Ouch! (insert expletive)

The Epi-pen is not my friend.

For those of you unfamiliar with what an Epi-pen is allow me to indulge you.

This pen-like object is actually a life saver, it is filled with adrenaline and used when a person has anaphalaxis(a severe allergic reaction). To use it you follow the simple instructions and basically jab the pen into the thigh, and it delivers the adrenaline to help reverse the effects of the allergic reaction and prevent death.

It works very quickly and many people carry these who have known allergies such as people allergic to bee stings, peanuts etc.

We have a couple in our house for when Sophie has home IV antibiotics in case she were to have a reaction to the drugs. As they are injected directly into her vein, if she were to react it would be quite quick and be an urgent situation.

Before we set off up to the hospital to get Sophie's port accessed to start this round of IVs, I was having a clear out of her IV box. I noticed that the Epi-pen we had was out of date. Being the conscientious nurse I am, I decided that it wouldn't suffice just putting it into our sharps box.

Oh no, what if someone was crazy enough to reach in there and pull it out and inject themselves?

So I told Ian I was going to discard the adrenaline and then I wouldn't need to worry about someone hurting themselves with it.

Easier said than done let me tell you.

For reasons unknown the pen wouldn't expel it's contents and me being the stubborn creature I am, began to fiddle with it until BAM, the pen deployed itself sounding like a gun going off, followed by a very loud squeal.



Oh yes, that is a puncture mark in my thumb..






And again, you'd be right if you thought that was a puncture mark in my nail..







Not the greatest picture but you should be able to make out where the needle entered the back of my thumb and came out through my nail on the other side..







The needle appeared to hit the bone in my thumb which made it bend allowing it to come out through my nail at the front.





Good times!! I can tell you it really hurt but I have done nothing but laugh about it. On a serious note, I am lucky in two ways.

1) Due to the needle going straight through my thumb, most of the drug didn't enter my system. If it had I risked losing full circulation in my thumb and would've had to go straight to hospital for more injections to reduce the effects of the adrenaline.

2) The pen was out of date so the drug was in a weakened form so any in my system wouldn't have had too much effect.

The doctor who did look at it for me tried not to laugh too much as he knew me and knew I was a nurse and really should know better.

The moral of this story is, do not fiddle with objects that appear to be stuck! :D

Sophie's IVs have started so officially day 1 of 14. So far so good and I will fill you all in soon.

Thank you for all the well wishes and support, it is appreciated. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask. I will be answering those that have already been asked this week.

Take care and feel free to have a good giggle about my misadventure, we all have!!