Attack of the Killer Bee

The pain was quick and sharp, followed by a burning sensation. I frantically swatted at my face and that was when I realized I had just been stung by a bee. Not being too concerned I got a cold cloth, checked in the mirror to make sure the stinger was out and took some benedryl.

Looking in the mirror at my swelling face I told myself I was a baby and a whiner and decided to go for a short walk. About half way across the field I got tired and shaky. I sat down and told myself I was getting old and headed back to camp.

During the course of the day I was tired, shaky and did not feel real good, but I was dedicated to my plan of relaxing and tried to go on with a normal day. At dusk as the mosquitoes began to get vicious I decided to take my book and the lantern in the tent and read myself to sleep. About midnight I woke up sick, sick, sick. Over the next 6 hours I shivered and shook as my body rid itself of anything I had ingested from the last month or so.

In the early morning light I finally fell asleep for a couple hours. I woke up feverish and feeling kind of miserable. Over the next few hours I slowly packed up my camp. It was slow because I would pack a few things and then lay down, pack a few more things and lay down. But finally everything was packed and I drove home and crawled into bed.

By Monday I knew I needed to see the doctor. I knew because my nagging mother insisted on it not because I was smart enough to figure it out. But I was not really surprised to find out I was having a systemic allergic reaction to the bee sting from the doctor. I was surprised though to find out I also had a raging infection at the site of the bee sting.

So here I am on a couple of days bed rest and a pile of medications to treat both the allergic reaction and the infection. I have to admit that it feels good to lay low this afternoon.

So I guess the question is what did I learn from this? I would say that I learned my mother is always right, but I certainly would not want to give her that kind of ammunition. So I guess I will be looking for other life lessons in the experience.

Got any insight for me?

Just Connie