I have thought long and hard about posting a quite horrendous experience of mine from the summer. I hope it doesn't seem overly dramatic, but that others can learn from my stupidity. I know I am thankful to be alive.

I also see that there have been quite a lot of postings lately about how many wasps and hornets there have been around this year. So, perhaps this post is timely.

Wednesday, July 20 started out like any other day. My wife went to work, and I decided to go for a bike ride. I told Deb I was going out to the Othello tunnels. I do this really frequently, so it was quite routine.

However, I decided to come back to town via the Coquihalla Highway - first mistake, because I didn't tell Deb, or anyone else for that matter, that I was going to come back to Hope a different way.

So, I biked on the highway back to town. Just before the Coquihalla Highway and the Hope Princeton Highway meet, there is a small mountain called Hubcap Hill,(or Nicolum Knob,) and I decided to climb it! It is not a big hill, but I had heard the views were great, and I knew I could probably make it up there and back to the highway in thirty to sixty minutes.

This was my second mistake, as no-one knew I was going up there. I ditched my bike in the trees, and began to climb up the path.

While climbing, I encountered a whole bunch of hornets, and I got
stung four or five times, the last one being on my neck. (I haven't been stung since 1991, and that time I had to go to emergency because of rapid heart beat and air-way constriction.)

Third mistake unfolded, because I didn't have any benadryl or an epipen with me. I just never thought I needed it.

I started to hoof it back to the highway fast, and after about two or three minutes, my face began to really heat up, the bottoms of my feet began to burn, and as I looked around me, it seemed that darkness was enveloping me.

I think my breathing became laboured too, but that could be because I was moving fast. I prayed to Jesus, very loudly, and told myself to keep walking, not sit down, and get to that highway!

Evidently, I blacked out - the doctors think I had a seizure - and when I came to, I was really disoriented, and lieing on my back, but I could hear the traffic of the highway.

I don't know how long I was out, 60 seconds, 60 minutes?

Well, I was off the trail by now, but made my way through grass, trees, branches and leaves, to the ditch of the Coquihalla Highway, both crawling, walking and running.

I climbed out of the ditch, and waved like a crazy man at all the cars - but no one stopped. (Since then, I have been really thinking about the cars not stopping, and I am not positive that I would stop either - but I don't know.)

I was beside myself now, because I knew help at the Hope Hospital's Emergency Room was only two or three miles away, and I was desperate to get there. I really was thinking I was going to die.

Then I crossed the freeway, (I don't really remember how,) and hailed cars that were heading toward Hope - and the second one stopped. They were a couple from Merritt who were on the way to Chilliwack, because the wife was having an operation.

I asked for help, they helped me into their van, and five minutes later, we were in Hope. While going to Hope, a police car and
an ambulance with lights flashing and sirens wailing went in the opposite direction up the highway, so I guess someone phoned 911 when they saw me on the side of the road.

I literally fell into the Emergency Room - I am pretty sure they thought I was an escapee from the local psyche ward - but I knew once I was there that I would be okay.

So today, I feel I am a little smarter, and very VERY thankful to be alive.

Deb and all the kids have told me never to do that again, the doctor told Deb to scold me, and my mother-in-law phoned me up and gave me a piece of her mind - I think she used words like 'dumb,' and 'stupid.'

Like I said, I am very thankful to be alive, and I do hope I am a little smarter for this.

Lessons? First of all, this day could be your last. Secondly, always have a plan for your days out, and stick to them. Thirdly, emergency supplies are crucial, even if you are just going for a little walk in the woods.

I feel really stupid posting this, because I think all the CT members are going to believe me to be a dork (partially true,) but if anyone reads this, and it makes them a little more conscious of potential dangers, then my feelings of dorkiness (is that a word?) will be worth it.

Of course, this has ruined my hiking season, which I was looking forward to so much - but I did make it up Outram in early July - and I have been very cautious about even riding.

I have also gone to an allergist in New Westminster, and we have started a regimen of allergy shots, which will, over the course of the next five years, most likely able to handle hornet and wasp stings in a much less dramatic fashion.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Hope this helps.







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Preach the gospel at all times; if necessary, use words.
St. Francis of Asissi

hey Peter?

glad you're still among us.

lesson learned, lesson shared.

thank you for posting about your experience. must have been frightening beyond belief (and your MiL must have been be annoying beyond belief re this episode)

thx for the inspiration and the caution.

