The Happy 3rd Blogoversary of "Am I beginning to develop my grandfather's allergy to bees?"

Happy 3rd blogoversary to this little chunk of the internet.  It is on this day that I sit with a box of children's Benadryl rapidmelts next to me (store brand, thankyouverymuch) to see if I'm going to have anymore reaction to this yellow jacket sting I got yesterday.

You see, yesterday was pretty simple.  We went to my sister's house to enjoy a nice fall day, go to the pumpkin patch and hang out as a family and carve pumpkins.  As the kids were carving pumpkins, I was sitting on a little chair.  I had just hauled my aircast boot into a mini pile o' dog poo, and my sister was going to tend to the removal of said substance.  In the meantime, my boot was all undone and I was sitting watching and giving carving advice. 

Then, I felt something on my leg.  I gave my pant leg a quick brush and felt pain.  Hmmm.  That can't be right.  I'm thinking something is in there.  I decided to give the pant leg a big roll up, figuring that if I pushed it up, I would make matters worse.  My niece gasped when she saw what was going on. 

There was a yellow jacket trying to fly away, but it was completely attached to my leg by the stinger.  It flapped and flapped and I thought, "Crap.  What do I do?"  The kids were sitting there.  I didn't want them stung, so I gave it a quick swipe with my hand, then grabbed a hold of the aircast boot along the sides and stomped it to death with my healing broken foot. 

Mark, my sister's partner, looked and dashed for mud.  He tried pack it on.  Where I thought the sting was wasn't where it was actually at.  Then, we started packing the mud where it needed to go, but it wouldn't stick.  LeAnne and Mark went to the house hunting for a straw to "suck the poison out," but they could only find a crazy straw.  :)  They came out with baking soda paste, which worked for a few minutes, until Lily, the Pond House Dog, decided to be all loving and distressed at my pain that she took my baking soda paste along with her on her backside. 

My leg started getting splotchy and the darned sting hurt worse than I remember a sting hurting ever.  About 45 minutes after the sting, K- and I started off for home. 

Then my mouth started feeling funny. 

My throat wasn't swelling.  My tongue wasn't swelling, the area below my lower lip was swelling.   I decided to stop by the drug store to get Benadryl.  I hate the stuff, as it makes me feel like an ogreous zombie, but it was a must.  I couldn't tell if I should stop by the fire station or take a run to the ER.  It kind of freaked me out.  I took the Benadryl in the parking lot and hoofed it to the neighbors when we got home.  (The neighbor's partner is a nurse.)  While he wasn't home, Mr. D- was and told me he could see swelling in my lower face.  He made me call him to verify that Hubs arrived home. 

Eeek.

The Benadryl kicked in and in an hour and a half, the fuzzy, swelling feeling went away. 

Then, it came back.  I took another Benadryl, as I could have technically taken 4, but decided that 2 initially were good.  Very soon thereafter, it made me feel so tired.  I made Hubs promise that he would wake me up a few times to see if I needed to take more.  Thankfully, I didn't. 

Today, my leg still hurts.  (I'm not normally a complainer about such dumb things.)  It also itches and there is an area of redness.  It isn't swollen or hot, so that is good.  Still, I have a family history. 

My paternal grandfather developed an allergy to bee stings in his 40's.  Sometime in his late 60's was when he passed away.  He was attacked by a nest full of bees, he was diabetic, admitted to the hospital and the stubborn mule he was, he signed himself out.  He wasn't there long enough for the time needed to heal and died as a result.  I also have a maternal 1st cousin with an allergy to bee stings.  Her allergy developed in her teens.  I believe that there is enough there to catch Dr. W- on Friday and make it a double-it-up appointment for the foot.  Hubs thinks that the bee unloaded everything he had on me, but certainly understands my concerns, particularly given family history. 

So the 3rd blogoversary?  That one must be the Benadryl anniversary. 

If I haven't said it enough, thanks to all of you for stopping in and reading the drivel that I put out.  It's nice to have you here.

:)

Have a great day!