A few years ago I picked up the hobby of beekeeping. I really enjoyed it and my wife and I even joined a local bee club. All went well for over a year, but then I found out that I was allergic to them in a very scary way.
It was a hot, Florida afternoon and I suited up with a long sleeve shirt, thin garden gloves, hat, veil and shorts. With the smoker going I pulled off the top cover. As had been the case many times before the bees were calm and allowed me to work. I checked out the top box without incident, pulled it off and set it aside. Then, I started pulling frames out of the second box. Up until this point the bees had been quite accommodating. That’s why I was totally surprised when I suddenly found that six of the little critters had attached themselves to my right hand and were stinging me through the thin gloves. I had been stung before and knew not to panic when it happens, but the stings felt different this time; more painful, if that’s possible. I managed to calmly set the frame back into the box and back away from the hive. I pulled my gloves off and did my best to scratch the stingers out. My hand was visibly shaking and it was quite painful. Not wanting to experience getting stung in the hands again I made my way to the shed to put on my thicker gloves. After putting them on I walked back up to the hive and immediately got stung on the back of my right leg. It was obvious that the bees were clearly agitated, so I took the opportunity to close up the hive and leave them alone. I ended up with one more sting on my right ankle before it was over and, to be honest, I was glad it was over.
I put all of my equipment away, headed inside and immediately jumped in the shower. It was while I was in the shower that I realized something was definitely wrong. The first thing I noticed was that my lips were starting to go numb. Then, I saw that my upper torso had broken out in small hives. I looked at my arms and noticed that they were also broken out, but instead of the blotchy looking hives that I had on my body they were both completely covered with little, red pinpoints. Needless to say, I rinsed off and got out of the shower.
My wife knows that I am not a fan of going to the doctor so she immediately knew something was wrong when I rushed into the dining room wearing only a pair of shorts. I attempted to tell her that she needed to take me to the doctor, but at this point my tongue had started to swell up and the words didn’t come out quite right. After hearing me struggle to speak and seeing my hive covered body she jumped up and started frantically looking for the car keys. I wouldn’t say that I panicked, but I was definitely concerned. I pushed away thoughts of my throat closing up and we both made a mad dash to the car. By the time we got to the critical care clinic I was swelling up everywhere. I was only stung on the right side of my body, but even my left side was feeling the effects. I couldn’t get my wedding ring off, my lips were completely numb, my tongue was swollen and the areas around my nose and eyes were red. The top of my bald head swelled up grotesquely and my wife, hoping to bring some levity to the situation, told me that I looked like a Klingon from Star Trek. While I appreciate the humor now I can’t say I laughed about it then.
Thankfully, the clinic took me in quickly (maybe looking like a battle-worn Klingon has its benefits) and one shot of steroids seemed to calm everything down. My right hand swelled up so much that I could hardly use it for a couple of days, but other than that everything went back to normal pretty quickly. I can’t explain why I never had a reaction before that day. Maybe it was because I got so many stings at once or maybe because they were mostly concentrated in one location. I just don't know. Either way, I had to step away from beekeeping. I do miss it, but I’m not willing to take the risk of something like that happening again.
