Worst Outdoor Adventure Ever

[naomikritzer]

So all summer, inspired by the book Last Child in the Woods, I've been taking Molly and Kiera to natural areas to play. They've gotten really fond of the creek leading down from Hidden Falls, over in St. Paul; they've gone wading, caught tadpoles and minnows, climbed trees, tried to build dams, fallen in mud puddles, and in general had all sorts of positive natural experiences.

Today, we went down to a beach along the Mississippi with some friends. On our way back up from the beach, the other mom realized she'd forgotten her purse. There's a spot just off the path leading up to the River Road where the kids played last time -- it has rocks to climb on and some other stuff to explore -- so I told her I'd take the kids there while she ran back down to the beach, and they could play while we waited.

And it was a lovely place to play except for the nest of bumblebees they apparently pissed off. Kiera was the first to get stung -- once, on her cheek, right below her eye -- and then Molly's friend got stung, and then Molly. Molly's friend was stung twice, and Molly was stung three times, on her forehead, arm, and the instep of her foot. I had stepped away to check on whether the other mom was coming up the path, and heard Kiera scream piercingly; I went running back and had just determined that it was probably a bee sting when the second kid started screaming.

I had no adequate remedy to hand. I carry a first aid kit, but it lacks a squeeze-and-shake disposable cold pack. And even if I'd had one, I'd only have had one, and which kid do you give it to? The one who's screaming the loudest (Kiera), the one who's been stung three times (Molly), or the one who's already got a big visible welt on her arm (Molly's friend)? If there'd been any ice still in my water bottle, I'd have given them ice cubes to hold on the stings, but the ice had all long since melted and the water was merely cool, not cold. I poured water over their stings and then wet the towels (we always have towels to sit on) so they could hold the wet towel to the sting; I thought that would be at least somewhat soothing.

Molly calmed down and was her usual stoic self pretty quickly; her friend also calmed right down and even turned down the wet towel. Kiera sobbed the whole way home. At home, I had cold packs and ice cubes and a cool shower and even ibuprofen. If I hadn't been planning to turn around and go right out again a little while later, I'd have poured myself a stiff drink, I think.

The planned evening entertainment (bee and wasp free) was a Fringe show, The Inconvenient Squirrel. I'll put that in the next post.

(Incidentally, the identification of the stinging insect was done by Kiera -- she saw it and thought it was a bumblebee. I initially figured she had to be wrong, because no stingers were left behind, but apparently it is only honeybees that have barbed stingers. Bumblebees do not, and can sting multiple times. They're not aggressive the way hornets and yellowjackets are aggressive, but they'll sting if you're too close to their nest, and that's clearly what happened. I've been stung more times than I can remember, but never, I think, by an actual bee -- it's always been a wasp of some kind. Anyway, since I have run into crazed bee defenders who get really upset if you blame waspish aggressiveness on poor hapless flower-pollinating bees, I'll just note that Kiera can tell the difference between a wasp and a bumblebee, and she's extremely observant, even when under stress, so I think it probably really was a bee in this case.)

Comments

[naomikritzer]

There are actually a lot of home remedies for stings; my mother's was to give us a paste of baking soda and water. However, I honestly think nothing works quite so well as something cold, like a piece of ice or a cold pack from the freezer.

If you get stung by a honeybee, it'll leave it's stinger behind, and someone has to pull it out. I've seen this happen once (the mom grabbed it in her fingernails and yanked) but I've never in my life been stung by a honeybee. Wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, and apparently most other kinds of bees do not leave their stinger behind, so you don't have to remove anything, just comfort and console.

Serious swelling can be an indication of an incipient allergy, so if anyone ever gets stung and lots of swelling results, see a doctor. My brother had an epipen for a while (may still, for that matter) not because he'd ever had a serious reaction, but because he had enough swelling they were concerned about a future serious reaction.

Also, stings HURT and keep hurting, so don't think your girls are being drama queens if they cry and cry. (The same mom who yanked out the stinger with her fingernails was really irritated about the fact that the girl was still sobbing five minutes later. I was not surprised to hear that the mom had never in her life been stung.)

[pennski.livejournal.com]

Glad you found something that worked. Stings are quite acidic, so something alkaline helps - hence the baking soda. Really, really diluted bleach would be ok. A few years ago, I had an alkaline pen I bought in a supermarket after a vicious bee sting (left stinger behind and promptly expired). It's quite easy to pull a sting out with your fingers (although I then lent my arm on it and gave myself a secondary sting which was annoying). And anyone with lots of swellings could probably use an anti-histamine (if you're allowed to give those to kids).

[pants-of-doom.livejournal.com]

I'd have given the cold pack to the kid with the welt because it looks most likely to be an allergic reaction, but I'm a little paranoid about this.

[lilisonna.livejournal.com]

I am reminded that I should put some bee-sting relief stuff in my emergency kit.

Solution for stings

[(Anonymous)]

Many stings take place during the fall
months. Reason being, bees and wasps are cold blooded insects and they linger
around people and pets in order to absorb the body heat, therefore increasing
the chances of getting stung for both.
Last week, I witnessed a 4 year old girl with her hand and forearm swollen
to her elbow, from a wasp sting that she received to her fingertip the day
before. The sight of her hand and arm brought tears to my eyes because I knew
that if she had had
Baker's Venom Cleanser (http://www.BeeStingCure.com) available when she was stung, none of her discomfort
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[imponderabilias.livejournal.com]

Oh man. Having one child stung (once!) is hard enough, I can just imagine three and a couple with multiple stings.

In the past, when I got stung myself, I've slapped cold mud on it, and it's helped a little bit. I couldn't do that when I got stung on my bottom lip (psa: always check your pop bottle before sticking it in your both), though.

Although Kiera is probably right that it was not a wasp or a honeybee, it probably wasn't a bumblebee either. I think they are solitary creatures. There are other bees (can't remember the species) that are fat and fuzzy and that live in burrows that are really aggressive when disturbed. We were at a big outdoor party once when someone stepped on the burrrow and several nearby people were stung (at least there was lots of ice and beer on hand, though).

[imponderabilias.livejournal.com]

er, swap both for 'mouth' above.