At the age of 31 I had never been in ambulance as a patient untill yesterday and I would be content if it never happened again. Here's the story...yesterday morning while getting ready for work my hands and feet started to itch and burn (great an allergic reaction i figured) so i take some benadryl and keep getting ready for work when before i know it my hands are swelling my eyes are swollen and lips are huge (and not sexy big but scary big) and then within 5 minutes my throat started to swell shut and i couldn't breathe (in total this took maybe 20 minutes). Well if you haven't guessed it wasn't just an allergic reaction i was in full blown anaphalactic shock. Now here's the kicker i'm a pretty stubron chic sometimes and as i was laying on the couch in tears cuz i couldn't breathe i figured i'll just call my mom and have her take me to the doc (even though she lives an hour away) since i couldn't drive due to my eyes being swollen shut and my breathe kept getting worse...i manage to swollow my pride and call 911 (by this time i was terrified). The thing is I work in a small hospital and everyone knows everyone so when the Paramedics got there that i see on a daily basis saw i was the patient they were a little shocked. Come to find out while in the unit i was called in pretty much as a code blue so when i made it to the ER everyone was there (docs, nurses, lab, xray, respiratory) you name it they were there and thank God they were. After being pumped full of drugs and breathing treatments my chest wasn't hurting as bad and the swelling started to go down i was admited into the ICU and later onto the floor for observation and more meds. It wasn't till i was talking to everyone today how close i was to not making it...if i had waited for my mom to come up she would have more than likely found me dead on the couch. I am so greatful to everyone at the hospital for being so in the game and everything running smothly and to my paramedics i think i owe them my life for they gave me back mine. I think i'm still trying to wrap my brain around it all but as of now i'm at home and just on alot of medication and they still aren't for certain what caused the reaction.
