OUCH!!!

I was doing my regular weekend chores yesterday - dusting, vacuuming, sweeping, scrubbing - and I got stung by a wasp. No, it wasn't in the house. I'd taken the rugs from in front of the kitchen sink and in the laundry room out to the deck where I could shake 'em and get the dirt and hair off of them.

I threw the rugs over the railing so I could grab one and that's all it took - I literally stirred up a hornet's nest. Okay, so it was a wasp's nest, or hive, or whatever they live in, but you know what I mean.

I didn't know what had happened at first. I was reaching for the top rug so I could do my thing, and all of a sudden my left pointer finger hurt so so so bad. I ran inside where the McHusband was snoozing on the couch after a hard morning of trimming bushes in the extreme heat. I got the door closed behind me and while saying, "Something stung me!" I was looking outside to see what it was. That's when I saw some not-too-happy wasps flying around near my rugs.

The McHusband got me an ice cube wrapped in a paper towel for my finger then he went outside to kill the wasps and get rid of their nest...hive...whatever.

My finger and hand hurt really really bad for about five minutes. My finger swelled immediately and it felt really tight, but after about half an hour, the pain was gone. The evidence of the sting was still there though. (Please excuse the sorry state of my fingernails.)


I had the McHusband take a couple photos of my hands side by side so you can see the difference in my pointer fingers. That'd also be my index fingers, right?


And a close-up of my index fingers. Don't stare too long, they really start to look inhuman.


Here's a fun fact for you: both my mom and the McMom are allergic to bee stings, ant bites, even mosquitoes get quite the reaction out of their skin. Anyway, not only was I in a lot of pain the first five minutes after my sting, but I was wondering: Is this the one? Is this the sting that sends me to the hospital and turns me into an Epi-pin carrying person who runs inside upon first sight of a bee?

Luckily, I'm not a member of that club. Yet.

See, I actually had to call 911 for my mom once when I was about 10 because she reached into a bale of pinestraw and about 20 fire ants bit her up and down her left arm. You know, the one closest to her heart. Which meant the venom could kill her that much faster. So what does she do? What any mom of three who's allergic and just got bit would do. She ran inside, told me to call her a ride, and jumped in the shower.

Yes, she did. You can ask her. It's very important to be clean when you arrive at the hospital and you can't breathe cuz your throat's swollen shut and your skin looks like one big hive.

Now, the McHusband and I have also taken his mom to the hospital. This was the summer after high school and before college so...1997. She'd been outside, we were inside playing a game (really, we were), and she came running in cuz she'd been stung by a bee and she needed to go to the hospital. So we rushed her to the hospital where she was treated and was fine.

Now, that's not the only time she's been to the hospital because of a sting or a bite. When we were in Texas a few years ago, we'd enjoyed a night on the patio with margaritas. At some point we think a spider bit her. She didn't react too badly until later and since the McHusband and I had already done our hospital duty 10 years prior, Kevin, Jenny, and the McDad got the pleasure of taking her - at two in the morning.

So you can see why I was a little worried about this sting being "the one" that sent me over the edge. Lucky for me, I knew just what to do if it had been.

Take a shower, of course.