Stung

By a wasp that is. On Wednesday evening, I was in the yard with Sarah watching her play. Both of us were in bare feet when all of a sudden I felt something odd between my big and second toe on my right foot. First it was a bit of a zing, then it hurt REALLY bad. I hobble into the house calling for one of the other kids when Andrea came down wrapped in a towel, fresh out of the shower. At the bottom of the stairs, my legs gave out and I began to cry. Seriously, it hurt that bad. I managed to tell Andrea to get Sarah inside for me and she called the other two kids in. I needed them to get Sarah away from me since I was not in a good state. As the evening went on, the pain radiated up my shin to my knee. I took some Advil to try and ease the hurt. I furiously scanned the internet for ways to make it feel better. Despite my efforts, nothing seemed to make it better. By the next morning, the area near my toes on top of my foot was red, swollen and warm. I made it through the day but I did notice the puffiness increase as time went on. By bedtime and through the night, I was downright uncomfortable. I actually lost quite a few hours of sleep over it. So here's the list of things I've done in an attempt to make my foot feel better:

• cool cloth (the most relieving, very quickly)
• Solarcaine (not bad but very short lived relief)
• Lanacane (longest lasting but not long enough)
• vinegar and baking soda paste (nothing)
• bleach (nothing)
• soaking it in cool water in a sink (effective but inconvenient)
• scratching (sweet, instant relief; followed by even more itching and burning)

 The night of the sting

The next night (still swollen)