Spent a lovely day in the hospital

beecee

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2016
Messages
3,569
Reaction score
2,414
The irony to the story, which you will soon see what I mean, was that I just spent a very leisurely 5 days in the woods backpacking the Cranberry Lake 50. And not a scratch!

Ok, still working on 2 houses, new and old, (where we still live). I'm home for weekend, weather is set to be sunny and below normal low 70's....delightful!

Honey-do list was heavy on outdoor activity, beginning with changing fuel pump on riding mower that the previous owner of house gave me which is it's own screwy tale...might be worth a post.

So after knocking off 4 items I grab the sawzall for choren # 5, to cut out some ancient evergreen bushes that did not take well to some of my wife's expert pruning this spring. There was one at the start to a nice long walkway...then an expanse of ivy ground cover then the second one near the front door. Haul the debris to the front, (Town is scheduled for early this week 1st fall pickup). Decide to rake out all the leaves from ivy that are already falling and looking up figure I'll add cleaning the gutters in that area to the list while I'm there.

All of a sudden two object hit my mouth followed by a swarm of hornets.....never been stung before save for once on the hand.... the two objects were of course hornets and were attacking my mouth!! MY MOUTH!!!! I bat them away and start running. One more bite to the face, about 50 yards later a bit on the top of the head and just when I think it is safe two bites through my gloves....still running they are still coming after me....drop one glove in middle of road and did a 180 heading back to the house....about 1/4 block away where I toss the other with the hornet still on it!!! Sprinting the whole time...and I ain't a runner!!

I thought about running to my trusty old 95 T-100 in the driveway but windows were open and my door handle broke last week necessitating getting in by reaching inside to open door. So no safe haven there. Ran into the garage and into house...along with 2 hornets. I run into half bath in entrance, slam door and see a hornet in there w/me....yikkeees. Out I go, in he stays. Head to kitchen. Grab some ice, drop about 4 cups on ground and start icing head lips face hands..eventually dropping rest as I'm shaking and gasping for air after sprinting so much. Running back of head under water trying my best to slow the swelling. Second hornet flies right by me to a large lamp I hung over where our kitchen table will be, drops into the glass globe and stays there. Keeping an eye on him I go to the front door to look out at the area. Some swarming but not a lot, more in the garage. I see a neighbor walking by and my heart sinks. I can barely speak but am too afraid to open door to warn him. He notices one of my gloves in the road but wanders by unscathed. Wife is due over and phone is on workbench in garage on charger...oh boy...well, gotta grab it, try and warn her. She has had a few limb breaks over past two years and this is the last thing she needs. Grab phone head towards the truck to boggie outta there and notice the two gas cans behind truck..aaaaarrrrggggghhhhh!! Pick em up, toss in truck bed and get the heck outta Dodge! Imagine I see 5 million sightings of lone hornets in cab.

By the time I get back to old house I can't even dial the cell phone as I'm shaking so bad. open first aid app on phone, tell daughter to call Mom and warn her to not go to house. My lower lip has expanded to honestly, five times normal size It flops while I walk. The other bites are just slightly swollen and frankly not bad. Of course now I cannot speak legibly.

Somehow get app open, read about bad symtoms..all of a sudden notices hives all over left torso. Gently tell daughter to tell Mom I'm heading to hospital...only 1.5 miles down road...and show her hives and tell her just precautionary. She handles it well.

I pull up to emergency parking and am about to tell guard why I'm there but he looks at me in horror and opens the gate...gets on radio as I'm pulling in and shows me shortcut to ER. There are 3 guards coming out to get me w/a wheelchair and I say mnumbedid jumkingy abbadertu phwang...at least that is what they told me I said later.

Packed ER, they wheel me past check in in to a room...wt heck I'm not that good looking... I'm soaking wet, drooling all over myself, grease from earlier fuel pump replacement on hands, not particularly well dressed wet wild hairdo and have a knockwurst sized lower lip the color of a cut open beet!

All of a sudden Dr, LPN, 2 RNs are on me. Asking about throat, swallowing, breathing etc, (which was all fine btw)....7 of those patches and wires go on me...hook in an IV, eppi shot and a few other things. Look up again, (teaching hospital), 5 lovely young med students who 30/40 years ago would have shot me down are looking at me with, let say...interest. Ended up there from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Slept about 2 hours but one of the drugs they gave me was some adrenaline based stuff...very fidgety/edgey but as I wake up I notice- hand and head ache where bit, but no swelling, bites to face are pretty much gone, lip still looks like I spent about $1,000 on Botox.

