The inflating lady

Some four years ago, as a novice medical registrar, I was awoken at 3 00 am by a panic stricken senior house officer who told me that an elderly woman had been admitted to the accident and emergency department in anaphylactic shock, presumably from a dressing on a trivial back injury. The patient had had adrenaline, steroids, antihistamine, and nebulisers but remained ill. Of particular worry was her worsening facial and neck oedema, which I was told was endangering her airway. …