Never a dull moment….

What a night.  Camden was up for the first time in a long time crying.  As he finally fell asleep, Josh was complaining of his head hurting so bad he couldn’t move, let alone sleep.  He wanted to take something.  I knew it must be bad then.  He cannot take most pain relievers because he’s allergic to them.  He insisted on taking something so I told him to take plain old aspirin if he had to take something.  He popped two aspirin and two Benadryl.  This was at 1:00 a.m.  At 4:00 a.m., Josh woke me up to tell me he was having  a reaction to the aspirin.  His throat was swelling shut, he couldn’t swallow and he had extreme pain in his chest.  I said, “We need to take you in.”  I figured he’d argue this, but he started to get dressed and I knew it must be bad.

I called Aunt M to come over but no answer.  I called my parents, no answer.  Hmmmm….people aren’t usually expecting phone calls at 4 a.m.  Finally we got a hold of Aunt M. to come over and stay with the boys.  Josh’s face was swelling up, his voice was changing and the chest pain was still there, where he was almost doubled over in pain. 

Aunt M. came over and we apologized for having to drag her out of bed so early, and then we headed for urgent care.  Unfortunately, the roads were covered in snow so our average speed was 40 mph.  When we arrived at  urgent care, we discovered they are not a 24-hour urgent care and they were closed.  It was about 4:30 a.m. and Josh suggested we go to Wal-Mart and get some liquid Benadryl.  He couldn’t swallow a pill, but he was certain he could get some liquid down his throat.  I hesitated but eventually agreed.  We ran in and got some liquid Benadryl and then started driving towards Waukesha to the ER.  Josh was telling me that he thought it wasn’t going to get any worse, but I said I was not driving home until the chest pain was gone and he could swallow.  I mean, we still had about 20 minutes until the hospital. 

When we were about 10 minutes from the hospital, Josh informed me that he was feeling relief and he thought the Benadryl was working.  He was able to swallow better and not bent over with the chest pain.  We also realized, after checking out our insurance card, that the copay for the ER was $200!!!!  Yikes, that’s steep!  I hate to say that we chose not to go to the ER because of that, but it did affect our decision heavily.

Josh is still recovering.  He is frequently having outbreaks of hives and itchiness, along with neck pain.It will take a while to get this out of his system.   He is swollen on the back of his lower neck.  I think he tensed up his muscles when he had the chest pain and pulled or aggravated something.  Whatever it is, it’s causing him a lot of pain.  I have suggested the chiropractor many times.

I also think he needs to go to his doctor and tell her what has happened (and that it’s not the first time).  Each time gets worse.  I think he needs to carry an EpiPen around or have one at the house at least, but what do I know, I’m not a doctor.