August 5, 2009

• Okay, I give up!!!!!!

  It started like any other day.  I cleaned the house and had some breakfast.  Went with my husband to take the Durango to be fixed (the insurance co finally released it to the repair shop).  Then I told MK that I was going to start mowing the lawns.  The forecast is for nice weather until Friday so I thought I would take advantage of that and mow in the mornings and sew in the afternoons when it warms up.

  So I strolled out to the shop, pulled the mowers out and did some preflight maintenance.  Checked the oil, full.  Filled up all three fuel tanks, check.  Then I gave Doug a call at work to find out if the load of wood on the bucket of the backhoe was slated for the burning pit.  Once he gave me the go ahead I was going to dump it and light it.  I wanted to use the backhoe to pull the tractor tires that I had sunk into the side lawn once upon a time when the boys were very little.  They had spent many an hour climbing on them and pretending I don’t know what.  But now they sit unused and the weeds grow up in and around them and they are truly a pain to mow around.  So I was going to remove them and just leave the sandbox which needs to be weeded as well.

  I approached the backhoe adjusting the headphones on my MP3 player, minding my own business when a swarm of these vile creatures of darkness flew out of the door handle and attacked me without provocation.  (actually only one stung me but it sounds more exciting to say that they attacked)  Truly I wasn’t even within arms reach of the door yet and I hadn’t even touched the tractor yet.  The only thing I can think that might have provoked them is the buzzing of the headphones.

  

  Right above my left eye the little bugger chose to attack.  Of course, what is your first instinct when a stinging creature decides to sink it’s piercing, sucking mouth part into your flesh?  You slap at it.  And that is just what I did.  So not only did I get a bee sting in the head but I hit myself there as well.  (not very bright!!!!)

  Being allergic to yellow jacket stings I immediately ran to the house, went inside and invoked my main nurse.  “Mary-Kate, Benedryl and an ice-pack, quick!”  I said.  She immediately assumed a bee had stung me.  (we are such kindred spirits that we can read each other’s thoughts, to steal a phrase) actually I was clutching my head and chest at the same time since my breathing was getting somewhat tight.  She not only brought the Benedryl and ice-pack but an Epi-Pen as well.  There ends her nursing proclivities, she had to leave the room while I gave myself a shot in the thigh.  Doug was called and he rushed home to take me to the ER.  The rules are if you use the pen then you have to go to the ER or else you don’t get another pen.

  In the ER they triaged me and tagged me and took me back to a room as quickly as they could.  By then I was feeling more shaky, swollen, achy and sheepish than anything else.  Hooray for Epinephrine.  Of course having been there done that before, to coin a phrase, I knew that it could all go south in a short time and that was another reason that I was in the hospital.  The dr. examined me and wrote scripts for the usual steroid, stronger antihistamine, and a new epi-pen, gave me some of the same, and sent me on my shaky way.

  Then I proceeded to do a dumb thing.  I decided to go ahead and mow the lawn anyway.  Bad idea when you are full of histamines.  The reaction came back with a vengeance.  MK to the rescue!!!!  She called her dad at work and he came home, picked up my meds, drugged me again, put me to bed and went back to work. 

  Here I am now, a bit on the groggy side, sadder but wiser.  The moral of this story is stay away from disgruntled yellow jackets and don’t do anything strenuous afterward and marry a most loving man who is willing to take care of you in a crisis without complaining. 

  Epilogue:  My hero did battle with the bees and won.

  • 7:30 pm
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