Roy Exum: Saving A Life & More

  • Wednesday, October 26, 2016
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum

About 40 years ago I was at an afternoon football practice when one of those who was also watching from the fence was bitten by a bumble bee or yellow jacket or whatever it was and almost died from anaphylactic shock. Luckily an athletic trainer had an EpiPen, jammed it into the man’s thigh and it is believed to have saved the victim’s life. For years I kept an EpiPen on the top of the kitchen refrigerator as a result.

Mind you, I am not allergic to bee stings and none of my family are but the comfort of knowing we could act when seconds matter was a wonderful security blanket. Now we have a monster among us that’s far worse.

Heroin and opioid overdose are past the stage of being an epidemic in the United States. Our society – who we have become -- has reached the point that over 500 Americans try heroin for the first time every day (!) and hardly a day goes by that there isn’t a rash of overdoses that break out in some community because some evil dealer sold some really bad stuff, laced with fentanyl or another deadly combination.

Every emergency responder carries an antidote called Narcan (naloxone.) Sometimes it isn’t enough but what if I am at the corner of Main & Broad and some guy is overdosing on the street? I remember how helpless the crowd was the day of the bee sting. Can you imagine standing there praying the ambulance will please hurry versus having a treatment dose in your glove compartment?

So in the way I do unexplainable things, I went to Walgreen’s pharmacy yesterday and asked how I could buy some Narcan. So help me I don’t need the stuff, any more than I need heroin, but how much would it cost? In Tennessee right now it takes a prescription and about $135 to buy a nasal-spray device. I didn’t ask how many times it can be used; anyone who OD’s around me is getting the whole bottle. So that’s on my list of things to get. If I could save somebody’s life for $135 what a joy that would be.

An EpiPen today costs around $735. What we have there is an epic case of greed by a scurrilous drug manufacturer and there are now cost-saving coupons on line. There is a generic auto injector for the life-saving drug epinephrine coming out but it will also be prohibitive to buy if you don’t really need it. So the pharmacist told me I could buy a vial of epinephrine for $11.95 – it holds enough for three doses – and with a couple of disposable hypodermic syringes learn how to administer the drug pretty easily.

Tennessee has Good Samaritan laws in place where any lawsuit against a person trying to earnestly save another human being hardly stands a chance.

Here’s some other stuff I am thinking about:

* * *

The Urban Dictionary explains the word “precrestination” is what it is called “to thoroughly clean one's teeth before visiting the dentist for a teeth cleaning.” For example: “I ate a bag of Oreos and then committed precrestination before going to my dentist appointment.”

* * *

Oklahoma, ranked 16th in this week’s football poll, has always been one of my favorite teams but do you realize the Sooners defense gave up 821 yards of offense and 20 of 23 passing -- on 3rd and 4th down conversions alone -- against Texas Tech last Saturday and still won 66-59? That’s incredible!

* * *

In Winter Park, Fla., some high school kids just raised the bar on bullying. Roger Trindade, a 15-year-old exchange student from Brazil, was jumped on by classmates and using just hands, feet and fists, sent the kid to the hospital. Doctors took him off life support two days later and he died.

* * *

Say what you will about the ridiculous “evil clown” sightings popping up around the country but an official with the Halloween Express costume company says eight of every 10 masks sold are of an “evil clown” this week. Sales of clown masks are up 300 percent for Saturday’s parade of trick-or-treaters.

* * *

Dorothy Farrell, who has had front row seats for every Chicago Cubs game since 1984, says if the Cubs win the World Series “I’ll probably have Jägermeister!” I’m guessing that if the Cubs win the Series there will be quite a number of men who’ll treat the darling 90-year-old.

* * *

Ben Miles, the No. 3 high school fullback prospect in the nation at Baton Rouge Catholic, has just changed his commitment from LSU to Nebraska. Then again, that’s usually what happens when a school fires your dad (Les) as its head coach.

* * *

Since college football first got its legs everyone in the South knows this weekend’s Georgia-Florida football game in Jacksonville as “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.” City fathers say that sends the wrong message so they have all these T-shirts printed up that call the game “The River Classic.” Quickly, name the river that runs through Jacksonville. After this Saturday’s game it’s a safe bet the city fathers will have just as many T-shirts that say “The River Classic.” (It’s the St. John’s River. Catchy, huh?)

* * *

Here’s a new trend. Alabama commitment VanDarius Cowan has just been thrown off his high school team, the Palm Beach Gardens Gators, for poor behavior. Cowan tweeted, “no worries – he’s still 150 percent” with the Tide.

royexum@aol.com

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