Almost Fatal Wasp Bite

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Woodland Acres Farm

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Apr 27, 2005
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Location
WIsconsin
I was just reading WCR’s post about her heart attack experience. I am very glad that everything turned out well for her. I got to thinking about what happened with my husband last month and decided to share it with you as it may save someone’s life someday.

On July 6th my husband came into the house and said he had just been bit by a wasp. He was running his arm under water to make it feel better and just seemed to be put out that he had gotten bit by a wasp. He said that he was going to go get some wasp spray and get rid of them. I told him to go look in the barn because I thought we had some left in there. He went outside and came back in the house about 2 minutes later. He told me there wasn’t any in the barn and he was going to go to the hardware store to get some. But first he ran his arm under cold water one more time. While he was doing that he said his hand and arm started to tingle. I said maybe you should take some Benadryl and started to look for some. He then said he was feeling funny and his legs were starting to tingle and that maybe we should go to the Emergency Room. We went out the door right away and got in our vehicle. By the time I got to the end of our driveway, he was unconscious. We are exactly 1.5 miles from the hospital. I started to panic and started yelling at him and hitting him, telling him to stay with me. I am now driving 80mph, but it is not fast enough as you cannot seem to get there fast enough when something like this happens.

When I arrived at the ER he was not breathing. His airway was totally closed.They got him in and immediately called a Code Blue. The first thing they did I think was give him two Epi Pens (epinephrine). They were going to intubate him, but he started to breathe again. It took them quite a while before he was stable. He has heart issues so they really had to watch him because of all the epinephrine that he had. He stayed in the hospital that day and part of the next day as well. I went home and sprayed wasp nests for what seemed like hours.

The doctor told me that I had just gotten him there within seconds of being too late. Had I called 911 for the ambulance he would have died before they got to our house. Had he passed out before we got in the car, he would be dead. He told me afterwards that he almost got in the truck to drive to the hardware store to go get the wasp spray, had he done so he would be dead. I had almost left for the day to do some shopping, but for some reason stayed home. Had he been home alone he would be dead. NOW here is the important part: from the time the wasp bit him, to the time he passed out was about 10 minutes or less, it was 2-3 more minutes before they had him on the table in the ER. You have no time to wait.

I thank God everyday that things turned out as they did because it could have been much different.

I want people to know that just because you have been bitten before by a bee or a wasp with no reaction, this time may be different. My husband was bitten last year 3 times with no big reaction, only a little pain and minimal swelling. He was bitten the year before also. The doctor told us that you become sensitized to the bee /wasp venom. Also, some reactions show up externally such as swelling, but the worst ones take place on the inside of the body, such as what happened with my husband.

We really didn’t want to, but they asked us to do an interview for the newspaper, radio and TV - but as they said our story may help save a life sometime. My husband has to carry two Epi Pens with him at all times. We have them all over the place now, in our cars, house, at work, barn, etc. If he gets bit again, he has to use both Epi Pens and then get to an Emergency Room ASAP.

If you get bitten and you don’t feel quite right, get help ASAP, you may have but minutes to get the help you need.

Thanks for listening.

Jeanne
 
Oh my gosh, how scary! I'm so glad that you guys followed your hunches and got him to the ER asap. This is a good warning to always follow your gut instincts. It's better to be safe than sorry. Thanks for the reminder.
 
Thank God your husband is okay now and thank you for sharing this with us. My husband works outside a lot and will always remember your advice.
 
I am so glad to hear that your husband is ok. How Scary!! This hits particularly close to home as my husband is allergic to the wasp venom. He's had a couple of bad reactions and your post reminds me that I need to call and get him a RX for the epi pens. I'm going to have him read your post later so that he will maybe realize how serious this is. He too likes to make light of these things so hopefully your husband experience will open his eyes.

Thankyou for posting this and I am so relieved that your husband is ok.
 
My friend's husband now carries an epi pen for his allergies--the pharmacist told him that the worst place to keep a pen is in the glove compartment of the car--not sure that the car is a good place at all, just because if the interior heat in the summer?--besides, if you are outside and away from your vehicle (or house) and you are alone you may not have time to get to the car or the house to get that pen!
 
Wow, that was a close call!
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Glad to hear he is going to be fine. Thanks for sharing your story, you are right, by sharing you may very well save other lives!
 
I am so glad to hear your husband is ok now, that was close. We had a friend at work that would come in and fix our copy machines, he worked for another company and he was killed by a wasp sting. We were told by one of his co workers that he was outside doing something, several friends was at his house having a cook out and he walked into the kitchen and told them he had been stung. He was looking for the benedryl and thought he had some in his truck when he couldn't find it in his house. Walked to his truck and passed out on the way, he did not make it. Your husband is one lucky man!
 
I'm so glad to read your hubby is going to be OK.

My hubby is allergic to them also, he had a very similar reaction to a honey bee sting. I drove him to the hospital as soon as he said his tongue was beginning to swell. He has epi pens everywhere along with bottles of liquid benadryl.
 
OMG. Scary!
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Thank you so much for sharing that......... Thank God it all went well........
 
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OH MY GOSH! How scary!! And to think we live 33 miles from the nearest town! We'd be dead for sure if something like that ever happened! Thank God your husband lived to tell about it! Thanks for sharing!
 
Close call! Glad things went right for you and he survived it. My husband had a very similar experience years ago with what he thinks was a spider bite. Never saw it, but he was at work and was bitten on his hand.....within a short time airway was closing, etc, and he looked like the Michelin Man (and he was skinny in those days!). His dad was a hospital pharmacist, so when the dr had him sit in the waiting room, he went to his dad and got antihistimines. Knowing what we know now, he should of course have gone to the ER.

I will surely take your message to heart - I got stung by a yellow jacket just a few years ago and wound up in ER myself, day and a half later. Mine was not life-threatening but I was stung at the corner of my eye and the entire left side of my face just continued to swell. Kind of frightening.

Jan
 
Wow what a scare!!!

My brother, sister, mom and dad have bad reactions to stings. My brother had carried the kit with him as does my sister.

I however have never been stung and we definately have wasps around here.

I thought of being tested but have not yet. I guess I've heard they are not always accurate.

I think I'll get the kit just in case with having 4 immediate family members with known problems.

Where do you purpose those kits? Or are they prescribed?
 

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