Tuesday, August 18, 2009

It stings!

Clearly, I am not on a lucky streak or anything. Well, I am lucky in that I have so far managed to avoid another fever. But this morning I was enjoying the slightly cooler air, and decided to don my gloves and face mask to head into the garden (yes, I know it's a strange costume, but the doctor requires me to wear it when I'm out there...). I was picking some long overdue tomatoes, when all of a sudden I heard the sound of insect wings getting stuck somewhere they shouldn't be stuck. Unlucky me, they were stuck beneath my dress. 

I ended up with a total of three stings to my abdomen and thigh. I had never gotten stung by anything worse than a mosquito before, but as I'm in the middle of chemo I get stung by some critter that has enough life in it to sting me three times. Count that: three times!!! So it clearly wasn't a bee, which would have lost its stinger and died, but some sort of little wasp or something that got lost in my dress. 

After the vile attack, I ran out of the garden calling for DH's help, taking off my dress as I went. Sorry, but when I get attacked, I lose all sense of proper decorum and just want to get the attacker off me. DH got me inside, checked to make sure there was no stinger or anything that needed to be removed. Then he brought me the benadryl I asked for -- just in case. Now I'm sitting here icing the stings, and hoping I won't get a larger allergic reaction. With my history of allergies, you just never know.

At least I got a pretty good night's sleep. This morning, however, I woke up with worse tingling in my hands and feet. I fear there is some nerve damage coming my way, making it less likely I'll be able to complete the dose dense Taxol schedule. 

My more immediate concern right now, though, is to avoid another emergency trip to the doctor or ER. Let's hope the benadryl does its job and the bug will not be able to add insult to injury.

1 comment:

Noelle said...

I have to say - I don't know what you did in a past life, but it must have been nasty! I hope things stay fever-free with you, and get a bit calmer, and less painful and tingling!