Bee Sting Business

Every summer since I can remember I have encountered an angry bee, wasp, or hornet and came out a sore loser.  I've had multiple stings on my ankles, a sting on my face, thigh, arm and hand... Friday, I went for a walk up to the foothills and took a little adventure along the river trails.  On my way up the final hill, I felt a sharp stinging sensation radiating from my knee.  As I bent over to take a look at my knee I rested my hands on my shorts... inadvertently I trapped the stinging bugger under my clothing.  The hornet stung me again higher up on my thigh.  I was a little over a mile away from my apartment and decided to run home.  The running helped lessen the pain and irritation.  But I think it might have helped make the venom spread a little faster. Thinking the sting would go away on its own, I ignored it.  I woke up in the middle of the night with severe itching.  The redness and swelling around the upper part of my thigh was 3'' in diameter.  I took some medicine and hoped for the best.  The itching got worse and so Michael got me some generic cortizone 10 cream from Walgreen's.  The itching continued all day Saturday.  I tried Ice, the cream and benadryl with little success.  Actually the ice felt really good...I just ran out of ice.  Saturday the swelling/redness measured 7" across.  Here is a picture of my itchy inflammation/battle wounds (please ignore my thunder thighs).  I am guessing that my immune response heightened it security the second go around... probably why my inflammation is so much larger on my upper thigh. Sunday the redness and itching had lessened.  The skin is still tight and inflamed a bit but at least its getting better.  Imagine what I would look like if I had gotten stung 50 times!