| Big Canoe responders save the day — and my life |
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Without immediate attention, a bee sting would probably have been fatal
By Sarah Mansfield smansfield@bigcanoenews.com Saturday evening July 17, as I was being delivered by ambulance into Piedmont Mountainside Hospital’s emergency facility, the ambulance attendant told me that the paramedic personnel from Big Canoe had saved my life. My husband John, and I had been walking our dogs on the creek trail near Wilderness Parkway. It was a short walk, just to get Champ and Coach to their favorite swimming hole in Disharoon Creek a bit before the log cabin. After “the boys” had been for a refreshing swim, we turned to head back to the parking area. Suddenly, a yellow jacket stung me on the top of my right ear. It was painful, and I was walking briskly to get back to the car to get home where I could put some ice on it. I had never had any previous indication that I had an allergy to wasp or bee venom, so I simply took the sting in stride. As we were approaching the end of the trail John asked me how I felt. I said I was itching from head to foot. As we reached the parking lot I told him I felt I needed to sit down and prop my back up against a nearby tree. There was a man in a truck between me and our car. Also, there was a visitor to Big Canoe, Stephen Dupuis, who noticed me sitting there and asked if I was alright. Recognizing that I might be in trouble, John tried to make a cell phone call to Big Canoe Security, but the AT&T Blackberry call would not go through. Fortunately, the man in the truck, Cass Harrison, a BC Public Safety volunteer, knew what to do and was able to alert our Big Canoe emergency medical personnel. As John and Stephen attempted to get me into the car, I passed into total unconsciousness. They put me back on the ground, propped against the tree where I apparently stopped breathing for a short while (it must have felt like an hour to John and Stephen). Fortunately Big Canoe emergency medical personnel, Jody Pool, EMS on duty and Bobby Padgett arrived as my breathing was rapidly deteriorating. They were well prepared for what had to be done and immediately administered oxygen, started an IV, and injected me with an EpiPen (an auto-injector that administers epinephrine—adrenaline). I was in an advanced state of anaphylactic shock that included dizziness, loss of consciousness, labored breathing, swelling of the tongue and breathing tubes, blueness of the skin, and dangerously low blood pressure. Without immediate attention it would probably have been fatal. Soon after the adrenaline injection I woke up—just as the ambulance arrived from Med 4 in Pickens County to take me to the Piedmont Mountainside Hospital Emergency Room. It was as the ambulance personnel were taking me into the ER that they told me the responders at Big Canoe had most certainly saved my life. Immediately on admittance, the ER nurse instantly recognized that my situation was critical and alerted Dr. Atkins, the physician in charge. They were able to stabilize my critically low blood pressure and low blood/oxygen levels—more adrenaline, IVs, and monitors. Dr. Atkins kept me in the ER, under the excellent care of my nurse, Margaret, for about five hours of stabilization and observation until I was released at midnight. When I woke up late Sunday morning, I felt as though the incident had never occurred. But it had! I’ll never forget the caring and kindness of those who came so willingly to help me: the man in the blue pickup, Stephen Dupuis, the ambulance attendants and the excellent, well-trained, well equipped staff of Big Canoe Fire and Rescue—how can I ever thank you? And I hope my story can provoke a thought in all of us here in Big Canoe: We’re truly fortunate to have our beautiful surroundings to cherish and to enjoy, and even more fortunate to have caring, capable hands to assist us when things go terribly wrong! One more thing: I now have a new best friend which will be with me at all times: my own EpiPen injector kit, loaded with adrenaline, in case those pesky yellow jackets decide to try it again! |
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