08/23/2025
Good morning! 🌞
Join me for a cup of coffee ☕️, and an “of course it happened to me” story time. 😂
This journey begins on Thursday morning - my day off from the 9 - 5. I woke up with grand plans that morning. I had three things in mind to forage and start preparing - new things for the shop.
I started with pampas grass - if you aren’t familiar with it, it’s on the safe list and my crabs have had it in the past. They love it actually. ❤️
It’s everywhere around my home, chemical & pesticide free, and I was excited, yet unprepared. 🤣
What I didn’t know, because it’s NEVER happened before, was that as soft and fluffy as pampas grass looks & even feels, it can cut you like little baby invisible razor blades.
So invisible that when my thumb started itching about an hour later, I thought it was a bug bite. But no bites, no stings, no marks. 🤷🏻♀️
By that evening, my left thumb was starting to swell and there was slight pain in my thumb. By the time I went to bed that night, the pain was in my thumb and radiating to my pinky finger. 🤦🏻♀️
Yesterday morning I woke up with total hand pain that was moving up my arm, and severe swelling in my thumb especially. I was unaware of how many things you need two thumbs for. 🤣
I had to work - choices in my youth ended up with me marrying for love and not money, so I’m forever doomed to a 9-5 😂
One of my customers is a Dr. and I waited painfully for him to arrive yesterday morning so I could seek medical advice 😂 We have a barter system - I buy him what he was going to buy himself, and he gives me his advice and recommendations. He’s always spot on, by the way. Very cool guy.
So he tells me the first round of over-the-counter meds I need to take. He says if that doesn’t work in an hour, to go home and take a Benedryl.
An hour goes by and the meds didn’t work. I went home and took a Benedryl - they knock me out - and I slept for about four hours. Well, I tried to sleep. Everytime my hand/arm moved I woke up screaming in pain and then tried to go back to sleep.
The Dr said it appeared to be an allergic reaction and there was no point going to the ER, UNLESS the pain traveled to my shoulder.
By 8pm last night the pain was definitely at my shoulder and was the worst it had been since it started.
So off I go to the ER.
The X-ray showed no foreign objects in my hand or any crazy break I didn’t know about.
Just an allergic reaction. The pampas grass almost took me out 😂
After 5 hours at the ER, a steroid, and antibiotic, a pain pill and a shot of pain meds/anti-inflammatory, I was sent home with a script of pain meds and antibiotics.
I am happy to announce that this morning I feel much much better. Pain still in my thumb but bearable. Still swollen but not as bad.
Looks like I’ll recover just fine and be able to do some dumb stuff again in the future 🤣
I am going to need someone to make some “Foraging sent me to the ER” shirts, so I can buy one 😂🤣😂
Thank you for the prayers, concerns and messages. ❤️
Lesson learned - next time gloves.
Also - every single doctor or nurse I spoke with had to google
Pampas grass. I bet they talked about me all night. Crazy crab lady that almost died foraging. 🤣🤣🤣
