Moments Worth Mentioning

The last 72 hours have been… interesting. Let me explain.

I was at work on Saturday serving my happy golfers their beer when I got stung by (I assume) a bee and/or wasp and/or hornet. I am not allergic to bee stings so I continued on with my day. Life went on…

I woke up Sunday morning to find that the bee sting on my wrist has become a red “bump” that is now slowly creeping up my forearm. I was surprised by the reaction, but not overly concerned. I called my dad… the doctor. He, on the other hand, was slightly more uncomfortable with my symptoms. He insisted I have it looked at. Well, not many doctors or Urgent care centers are open at 9am on Sunday mornings. So off to the ER I go… (trip number one.)

I want to pause here and explain that I am NOT one who casually walks into an ER when I have a runny nose. Actually, come to think of it, I have NEVER walked into an ER. I don’t even have a family doctor. I don’t get sick. When I do… I call dad.

Continuing…

The ER treated me like I would have expected. They gave me some Benadryl and a prescription for some antibiotics and sent me on my way, snickering as I left I’m sure. I was in and out in less than an hour. I actually went on to work. My golfers needed their beer…

Sunday night I was miserable, and Monday morning I woke up to my entire left forearm red, ridiculously swollen, and quite painful. This was not good. No doctor dad needed, I knew I needed to see a doctor ASAP. I went into work early with the intention of letting the doctor at my plant take a look. She, of course, wasn’t there. I was on to plan B. I managed to find an urgent care doctor that could see me. He took one look at me and went a little crazy with the prescription pad. Five prescriptions, two injections, and a couple of samples later I was on my way back to work.

Monday evening rolls around and my arm continues to get worse. At this point I am getting scared and very frustrated. I have seen two doctors, paid for multiple prescriptions and still have a swollen arm that is getting worse by the hour. On the verge of tears, I call my dad. No explanation needed… He wants me in the ER immediately. So, I leave work early, and off to the ER I go… (trip number 2).

Needless to say, the doctors paid a little more attention to me this time around. In a matter of a few hours I was on a stretcher with IV antibiotics, and pain meds pumping through my arm. I was in the ER until approximately 11pm. At that time a nice doctor approached me to explain that I was going to be admitted into the hospital. My blood work had come back, and he was convinced I was fighting a Staph infection. Are you kidding me?!

At this point my cell phone is dead. I can’t make long distance phone calls, and I wouldn’t know the phone numbers if I could. Luckily I was able to conserve enough battery to send out a few text messages to spread the news and inform my family of what was going on. Ah, the wonders of modern technology.

Meanwhile, I spent the next 20ish hours in bed hooked up to multiple IV’s. I had slews of doctors and residents come in to ask me the same 20 questions over and over. At one point I swore they were taping an episode of Greys Anatomy. I was the patient laying helpless as 8 doctors circle around my bed to discuss my symptoms.

Long story… (somewhat) short, I am now back at home. After the best shower of my life, I am feeling so much better! My arm has returned to its normal size and color. I have antibiotics to take for the next 10 days and a followup appointment scheduled. I think I’m gonna make it.

So… a simple lesson about Staph infections:
Supposedly, we all have the staph bug on our skin all the time. We coexist just fine.. normally. My bee sting provided an entry point, and that’s all it took. The infection spread through my lymph ducts in my arm, and within 24 hours it had made its way from my wrist up to my elbow. It had to potential to be much more serious had I not gotten the appropriate antibiotics when I did.

Those Michigan killer bees will get ya every time…

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