My night with the Scorpion King

Okay, so it wasn't really the scorpion king, but here is my story:

After being woken up 3 different times by all 3 of my children during the night I am in peaceful slumber in my bed. 5:30 rolls around and I go to roll over only to have this really intense burning feeling in 2 spots of my arm. My first thought is that it's a charlie horse so I sit up and start rubbing it - that made the pain worse. I try to lay back down but the pain is to intense. I get up turn on the bathroom light and look around as best I could trying to find who knows what. I'm naturally blind and it's worse during the night so I got a flashlight. I look everywhere I possible could with out waking Steve and I see nothing. Meanwhile my arm has 2 tiny welts where the pain is at (one just above my elbow on the inside of my arm and the 2nd where the biceps meets the shoulder muscle). I know that this is not a charlie horse, but that something has either bit me or stung me. I go down stairs and pace the floor, it would be only a few more minutes before Steve wakes up, my mind is racing, was it a scorpion was it a black widow, was it a brown recluse.

6 am - I'm still pacing the floor, by now my tongue and lips are tingling. Steve is awake and I go tell him I think something bit/stung me. He didn't have any good ideas and who would after just waking up. I turned the bedroom light on and looked some more but still found nothing. By now I am worrying about the baby and thinking about how hard that would be to loose it at 16 weeks over something as dumb as a bite/sting.



6:15 I call the 800 number on the back of my insurance card to talk to a registered nurse. I lot of good that did. She kept telling me to call my pediatrician (meaning obstetrician) to find out if I could take Benadryl. I hang up with her and call the after hours of my OB. That nurse was more helpful and she told me to take some Benadryl but to watch for swelling in my tongue and throat and if I developed these side effects to go to the ER immediately - comforting.



By now it's 6:40am Steve has left for work, I don't have any Benadryl, the kids are still asleep so I decide to take a shower. The hot water on the stings made it feel better.



7 am the kids are awake and I'm doing my best to get Karsen ready for school, and the girls ready so we can go to the store when he leaves to get the Benadryl.



7:15 the pain is getting worse and I'm starting to feel lightheaded/dizzy. I call my neighbor that we carpool with and ask her for some Benadryl - she has some. This is the first time she saves me. I run to her house and get it and take it.



7:40 Karsen gets picked up and I am really not feeling well at all. I call my mom and ask her to come sit with me in case I pass out or something. She comes and stays with me for a few hours.

8:00 Now I'm super dizzy and I can't concentrate, I can't control my eyes either. I just laid on the couch for a few hours with my eyes closed.

9:00 Now my toes and part of my feet are tingling along with my nose, my lips, and part of my face.



10:00 I can finally control my eyes, and I'm not as dizzy, but now my fingers are tingling. Mom needed to leave, but put Kensi down for a nap first. I'm so glad she came over. I don't remember being that scared for me in a long time. I'm so grateful that she lives just a few miles away and could come. After she leaves I get on the computer to see if I could find anything on my symptoms. Sure enough it all lead to a scorpion sting. Every single one of my symptoms. Again, I'm really worried about the baby. I call my OB and leave a message for the nurse or the doctor and just wait for the call to be returned.



11:00 I try to fall asleep on the couch, but never fully can. Each time I'm almost asleep, my face goes numb and it feels like the skin is just melting off of it - the weirdest sensation ever. I call my neighbor for the 2nd time and ask if she can pick up the kids from school, because I'm still feeling a little dizzy and didn't think it would be wise to drive. She saves me again!



Noon Karsen gets home from school and I get the girls some lunch (he's already eaten at school). My arm still hurts/throbs with every heart beat, but the numbness in my feet is gone.



By 3 I'm feeling a lot better and am able to do my dishes and work on my primary program. And then I got the phone call from the nurse. I explained everything that had happened and she said sure enough that is a scorpion sting. But unfortunately there is nothing that can be done. But the baby is totally protected from the poison. Those were the best words I heard all day!!! I was so relieved. And then she said that I would probably have the pain for 24-48 hours along with the tingling/numbness. But again warned that if I had any swelling in my mouth or throat to go the ER. Mom also brought over a black light so that I could go on a scorpion hunt.



Bedtime - I tear every one's rooms apart go through beds and closets looking with the black light. I find nothing and am beginning to think I'm crazy. The kids are in bed and I gave Steve a haircut and came back up stairs to check on Karsen like I promised and as I get to the top of the stairs I look down and see that little thing staring me down. My heart started racing as I hopped over it and got Steve. We put it in a little peanut butter jar. What a relief to find it and know that it's not hiding somewhere anymore. But the big question on my mind is IS THERE MORE? This is the 2nd one we've had in our house with in the past month. I'm not sure where they are coming from. Part of me thinks its from the digging that the mortuary that butts up to our neighborhood is doing. Who knows. I'm off to call our bug guy in hopes he can do something about it. Here are some pictures of the little guy and my sting sites on my arm. Today I feel much better, no more tingling, no more pain - just itching.







The pictures of my arm aren't that great but you can kind of see the red.