I am officially a true Arizonan! Yesterday, I was lucky recipient of not one, not two, but THREE scorpion stings. Lets set the scene...
I woke up at 4:00 a.m. to both of my elbows burning. I thought that I had a bite of some kind but scorpion sting definitely wasn't the first thing that came to mind. I wiped it down with some rubbing alcohol and that didn't help. There was no bump or redness. I went back to bed and used my iPhone light to check around. I laid down but quickly realized I needed something more. I got up, took a shower, and scrubbed both arms down. Still stinging, I decided to hop back in bed and hoped for at least another 45 minutes of sleep until I had to get ready for work.
The alarm rang at 6:03 a.m. and I crawled out of bed and walked in the bathroom. Jake was getting ready and was talking to me. While he was talking, I felt something pinch the inside of my leg and the next thing I know I'm flinging a scorpion across the bathroom. I was completely frozen for at least 10 seconds, Jake forced me to get my composure enough to go grab a shoe, and stepped on that jerk. I heard a crunch but he was still moving so I gave it another stomp. Never thought killing a scorpion would be so exhilarating. My burning elbows finally made sense.
After sting number three, I was hurting. I went downstairs, Jake got me some ice, and I called poison control. "Luckily," Jake was stung a couple years ago so he knew the routine. He packed me with some ice, I talked to poison control, and he left for work. Holy cow do those things BURN! Poison control harassed me all day and told me my symptoms weren't bad for being stung three times. Guess they didn't have arms that felt like they were on fire!
Today, my whole left arm is killing me and partially numb. Considering what my symptoms could've been according to poison control, I think I got pretty darn lucky. When Jake was stung, his entire arm went numb for a few days.
Needless to say, we will be scorpion proofing our house this weekend and investing in a black light. We have our work cut out for us!
M
