Last night Brooklyn got stung by a scorpion. It was so sad. It was on the floor in the hallway upstairs (and I don't know how it got there) and she thought it was one of her brothers' plastic toys and picked it up. At first when I heard her screaming I just thought she was being dramatic and trying to get attention, until it turned into "hurt" wailing. I told John to come deal with the scorpion (who had been flung back to the floor) while I took care of Brooklyn. There isn't really anything that you can do for the pain, but I put a wet compress on it and put her hand above her heart like John told me. He called Poison Control, and they said the same thing and said they would call back every hour for the next 3 hours to check for warning symptoms like drooling, rapid eye movement, or difficulty swallowing.
John gave her a chocolate klondike bar, and she said it didn't make her finger feel better, but it did make her feel better. I gave her some children's pain reliever, and then she got to stay up with me for a few hours watching tv and visiting so I could keep an eye on her. The pain wasn't just in her finger, it affected her whole hand and went up her arm all the way to her armpit. Apparently that is normal, but it was sad that I couldn't do anything that would make the pain go away, other than try and distract her. Around 10:30, once I felt sure she was going to be ok, I went ahead and let her go to bed and told her she could come and get in bed with me in the morning.
Today she has been doing better. She said that her finger still hurts, but it's not hurting her entire arm like it was last night. She was still able to play outside this morning, until she fell, off her scooter and scraped her leg. Poor girl. Now she is just hanging out inside, so that maybe she can make it through the rest of the day without hurting herself again.
