One day my middle aged patient who loved to go crabbing and fishing came in with an alarming tale. He had fresh crab on the boat, which attracted yellow jackets, and he had been stung. Much to his surprise, he had a systemic reaction, his friend called for help, and he was airlifted to the nearest ER with anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction to the sting. As usual, if alive on arrival you’ll probably do fine: a shot of epinephrine, an IV with fluids and rapid acting corticosteroids, and you get to go home with the usual advice: go to your primary care doc, get a prescription for an epinephrine pen, buy some Benadryl.
Now, I didn’t make Eagle, to my permanent chagrin, but I did learn the buddy method for swimming and hiking. I concurred with the ER doc for my guy, but also charged him with this: An epi-pen only lasts about 30 minutes. If you’re alone, and the reaction persists, you need to be WITH someone to get help in case you faint or collapse and can’t get to help yourself. NEVER be out in the woods or water alone!
He took his epi-pen prescription and left. Some time later, he came back. ‘Doc, you saved my life!” I was stunned. “So you got stung again?!!” No, I was out on the boat crabbing with my buddy, and a sudden squall came up, the boat capsized, and we were hanging on to each other for dear life in the cold water of Puget Sound, somebody saw us and they came and fished us out of the water, and if you hadn’t insisted on the buddy method, I’d be dead today.”
I can’t make this stuff up. Reality is way more amazing than fiction.