Stung or Bitten?

About two weeks ago I was bitten (not stung! according to Mark) on my left  ankle and right index finger by one? many? ground bees that had taken up residence in the pachysandra that surrounds my backyard patio. At the time I did not make much of a big deal about it; I just kept sweeping until the patio was clean and told Mark about it later.

At first it was, of course, super itchy, but not anything too distracting. Well, it turns out I probably itched it a lot more than I should have because the rash that resulted from the original bites on my ankle have spread to the whole trunk of my lower leg and onto my foot. It is swollen and really uncomfortable. I finally went to the doctor on Tuesday to get it checked out and she recommended taking an antihistamine like Claritin or Benadryl, plus putting ice on the ankle.

Nothing seems to be working and it seems to be getting worse. I started out with Claritin (which probably relieved some itching) and have switched to Benadryl (a better choice according to the pharmacist), which I was hesitant to take because of the drowsy side affects. I took one this morning, though, and felt pretty alert all day, so that was turned out better than expected.

As I write this I have a bag of ice on my leg. Even though Mark wanted to go after those little buggers with spray, I'm hesitant to kill them given the recent news about the millions of bee deaths. Of course, the real crisis is with the honey bee, which did not "bite" me, but still I worry about these environmental things. It's like when I walk a flight of stairs to deposit the wayward bathroom spider outside into the driveway. Although I may be rethinking that position of this discomfort goes on much longer.