you rather than doing a Pulp Fiction re-enactment live.
Glad she called you…bet your son is, too!
I am glad your daughter is calm and thoughtful. We were left alone periodically and I as the oldest, was in charge. Of course, we used to fight or do stupid things…I remember feeling like I had “power” over the other kids. And I made poor judgments twice. I was about 10 or 11.
A babysitter is a good idea!
And maybe a Red Cross babysitting class would help.
I was playing camp nurse last summer for a bit, when one of the camp staff stepped on a bee hive and sustained 5 stings. I think she was more anxious than anything, but was a bit swollen in the lips and kept telling me things like, “My throat feels itchy,” “I feel like I can’t swallow my saliva,” and, “I think my lips are more swollen.” She was hyperventilating and telling me her mom is allergic to bee stings. I stood there watching her with a camper’s epipen in hand. I ended up giving her 50mg of PO benadryl and sending her to the ED for further when she still said she felt short of breath. ED did not further treat her per what she said.