Some of you may be ham radio operators and might have seen this post on QRZ.COM

On Friday July 20th my younger sister Cyn took the day off planning to spend a long weekend with her grand daughters. She was mowing the lawn when she ran over a nest of yellow jackets.

She was stung multiple times, she went into her house an sat in her recliner chair when she figured out she was going into anaphyalctic shock. The younger of her two grand daughters was already at her house so Cyn told her to get her Benadry.

The grand daughter could not find it so Cyn tried to go to the bathroom to get it herself and collapsed on the floor.

The grand daughter did not know what to do so she spent a few minutes trying to figure out what to do and hoped that grandma would get better.

Finally she called her mom at work. Her mom called the ambulance and told them to go to Cyn's house.

The ambulance responded in 7 minutes. They established an airway but had trouble even finding a pulse. They delayed transport for nearly 15 minutes until they did find a pulse.

Once at the hospital they put Cyn on a breathing machine and did all kinds of things to stabilize her. It was decided to move her to a larger hospital about 60 miles away but there was a big storm going on so the lifeline helicopter was grounded.

They transferred her by ground ambulance.
Over the weekend tests were run and over all she was doing somewhat better but on Monday they ran an EEG and there were almost no brain waves.

That was when it was decided to pull the plug. It was a very tough decision to make. It was however within Cyn's wishes. No one could find her living will at first and we all wanted to give her as much of a chance as we could.

Her grand daughter is very upset because, in her mind, she had killed Cyn. I don't think 13 year old girls are not supposed to know what to do in such situations. She has talked to some professionals now and seems to be better about it but will most likely keep kicking herself for the rest of her life.

She is going to be seeing another psychiatrist starting next week for as long as she needs to.

In a family of unique individuals Cyn stood out. She was Mensa smart but had practical knowledge to go with it.

She was only 57.

She will be missed.

 

Sorry to hear of the loss of your sister. Bees are no joke anymore, and testing for alergic reactions to bees is not too common. My Mother had a massive heart attack about this time last year and suffered a similar fate. No brain activity, and her wishes were not to be artificially supported either. It was the single hardest decision I have ever had to make and I am choking up at this very moment. Sorry for your loss, and the emotional strain on your family and granddaughter, even if she knew how to perform a tracheotomy, under that much stress, it would have been difficult. It is a hard thing to watch someone slip away. she did everything she could

 

Deepest condolences to you and your family. My sister lost her husband quite awhile ago in a similar situation. He was digging and came across a hive. They tried using a shot and it broke. They weren't really close to any Hospitals as they were camping so they took off in their truck. They never made further than the drive and he was gone. He had an earlier encounter a couple months prior where he was successful in getting a shot in time. A year prior to that had been struck by lightning.

 

Sorry to read these storys , Heart breaking.

When i was 10 i was running out of some woods in ohio with a few kids and kicked a hornets nest that had fallen out of a tree infront of me and was swarmed , 37 stings , made it home , kinda dizzy , Mom pulled hornets off me that were still there . took me to the hospital. by the time we got there i felt fine. In the USMC diging foxholes , A few guys dug into a massive under ground hive , I probally got hit 15- 20 times there. No big deal,
On the otherside , My wife of 22 years has to get a shot if stung , And has been stung 2 times in her life. And i'm well over 50 stings from differant types , Worst one ever was a hornet stung my lower ear , And 17 years later it will go numb at times.

allergies are a weird thing , horses are the only thing that shuts me down.

 

My heart goes out to you and your family.

I am highly allergic to bees, wasps, yellow jackets, etc. myself. I believe I was about eight years old, I was playing baseball in our yard. Got tangled up with a nest of yellow jackets. I got stung eight times. I spent two nights in the hospital. I was extremely sick. Had a fever of over 105 shortly after being stung. They had me in an ice room with ice bags all over my body trying to keep my brain from shutting down. I had no idea I was allergic till then nor did my family. Doctors said they were lucky to keep me alive.

Anyway yellow jackets are some of the worst. And most people don't know they build nests on the ground unlike the wasp nest you typically see on the eves of your house. They can also build nests on your house and in an attic is a common place as well. It's very easy to stumble onto a nest as you may never know it was there.

Stay strong. She is in a better place now.

 

Deepest condolences to you and your family.

Bees are no joke for those of us that are allergic. I carry an Epi-Pen to cut off anaphyalctic shock and brocho-spasms. Anyone who is allergic to bees should always have one handy at all times. The one time I did not was the first time I was stung. Benadryl kept me going until I got to the hospital, but just barely.

If you think you might be allergic PLEASE go get tested.

 

Well Cyn did not have a history of being particularly allergic to bee stings.

She had been stung about two weeks before she hit the nest and had what her doctor called a minor reaction to that single sting. A few days after seeing her doctor she broke out in hives and was sick to her stomach so she went back to the doctor. He said it was just a delayed reaction. Personally I think he should have prescribed an eppi pen for her then. Instead he told her to get more Benadryl and prescribed a steroid for the swelling and hives.

Last summer I ran over a yellow jacket nest in the early evening. It was a hot day so I decided to do my mowing in the 'cool of the evening'. I had finished my lawn and decided to do the neighbors yard since I still had plenty of gas in the mower.

With it being that near dark it took me a while to realize that I was being stung by bees. I thought it was the sand and light gravel by the edge of the street where I was making my turn on the lawn.

I ran home and got in the shower right away while my wife and kid were busy killing the bees that had tagged along with me. I was stung more than 100 times. I felt sick to my stomach and started twitching so they took me to ER. The neighbors home owners insurance covered the bill completely.

Since Cyn died I called my doctor and told him what happened and asked him to write a prescription for an eppi pen for me and he said “No problem”

Hopefully the pen will out date before I ever need it, but its comforting to know its on hand.

 

Grizz-

My deepest condolences to you and your family. Sorry to learn about losing your Sis. And agree the 13 year old should NOT blame herself.. Easy to say, harder to do.. Hopefully in time she will become at peace with it all.. Bad things happen to good people (unfortunately)..

Me, I was painting the shutters on my house, heard some buzzing. Next thing I knew the hornets were coming out from behind the one I was working on... I jumped off the ladder & run. Still got tagged by one of em.. I didn't know if I was allergic or not.

Turns out I was not..But those hornets meant business. After things settled down, I squirted a load of RAID in behind that shutter..