Wasp Attack

Wasp Attack

The other day I opened our dumpster so hubby could put the trash in. It was a routine thing, done many times.  But it was the first time I had a wasp attack come around me.  I remember opening the left side of the dumpster with my left hand and then there were wasps swarming around every where. I took my right hand to try to swat them to keep the wasps away from my face as I was running to the back  of the truck.  One stung the top of my right foot just below the toe.  WOW, did that instantly burn and the pain was intense.   Hubby dumped the trash as I got in the truck.  I thought I got stung only on my foot but within a few minutes the back of my right hand hurt also. On the way home, hubby directed the air conditioning in the truck to my foot and the cold made it feel a bit better. Still not realizing my hand hurt, we got home and it was then that my hand started itching and burning.

I tried all kinds of anti-itch creams and put a paste of baking soda and water on my toe but nothing helped with the pain and burning.  I survived the afternoon and when it was time to retreat to my pillow I checked my toe and saw what looked like a white pimple or core in the center of the wasp sting.  I played doctor and poked a hole in it and yellow pus came out.  More antibiotic cream and I was hoping for a good night’s sleep.   A few hours later I was up scratching my skin off the back of my hand because it itched so bad.  Finally the next afternoon I told hubby I give up and would stop at drug store to see what might work for my swollen hand that was by now super hot and hard to bend my fingers. He drove past the drug store and we ended up at Doctor’s Care.

The doctor came in and after checking my hand, he said I probably got stung at least three times but because it was so swollen we couldn’t see the stings.  The top picture shows my left hand that is fine with all the veins showing but the other is my right hand when it just started to swell. After I took that picture, it swelled up even more so that I had trouble bending my fingers.  Seems like I had an allergic reaction which I never knew I was allergic to anything plus an infection from the stings.  When I told him about popping my toe sting, he said that was good because the yellow pus was an infection setting in.  After looking at the back of my hand and not finding where exactly the stings were, he assumed my hand was infected also because it was hot to touch and so swollen.   The nurse came in and gave me a steroid shot in the butt, talk about hurt and burning, OMG, the shot made me forget about the pain in the hand it was so bad!  But I survived and we stopped to get two prescriptions, one was a steroid pack to take the next 6 days plus horse pill antibiotics that I take for 10 days.  I also got some benadryl to help with the itching.  I actually decided I will live, it’s been about 3 hours since I had the shot and I can already feel a big difference in the swollen hand and the itching has started to subside plus I can bend my fingers without my hand feeling like it will pop.

I know what will make it feel a lot better and that’s an ice cream sundae!    Ice cream seems to cure just about anything!   I’m thinking when my ice cream is  finished, I will probably fall asleep since I can feel the benadryl working already!

Hubby has wasp spray already to go to work sohecan spray for any wasp nests that may be lurking around the building.  One thing he does is spray in the early morning or evening when the sun is not out and hopefully the wasps will be out buzzing around or asleep in the nest.