The story begins last Monday.  I got up early, ran and prepared to spend the week doing some projects.  We are giving our 20-year-old kitchen table to our oldest daughter and she wanted to refinish it while she was home last week.

The first step was to carry the kitchen table to the garage and we decided the best way to do that was out the back door and around the house.  About 60 seconds into our project, I stepped into our neighbor’s yard as we turned the table and was promptly stung by what I assumed was a bee.  I caught a quick glimpse of it as brushed it off my ankle.  It stung, but nothing unusual.  I have been stung many times and knew that with a little ice and some baking soda paste I would be good to go.

After about five minutes, it still stung a little, but I was fine.  I drove to Home Depot to get my supplies.  In fact, the entire day I was fine.  I honestly forgot all about the bee sting until that evening.  After dinner, I noticed that my ankle was a little pink and warm, but I chalked it up to being on my feet all day after being stung.

The next morning, I woke up and my ankle was swollen, not a lot, but definitely swollen.  I decided to go ahead and walk the dogs thinking it would push the fluid out.  In hind sight, that was not the best decision although I don’t know if it would have mattered.  Nearly 24 hours after the bee sting,  my ankle, foot and leg began to swell more and more each hour.  I happened to have a check up with my oncologist that morning so I figured I would just see what he had to say. By the time I got there it was very swollen, red and tender.  I was clearly having a delayed allergic reaction, but he was also concerned about a blood clot given the amount of swelling and that I take medication that puts me at a higher risk for them.  He let me go home with a prescription for Prednisone and orders to ice, elevate and Benadryl, but to be on the look out for worsening symptoms.

I did as I was told and about 5:00 in the evening my leg felt like a rock, it was very red and swollen and then in a matter of minutes my leg started to blister. In the time it took me to walk downstairs to show my daughter and hubby, one of the blisters was the size of a quarter and filling with fluid.  I’m not going to lie, I was freaking out.  I have never had an allergic reaction to anything and this was nearly 36 hours after I had been stung!

We put a call into our primary doctor and headed out to the ER, afraid of what might come next.  As we pulled into the ER she called me back and told me I could go back home and take a cocktail of more Prednisone, Benadryl, baby aspirin to prevent a blood clot and an antacid to slow the antihistamine.  She also gave Alex (my Physician Assistant daughter) permission to drain the larger blisters.  Needless to say, that was not a pleasant experience and the blisters refilled with fluid in less than 15 minutes.

I drugged myself throughout the night and at 8:00am the next morning both of my doctors were calling me to check on the progress.  The swelling was slightly better, but I had more blisters.  My primary doctor had me come in for a Prednisone shot and to lance some more blisters.  After seeing my leg in person, she is confident that it was a wasp that stung me. I guess I have never been stung by a wasp. Again, she sent me home to repeat my cocktail of medications, ice and elevating my foot.

Thursday morning I sent her a photo of my progress and she was not pleased so she prescribed Silvadene cream which is used for burn patients.  Honestly, my leg looks like I stuck it in the fire so it’s fitting that is what I am using to heal the blisters.  Finally, on day 5 things started to turn around. I didn’t have any new blisters and my skin looked a little less raw. This weekend I have tried to get back to it.  I have walked the dogs a couple of times and been doing my normal routine.  I still have a couple open wounds that are trying to heal so I change the bandages twice/day and use my cream which seems to soothe the skin.

So, here we are the last day of August; a new week and let me tell you, I AM HERE FOR IT.  Last week is a blur and I’ve probably gained 5 pounds from laying around popping steroids, so this week I need to be here for the runs, the workouts, the healthy eating, the friends, the family and the projects that are still waiting for me.  If you are looking for me, I will be the girl in the jeans, long sleeve shirt, hat and possibly gloves if I am working outside.  You can never be too careful these days.