Got home wife gave me ice cream, remote and blanket. Watched the taped Qualifying for the F-1 race tomorrow and promptly crashed.

She loves killing ground hornet nests and has a system...I could not stop or argue with her, but she knows what she's doing. She's back at 6:45 says lip is still big but noticeably better.

So, here I lie, now up in bed, third bowl of ice cream and kinda miffed about losing a good weather day to knock off a bunch of chores.

How was your day?
 
Last edited:

walrus

Reverential Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Dec 23, 2006
Messages
23,957
Reaction score
8,020
Location
Massachusetts
Glad you are recovering, beecee!

That is one helluva story! I could feel myself getting edgy just reading it - you ought to be a writer!

walrus
 

beecee

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2016
Messages
3,569
Reaction score
2,414
If I didn't see the hives I probably would not have gone...which might have been a bad choice even w/out them. I was shaking dizzy and starting to stumble a bit. They did a nice job on me...and the med students learned something today for sure!!!
 

HeyMikey

Enlightened Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2018
Messages
5,423
Reaction score
4,733
Location
MA
Guild Total
9
Mmmmm ice cream! What kind?

Seriously though beecee that sounds like a scene out of Jumanji! Holy crap. Glad you are doing better.
 

beecee

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2016
Messages
3,569
Reaction score
2,414
It was a lemon custard ice cream...not a frozen custard. Great place right down the hill been around 45 ears, make all their own.

I thought about you when I mentioned the sawzall. Remembering the chain saw incident!
 

GGJaguar

Reverential Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2011
Messages
21,328
Reaction score
31,418
Location
Skylands
Guild Total
49
Holy mackerel, glad you're doing okay! And ice cream always makes everything better (at least for me). :)
 

Guildedagain

Enlightened Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2016
Messages
9,001
Reaction score
7,167
Location
The Evergreen State
OMG what a story.

A) I have no idea or don't want to remember any of the repair jobs I've done on my Ariens Hydrostatic rider mower, and pretty certain I could never ever do whatever I did over again.

B) I got really nice long pruning blades for my Dewalt 20V Sawzall. Maybe one day I'll actually remember that when we're limbing trees...

C) I was almost murdered by a group of Bald Faced hornets years ago. I was pushing a wheelbarrow, she leaned her bicycle on a sawhorse (you see how innocently these things start?) to get it out of the way.

I never saw anything, I just ran screaming. To the house.

Got stung 17 times in the chest, right through my shirt.

She was stung in the face, right eye totally closed shut. Bald faced hornets are aggressive and go for the face. If you thought a yellowjacket was an asshole with wings, these are even more special.

I went back outside, sat on a hay bale, I started breathing real heavy losing my peripheral vision, blacking out.

She ran down to the neighbors with kids, came back with full bottle of Childrens Benadryl, I guzzled the whole thing and that's the only reason I'm here today.

Eventually I started coming around, and and she took me to the hospital. They wanted too much $$$, and the doc says I can't tell you what to do but writes Benadryl on his scrip pad and slides it towards me, so we left, went to the store, bought more Benadryl and circled the hospital a few times, I was defintiely getting better (I'm cheap) so we went back home.

Starting the next day I had the most spectacular hives all over for three days.

Look up wasp venom on Wiki, they barely even know what's in it...

So then it was war. I got that nest. And hundreds more since. It became my passion. I'd go out at night, commando style with my sprayer, her begging me to be careful. And I got stung regularly.

So 2 years ago, we have this wicked fire got through here, DNR's cutting fire lines right in our yard that's because your house is set to burn next. And the DNR guy says, you should do something about this monstrous flower bed of spent throrny roses, peones and day lillies, and so I get the weed wacker out, and I'm in the bed wacking it all down, HUGE DC-10 jets flying right overhead dropping retardant just over the next hill, and something is terribly wrong, that is i'm getting fkg stung all over the place, including inside my Stihl logging helmet with muffs.

You know the routine, I run screaming.

Last time this happened, I was on a steep hillside, a talus slide of great rocks and dropped a tree onto a ground nest. I ran down that hillside too, saw flying through the air in one direction, helmet in the other. Twisted an ankle pretty good before I got away from them. Never went back for the tree.

Back to the ground nest in the flower bed. I went back that night, found the hole, sprayed a little Peppermint solution in the hole to stun them, and then shoved a garden hose down the hole. There were so many of them in there, the ground actually buzzed and virtually shook. Like all wasp nests, there's always stragglers. So I went back the next night, and there were hundreds of them, huddling under a large rock. At night, they don't fly so much, under 50º anyway. I went back out night after night for late night annihilation, which consisted of spraying them with a little peppermint, then lots of cold water from garden hole, then use a baseball bat to dispatch them as hundreds would be crawling up each blade of grass in the lawn. If you heard a buzz all the sudden get the fk outa there, that means one got airborne and it's gonna get you. So it's 11 pm and you're out there with headlamp and baseball bat, it would take me a half hour to get through them.

