I was out in the backyard weeding when Emily came running around the house from the front yard screaming that Kirby was covered with bees. Kirby, our guarding alpha Cockapoo, was on a 50 ft tie-down out front. When I saw him, he was pawing away at all these bees on his head and rolling on his back, and my first instinct was to undo the leash. I reached for his collar and then the bees began to attack me, which made me yell with pain and raise my hand to shoo them away. Kirby’s state of mind and my gestures made him think that I was attacking him and he lunged up at me and bit me on my leg just above the knee, tearing my left pant leg off. Emily was screaming, I was screaming and running away from both Kirby and the bees, and Mae comes out of the house screaming why’s everyone screaming.
I went for the garden hose still being stung on my hands and face and managed to turn on the water when Mae grabbed the hose from me and squirted the both of us. It helped enough for me to have the bright idea of unhooking the leash from the tie down side, and we all ran inside the house closing the automatic garage door behind us. All of us had gotten stung, Mae and Emily 2 times each, me a dozen stings, and Kirby, too many to count.
For some irrational reason, I went back out to pick up my weeding tools dragging a torn pant leg behind me. While looking for something to cut the leg off, I realized I was getting light headed and slowly walked back to our mudroom where I sat down on a bench feeling dazed. Taking a look at me, Mae tells Emily to call 911. I was beginning to get tunnel vision and told Mae to take me to the ER, 5 minutes away.
It seemed much longer than 5 minutes, but I don’t even remember arriving at the hospital. Mae says that she was helping me out of the car when I collapsed on the cement walkway right at the ER entrance. I do remember being on the cement but having no will to get up. Apparently two hospital workers came running up and got me on a wheelchair or a guerney, I don’t know which, and past triage. I got a shot of epinephrine and had at least 4 IV’s going which brought me back to enough consciousness to feel getting 5 stitches in my leg for Kirby’s bite wound. I was to spend the night in the hospital.
By the next morning, I felt I was 90% recovered, having slept soundly through the entire night. But I was still hooked up to an IV and a leg with an ugly wound. When I asked the nurse about going to the bathroom, she handed me plastic bottle with a crooked neck. I didn’t even have to think how to use the thing. I just put it between my legs and relieved myself without any spillage, leakage or seepage. The complete effortless and satisfying experience, that I haven’t felt since about 5 years of age when I was just too sleepy to make it to the bathroom, but without the guilt of making a mother very mad. I knew there had to be a silver lining for my brush with anaphylaxis.
By the way, Kirby was checked out by the 24-hour vet and showed absolutely no after effects from being stung – $135.
