Friday, April 4, 2014

The bee sting

We were six mile in to our days hike with six more to go to our next camp site. We were about ten miles from the road where we had hiked in yesterday- and well out of cellphone service. I was caught up in a riddle that was successfully distracting the three kids behind me from the aching in their legs. My mind was 1/3 on the pain in my knees, 1/3 on the riddle, and 1/3 on the fact that our water bottles were near empty and we'd estimated on the map we should've passed a fill-up point a mile back- but we hadn't. All of a sudden, snapping me out of my thoughts, Johnny called to me, "Izzy, Rob just got stung by a bee, you better come back here." I should probably mention that earlier that day I had been stung by a bee and Rob had mentioned he thought he was allergic. I relayed this to my co-leader John and we'd decided that since it wasn't on his me form it probably wasn't as big a deal as Rob said it was but that we should probably remain aware of it. We are not allowed to carry or administer epi-pens on our trips unless a participant comes prescribed with one. Picturing the worst, I dropped by backpack and ran back to Rob. He was sitting on a boulder looking dazed. "Hey bud, you okay?" I asked, remaining calm. "My legs are tingly and I think my tongue might feel funny," he said not making eye contact. I glance back at John. "Okay, don't worry you're going to feel better once the stinging goes away, let's see here..." As I opened the med kit I was already calculating how many Benadryl to give to a kid Robs size. I tried not to think about how, 10 miles out, if someone were to go into anaphylactic shock, we would be hard-pressed to do much about it.

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