That summer was terrible for wasps, they went after dozer operators cutting firelines on murderously steep hillsides, and sent lots of ground crews to the hospital. The only injuries from that fire was from wasps.

This year has been epic for them. I'd be shut of of my Power Wagon brush truck for days at a time, always some other nest, insane.

I finally won the battle of the wasps, felt smug and then mice invaded the truck, again, and one died or a clutch of dead babies behind the seat like last time this happened, but this time I can't find it, so the truck spends the days with the doors open.

I was just telling the neighbor lady visiting about the mice - she gets them in her car too, a late model Subi - but "at least I finally got all the wasps" I says leaning against the PTO winch front bumper. A big angry wasp flies out from its nest behind the passenger side headlight and has me on the run as I scream "I'll see you later" ;]

Clay is really good on wasp stings if you can get in there immediately, even just mud. We keep a jar of white clay all wet in a jar, it works, and on itchy bug bites too.
 
Last edited:

Stuball48

Senior Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Oct 22, 2017
Messages
4,736
Reaction score
2,534
Location
Dickson, TN
You know your day lacks when you have a planned routine to handle wasp, yellow jackets, and hornets. And don't forget bumblebees that nest in the ground. Your grounds are fine one day and a swarm of the above mentioned have taken up residence in your yard the next day. I put a white cloth, held in place by a rock, about 3--5 yards from their front door and wait for dark. With flashlight, heavy clothing, face covered, and about 3--4 ounces of lawn mower gas (and a kitchen match), war is declared. May take couple of nights but you win. And if you have ever dug up their nest after war is over, the mere size of it will convince you -- you have done the right thing. What if a small grandchild wandered by and disturbed their nest??
Glad you survived the painful ordeal, beecee and guildedagain.
 

beecee

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2016
Messages
3,569
Reaction score
2,414
This is one heck of a selfie but I took it "just in case" when I got back to the old house. I had a bite under left eye but it is minor relative to the lip. Head soaked from under sink...wow what a morning!

Apologize for the graphic nature but the drooling was uncontrollable. Can't figure out how to pivot pic.

Much better this morning but left side of face is slightly swollen.

Guided again & stuball....you and my wife should go into business together....man I thought I had it bad. Great... er...horrible stories.
1599991327280.png
 
Last edited:

beecee

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2016
Messages
3,569
Reaction score
2,414
I guess just for the record, this is my typical lip size.

thumbnail (2).jpg
 

Stuball48

Senior Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Oct 22, 2017
Messages
4,736
Reaction score
2,534
Location
Dickson, TN
Could be two different people in a "lineup." They did a number on your face. Seems like four to five days before your body returns to normal.
 

beecee

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2016
Messages
3,569
Reaction score
2,414
At one point I was really afraid my lip was going to burst...honestly. It was just as bad inside.

Odd, no issue swallowing or breathing which the Dr. found odd considering the external reactions.

Finger is a bit tender but not as bad as the typical ache/pains associated w/ a 61 year old body, bites on face & head seem fine...just the left side throat and slight puffiness to lip.

i just looked at the picture again....I can't believe how bad I was drooling...uncontrollable.
 

richardp69

Enlightened Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Messages
6,007
Reaction score
5,965
Location
Barton City, Michigan
That's horrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I've been stung plenty but never a mass attack like you had to endure. Scary as hell.

Ya know, God did a lot of things right but stinging insects, porcupines, skunks, venomous snakes etc. make me wonder sometimes.

I wish you well on your recovery. Man oh man!!!!!
 

walrus

Reverential Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Dec 23, 2006
Messages
23,957
Reaction score
8,020
Location
Massachusetts
🐝🐝🐝🐝 I blasted a huge yellow jacket nest from my garage quite easily with "long distance" hornet spray last year. I felt pretty cocky. After these stores, I am no longer impressed with myself... 🐝🐝🐝🐝

walrus
 

Cougar

Enlightened Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2015
Messages
5,323
Reaction score
3,016
Location
North Idaho
Guild Total
5
Wow, beecee, so sorry you were ATTACKED!

