06/11/2026
Soooo I had a little accident on Wednesday. I was attempting to harvest some of the honey from “the mean hive”. I’ve never had a problem doing inspections, but they must have known something was different. Within a few minutes, they were stinging me (through my bee stingproof suit!) and a handful made it up into my veil. I panicked (huuuuuggee mistake) and ran about 25 feet away and flung off my veil to try to get them out and stop stinging. Unbeknownst to me about 10,000 bees had followed me and started stinging my face “for real”. They got down into my neck, tangled in my hair, all the while stinging and stinging.
When I finally freed myself, my face had at least 30 bee stings. To make matters worse, I had left the hive open in my retreat and had to go back to put the roof back on! They were waiting for me.
As the day wore on, my face swelled so badly my right eye swelled shut. My upper lip was swollen down practically to my chin. Talking was very difficult. My normally heart-shaped face was square with inflammation filling my new jowls. I was unrecognizable, even with both eyes.
I did not feel the need to go to the hospital, as I was swallowing and breathing fine. I started taking Claritin and ibuprofen, but they did not stop the swelling. I was prescribed some steroids yesterday. The swelling in my right eye has gone down a bit, and both eyes, which were black yesterday, are starting to look a little better. Fingers crossed that the swelling eventually fades and that there is no permanent disfigurement.