These are not fun!

This past Saturday we set out to do some work on our deer lease. We met early and headed out with a tractor, two 4-wheelers, a spreader, and several other tools to get the job done. I?m going to be blogging about a lot of this in an upcoming series, so I won?t get into too much detail, but I did want to post this to share a portion of the story.

We had worked all day long.  My shirt was soaked, my eyes were burning from the sweat getting in them, swarms of gnats seemed to love my eyes and ears, and I was as hot as I could be. We were closing out our work for the day with cutting some shooting lanes near a small food plot we?re working on.  We were all spread out and were cutting lanes back towards a central point where we envisioned putting a ground blind. I was cutting with a machete and was slowly throwing the briar laced branches to the side.  I took a step towards a small pine and took a swing at the branch. I felt the small dirt hill beneath my boot (yes they were snake boots) kind of collapse. I didn?t think anything of the dirt packing down beneath my foot?it just seemed like a soft spot in the sand that we?ve all stepped on at some point or another. 

About a millisecond later, I realized that the seemingly ?soft? sand hill that had just collapsed beneath my foot wasn?t loosely packed for no reason. I had a sharp burning sensation on my left index finger. I looked down I saw a yellow jacket just digging in on my finger. I took a swipe at it and then started feeling a sharp burning pain on my right knee followed by a burning on my right cheek. I realized what was happening and started high-stepping it out of there.  I was yelling and moving faster than I have moved in a long time! I began taking my shirt off when I felt the burn coming from my elbow, but I still hadn?t gotten the yellow jacket out of my left index finger yet, but I ripped it out as fast as I could. I started swinging my shirt in circles over my head I was running toward the trucks.

I guess I should back up and say that I?m allergic to stings. I found this out years ago when a bee stung me. That was back in the early 90?s and we had to rush to the doctor because I started swelling up and was having trouble breathing.  Since that time I?ve been stung once here and there with nothing really coming from it.  I guess over time I outgrew it or maybe being bigger and older allowed me to handle it better?at least from one sting.  It became apparent this past Saturday that having 6 stings quickly brought back that very same allergic experience.  Mr. JE was working with us and he knew that I was allergic to being stung and quickly followed me up the hill.  Afterwards he told me that he saw the yellow jackets coming out of the ground and chasing me. I had stepped directly on the yellow jackets? hive.

We jumped in the truck and headed directly to CVS to get some Benadryl because this is what I typically take after I get stung.  It normally does the job.  As we rode to CVS I could feel the cold chills running through my body. While sitting in the CVS parking lot waiting on Mr. JE to return I felt a stinging on my left leg. I knew what was happening and shortly thereafter the people in the CVS parking lot saw me shimmying out of my pants into nothing but my undies. I?m sure it was funny from an outside perspective, but by this time I was burning from the stings and could feel my skin getting tight around all the stings on my body and there wasn?t too much funny about it on my end. 

When Mr. JE returned he noticed I had lost some clothing since he?d entered the store and I told him that I still had one yellow jacket in my pants. I drank as much Benadryl as the directions allowed and we left heading to his house.  About half-way through town my tongue started feeling fat and numb. A few blocks later I felt my throat getting tight. Shortly thereafter we arrived to Mr. JE?s house and we had decided to redirect to the Urgent Care in Monroe.  I knew I?d have to put my pants back on if I wanted to enter the Urgent Care with any dignity and so I put my pants back on. When I stuck my leg into the left pants leg of my britches a yellow jacket flew out in the truck! I opened the door and shooed it outside and it kept ramming the window trying to get back in. Yes it was still mad, but luckily I got it out without suffering another sting.

Mr. JE turned the caution lights on his truck and we made it to Monroe in record time. I walked into urgent care barefooted, but with my pants on and just hoped there wasn?t another yellow jacket hidden away in some cuff of the pants.  I was quickly admitted and got a shot within minutes. All in all I had about 6 stings and my finger was so fat I couldn?t bend it any more. The doctor wrote me a prescription for an Epi-pen and we headed back to Pageland. My stings have been stiff and swollen for several days after.

Needless to say my day turned out to have a different ending than I anticipated and the swelling and irritated skin is just now returning to normal (5 days later).  I never expected to encounter a whole yellow jacket hive and end up in an emergency so if you?re allergic to stings like I am let me be the guinea pig on this one and save you from embarrassment and a possible emergency! I?ll be sure to have my epi-pen with me on future outings in case I happen to find another hive unexpectedly.  Luckily for me I had help with close by and we wasted no time in getting to some help, but as we know this always isn?t the scenario.  There?s no denying that seeing me running and yelling like a wild man in the woods was a comical scene as well as me being in the CVS parking lot in my underwear and boots.  However, the situation could have not ended up funny if a couple variables in my situation had swung the other way.  Next time I?ll be prepared because snake boots don?t stop yellow jackets!

Regards,

Clint