Instead of paying exorbitant rent on a house while our Pend Oreille place undergoes a massive remodel (Mrs. Cougar took a course in interior design -- beware!), we bought a little inexpensive place not far away in Montana. The place had been vacant for a while, and there must have been 50 wasp nests all around the house nestled in the edge of the corrugated metal roof. Fortunately they're not as aggressively territorial as those ground hornets, but I still hate 'em. I emptied a can of wasp spray on 'em and went back for another can. Good thing these spray cans shoot out a focused spray of about 10 feet. So far I haven't been stung, for which I feel immensely fortunate, especially after seeing beecee's lip!
 

Guildedagain

Enlightened Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2016
Messages
9,001
Reaction score
7,167
Location
The Evergreen State
I wouldn't spray a toxic chemical around family or pets for anything and I gave up on store bought spray years ago. I liked the organic ones, Woodstream's Victor Poison Free, but they discontinued it so I just made my own. I like sprays that can blow right back in my face without a problem.

1/8 cup Dr. Bronners Peppermint soap + a few drops Peppermint essential oil (not required), OMRI certified Pyrethrum also not really required but really kills bugs if garden pets are destroying your crops), into a 5 gallons sprayer that takes 100 PSI from an air compressor. This will shoot 10-15' but I like to get up close and fog them. Once you start shooting, you can't stop. I do arial combat with the sprayer, shoot them right out of the air if they attack me while dispatching the nest. Pump up garden sprayers work fine too, but can run out of spray power when you desperately need it, not good.

Make the soap solution a little heavy so it coats them well when it hits them. With the Pyrethrum, they'll die very quickly, a little slower without, but what the soap does is break the surface tension of the water, and the water penetrates their breathing apparatus and drowns them.

That summer or 2018, I made traps on the lawn of inverter metal trash can lids full of water, they love water. If you add just one drop of soap to that water, they will drown in it instead of being able to sit on it like water bugs. Cheapest trap you ever saw, killed them by the thousands, I have pics somewhere, also of jar traps, multiple quart jars full to the top of dead yellow jackets.

For quickie daytime I have a nest in my car mirror and need to deal with it right now, I use CRC Brakleen in the red can, knock'e em dead in seconds and does not damage car paint. Don't do this with Carb cleaner or other brands of Brakleen, you'll be sorry. Starting fluid (ether) kills em even faster. They just stop moving without even twitching.

At the same time, some are required to eat carrion and pollenate, can't get rid of all of them.
 

jp

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
4,850
Reaction score
1,764
Location
Pacific Northwest US
Guild Total
4
Yikes! Horrible story beecee. My wife actually just got attacked by hornets last week and got stung three times. Hope the lip mending goes quickly.
 

beecee

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2016
Messages
3,569
Reaction score
2,414
I wouldn't spray a toxic chemical around family or pets for anything and I gave up on store bought spray years ago. I liked the organic ones, Woodstream's Victor Poison Free, but they discontinued it so I just made my own. I like sprays that can blow right back in my face without a problem.

1/8 cup Dr. Bronners Peppermint soap + a few drops Peppermint essential oil (not required), OMRI certified Pyrethrum also not really required but really kills bugs if garden pets are destroying your crops), into a 5 gallons sprayer that takes 100 PSI from an air compressor. This will shoot 10-15' but I like to get up close and fog them. Once you start shooting, you can't stop. I do arial combat with the sprayer, shoot them right out of the air if they attack me while dispatching the nest. Pump up garden sprayers work fine too, but can run out of spray power when you desperately need it, not good.

Make the soap solution a little heavy so it coats them well when it hits them. With the Pyrethrum, they'll die very quickly, a little slower without, but what the soap does is break the surface tension of the water, and the water penetrates their breathing apparatus and drowns them.

That summer or 2018, I made traps on the lawn of inverter metal trash can lids full of water, they love water. If you add just one drop of soap to that water, they will drown in it instead of being able to sit on it like water bugs. Cheapest trap you ever saw, killed them by the thousands, I have pics somewhere, also of jar traps, multiple quart jars full to the top of dead yellow jackets.

For quickie daytime I have a nest in my car mirror and need to deal with it right now, I use CRC Brakleen in the red can, knock'e em dead in seconds and does not damage car paint. Don't do this with Carb cleaner or other brands of Brakleen, you'll be sorry. Starting fluid (ether) kills em even faster. They just stop moving without even twitching.

At the same time, some are required to eat carrion and pollenate, can't get rid of all of them.


We gotta talk!
 

beecee

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2016
Messages
3,569
Reaction score
2,414
while our place undergoes a massive remodel (Mrs. Cougar took a course in interior design -- beware!),[/QUOTE


Living your dream as well my friend! mrs Cee has a degree in it!!!

]
 
Top