I just returned from a full Labor Day weekend at my parents’ lake house. I should be feeling pretty relaxed — and I am — after spending the last few days enjoying the warm weather, boat rides, and an extra couple pair of hands helping keep the girls occupied.
But something happened on Friday that hasn’t happened in over a decade: I got stung by a yellow jacket. Margot was taking a nap, and I sat on a lounge chair out on the deck ready to relax with Crazy Rich Asians. I didn’t even see the little jerk; I only felt the sting on my inner arm, and quickly swatted it away from me before it landed on the deck. Its stinger was still stuck in my arm as I stomped on him with my sandal.
I quickly went inside to find something to scrape the stinger off of my arm; I remembered learning as a kid that you should use something blunt like a credit card to scrape it out instead of using tweezers. I also remembered that time is of the essence to make sure the stinger doesn’t stay in too long, so I grabbed a magazine and used one of the cardboard inserts to scrape out the stinger.
It stung, of course, for a couple of hours. Then the area started to get swollen and red. I put ice on it to help with the pain and swelling, but ultimately this was just the beginning. I posted updates on my Instastories throughout the day (and kept making this face obviously).
While the pain of the sting subsided by the end of the day Friday, the area on my arm seemed to be getting redder, itchier, and warmer. I had a hard time sleeping that night.
Saturday morning, the area was still red and seemed to be getting worse as the day went on.
It was while I was posting updates about this plight that a family friend replied to a video on Instagram to say that I should consider getting checked out at the doctor. Her daughter often gets a reaction like this from mosquito bites, and has needed to go on antibiotics. I spent the rest of Saturday Googling about Cellulitis, a bacterial infection.
In all of the times I’ve been stung on my life, including once when I was a kid and got stung IN THE MOUTH at the cider mill when I was with my brother and grandma, I’ve never had a reaction like this. The last time I got stung was while I was a camp counselor at Cranbrook years ago. This was a brand new experience. Fortunately, I’ve never had an anaphylactic reaction to stings.
Here is how my arm looked Saturday night:
On Sunday morning, when my arm was looking and feeling worse even after I took some Benadryl before bed, I drove myself over to a nearby urgent care right when they opened. Within minutes, the PA prescribed a steroid and antibiotic for the infection. I also had to get a steroid shot in my bum, which was a first in my lifetime. I drove home with a sore bum and my prescriptions, and felt thankful that I would be getting some relief soon. I was also thankful I had been oversharing my troubles on Instagram, because I probably would not have taken it as seriously if our family friend hadn’t mentioned her own daughter’s reactions to bites and stings.
Here’s how it looked on Sunday afternoon:
I will say that while this was going on and I was giving my updates on my Instastories, I also heard from my former boss Lisa, who said that she and her daughter have also had severe reactions to bee stings and to keep an eye on it. Then, of all of the luck, Lisa herself got stung on the arm while she was at Founders Brewing Company on Sunday! She has been my partner in commiseration the last few days.
The prescriptions have definitely helped my arm, although they made me feel nauseous and kept me from falling asleep last night; I guess those are some of the side effects though.
Here’s how it was looking this morning:
So I would say the moral of the story is to pay attention to your body and also listen to others who may have been in your shoes before. I’ve never been one to run to urgent care for this little thing or that little thing. I’m lucky that I’ve been pretty healthy my whole life and can usually ride through whatever comes my way. But this had the potential to become very serious.
According to the Mayo Clinic, if “left untreated, the infection can spread to your lymph nodes and bloodstream and rapidly become life-threatening.”
This whole experience put a bit of a damper on the holiday weekend, but I’m thankful for the team at Pine Knob Urgent Care who were working at 8:00 a.m. on a holiday weekend Sunday to help a gal like me who has had a lot of bad luck when it comes to yellow jacket stings. And I’m thankful to the friends who suggested remedies to help ease the sting and helped me realize it was becoming something more serious.
I’m going to be extra vigilant about yellow jacket season, especially when it comes to visiting the cider mill or spending time outside our house. As it is, I’ve always been skittish around bugs. Now it feels a bit more justified.