Camping.... and a vist to the Emergecy Room

[Mikekoz13]

We're camping for a week in Luray, Virgina... pulled in Saturday afternoon. Saturday night around 10 PM my son and I were sitting outside at the picnic table when we were swarmed with what I initially thought were beetles.
It only took a few seconds to realize that these were NOT beetles... they were HORNETS! About 30 of them flying all around our campsite! I hustled my son into the trailer but two flew in with us.

I quickly killed them but they were still flying all around the lights outside. SO I went out and pulled the plug to the lights. About 10 minutes later they were all gone. So I went out to check thing out, slid on my flipflops and BAM!! I got stung on my foot... one was in the flipflop.

Top of my foot... felt like a nail went thru my foot. A lotg of pain all night and a VERY swollen foot all day Sunday. By yesterday AM the foot looked even worse and was itching like crazy. Swollen even larger.

Off to the emergency room..... they checked it out and prescribed a steroid cream. Still looking pretty nasty this Am with a lot of swelling but the itching is gone.

I've been stung hundreds of times in my life... to the point that bee stings don't even bother me. This was my first hornet sting... much different and the after effects last a long time.

I learned that hornets come out at night to feed on the night time insects. Our trailer lights attracted the night time insects which in turn attracted the hornets. Turns out there was a hornets nest inside a dead tree about 30 yards from our site. One of the camp ground guys found it Sunday morning and sprayed it.

Never a dull moment with the Koz's!!

[-Doug-]

Sorry to hear about your foot. Hopefully the docs gave you some good meds.

[Frontier Guy]

Yowie ... talk about unexpected changes in plans. That was bad enough - seriously glad it wasn't worse.

[StumpyDave]

Not good.  Get well soon.

I was stung on my top lip by a wasp last summer.  My face swelled up so I looked like the Elephant Man.  No-one else noticed.

[Free at Last]

Ouch!!!

I never knew or heard of wasps coming out at night.
Im in CT and its the evening hours they are all back in the nest.
This is when you would spray them.

I almost rode into a White Faced Hornet's nest yesterday while Mountain Biking.
Super Aggressive if you disturb them...
I got swarmed when raspberry picking in my younger days

[Slynito]

Yep, all my wasps go to roost at night, like the bees do. I've been stung a lot and now a days I pull the stinger, apply a capsule of "Sting Kill" and take an anti-histamine....we used to make a poultice of "Arm & Hammer". G'luck and have a good vacation.

[D.A.L.U.I.]

Ouch!

[Sir Harry]

Get well soon, Mike! At least you didn't get stung on the head, you may have been forced to grow out whatever hair you have left....not cool! Seriously, though a valuable lesson learned today, thanks for sharing.

[warhawk]

Hi Mike:  Man...Sorry about that.  I hope the foot gets better quickly.  Also.... continue taking the steroid cream and antibiotic by the ER doc.  Watch for signs of infection that relates to your foot:  fever, increased swelling,  increased redness,  increased pain, chills.  If you have any of these symptoms.... do not ignore it and seek the ER immediately.  Take care my brother and keep us posted.  Like Harry said.... glad the hornet didn't get your super slick noggin'.

WARHAWK

[tomgallagher]

Ain't camping great Mike. A friend of mine just went a couple of rounds with a colony of fire ants.

[Hingatao]

Sounds like fun! NOT!!

[D.A.L.U.I.]

On further reflection, you may want to discuss with your doctor whether you've developed a sensitivity to hornet venom and possibly the venom of other similar critters that hang out with you in the woods.  Before Katrina blew our cabin away on the Mississippi Gulf Coast we always kept a auto-injector of epinephrine in the medicine cabinet for anyone who started having serious problems.  Sometimes it's hard to get to the ER in time and one of these devices can provide you with the essential time so you can get more extensive and necessary treatment.  They're not expensive and provide a great deal of peace of mind not only for yourself but for friends and family who also may be the target of the bugs. 

[Beardman]

Never a dull moment with the Koz's!!

Certainly sounds like it! Hope everything settles down pretty quickly, thankfully we don't have hornets in Australia, I hear they are not much fun to play with...

[Beardman]

And you are living proof lol

[TheSlyBear]

Wow, a little too much "communing with nature"!   

Hope the foot gets back to normal soon!

My "bane of nature" this season have been the fire ants. Apparently some rare July rains have made conditions perfect for them, and they're building nests everywhere. And man, when those suckers bite, they hurt!