My Wife The Health Nut

My missus goes to the gym. She's doesn't think that she's a health nut, more of a diet nut as she uses it with the intention of losing weight. Yesterday was a little interesting.

After her evening meal, which I refer to as tea but others call dinner, she had some macadamia nuts. A bit later she was off to the gym. When she came back less than an hour and a half later she looked terrible. She was gasping for air, had mucus coming up in great quantities, had a rash on her legs, her hands were bright red, her neck was really sore, she could hardly talk, some blood came out of her nose and there were white lumps on her throat. I gave her some children's Panadol as it contains an antihystamine which should have worked on the rash somewhat. Then I called Health Direct Australia, a government service available freecall 1800 022 222, where you can talk to a registered nurse who will provide a diagnosis and inform you if hospitalisation or further treatment is required. The nurse transferred me to the ambulance service and they sent a vehicle straight away.

Paramedics Amy and Asha arrived shortly afterwards, sirens blaring and lights flashing, and pulled up in our driveway. They got to work quickly administering oxygen and some medication through a nebuliser. The missus' heart rate was also monitored and the rash was examined. It was decided after a few minutes to take her to hospital. The Boy wasn't allowed to ride in the ambulance unfortunately.

I took The Boy to the hospital and we went a different route to the ambulance. After parking a few hundred metres from the hospital we walked the rest of the way and arrived just in time to greet the ambulance. They weren't in a hurry as it wasn't life threatening. She booked in through the emergency department and then I had to register her details.

After about 40 minutes of waiting a nurse came to the waiting room and called out my son's name. Unfortunately there was another guy in the room with the same name and it wasn't for him. We were called in a minute or two later. Miky had been examined by nurses and a doctor. She was hooked up to an instrument measuring all sorts of vitals. About an hour after arriving she was much better although the throat was still very sore but the rash had subsided. The emergency doctor on duty examined her and when he asked if she had eaten any nuts, to which she replied yes (macadamias), he pondered and said, "Macadamias? Mmm, yum." He was a funny bloke. His diagnosis was that it could have been a summative allergic reaction as nuts and treadmill running, coupled with the 37C we experienced today, wouldn't have resulted in the reaction separately but together they might have. In any case she didn't show any symptoms of anaphalaxis and didn't require a shot of adrenalin. The nurses had had a great time teasing her, gently, that she'd had a reaction to nuts and gossiped amongst themselves. She took this very well in fact.

Three hours after the drama began she was home. My wife the health nut. And for all the wrong reasons. She's going to have to get used to her new nickname.