Don't feel stupid about posting. Things like this don't just happen to "other people". They can happen to anyone, and it's good to be reminded of that.

Glad to hear you're okay!

Thanks very much for sharing this story Peter, and good to hear things turned out well. We've been talking alot on our end lately about this kind of reaction and the implications. Your story is very useful and timely.

PB

I hope people will be potentialy more responsive if they see someone in distress , but in this day and age I can see why someone would be reluctant to stop. Glad you OK.

I know exactly which wasps stung you... I have had a close call with that nest myself. "There, but for the grace of God, go I".

So far this year, I haven't been stung once. Knock wood.

If I saw someone in trouble, I hope I'd stop. Once I gave a guy on the Lytoon-Lillooet road a ride to Lillooet after he jumped out in front of my headlights and I nearly ran him down. Then it turned out he was just going into town to buy booze.. in fact, we passed a cab on the way which he had apparently called, before he flagged me down. Still, in the same situation I would stop again.

Agreed with all the above! Timely, indeed.

And, welcome back to CT Peter! Congratulations on Outram.

Thanks for the story Peter. We just recently got an epi-pen to put in our first aid kit for just such an emergency. Tim's son is allergic to a number of different foods and we thought it would be good to have along, just in case. You never know, if you get stung enough it could be the proverbial straw.

Incidentally, if anyone reading this has extended medical, you should check to see if they cover it. Our did and we only spent about $20 on the epipen. $20 insurance against severe allergic reaction and breathing complications, sounds good to me.

Thanks for the kind thoughts everyone. Something else I neglected to tell you in the first post...I asked the allergist, who is a Muslim, why I had come around after blacking out...because I understand when this happens, the blood pressure gets less and less, until death occurs.

He said to me, in his wonderful accent, "That was up to God!"

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Preach the gospel at all times; if necessary, use words.
St. Francis of Asissi

I think it's called anyphalactic shock.
And yeah, you're not being overly dramatic, it's an incredibly serious and always life-threatening situation.

Well, you're back! That's the important thing.
All the best! From now, forward, that is!

Thanks for posting that, Peter.

About 20 years ago I bicycled up to Cypress Bowl, and went hiking. Along the way, I got stung about 7 times by wasps from a nest in the trail. I ran away from them, and hurriedly continued down to my bike.

On the way, I began to get itchy all over, and found I was being covered by hives that eventually covered all of me as though I had cellulite everywhere. I itched like crazy all over, and by the time I got to my bike, I could feel my vision narrowing and my breathing being restricted as you described.

I remained functional, and used a pay phone to call a friend to come and get me. Since she did not have a car, she had to wait until another friend showed up with his car. I sat and waited for an hour, and decided no one was coming. Already getting cold from inactivity and the gathering dusk, I then coasted shivering all the way down to the Upper Levels highway. By the time I got there, the reaction was starting to reduce, but I was hypothermic.

My friends saw me headed the other way on the highway, and came and got me.

I carried a sting kit after that, understanding that one's reactions to stings are cumulative over your lifetime. But I have been stung periodically since then, without reaction. One time it was three stings. Each time since then, I have sat quietly until the danger passed, rather than keep moving fast as I did the time I had the reaction. If you have no hope of getting to help, it may be better to lay down, than to exercise and flush the toxins quickly through your body. But I don't know.

It's important to not screw around like I did. I should have called 911, and/or simply stopped the first motorist who passed by up at the parking lots. It also points out another reason to carry a cell phone if you're out alone. Far more people die from stings than bear attacks.


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Meet you at DYE-II?

Wow, that's incredible. I'm glad to hear it all turned out, although it sounds like it was a close one.

I've been thinking about this issue myself, as I've had bad reactions to bee stings before.

Thanks for sharing.

wow.. glad u are okay! its real stories like this that may help others..

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yeh baby!!

Yep, people like us. Tomorrow we are off to buy some benadryl.
Glad you did ok at the end.
Thanks for sharing.

When my daughter was a baby I asked my doctor about bee stings, and allergies.
Fortunately, I don't have any problems, I got stung twice last weekend and only had the itchy burning sensation to deal with.
He told me the more stings you are exposed to the worse the reaction becomes. So, if allergic the first couple times are not fatal, although you will have nasty symptoms.
Peter, don't feel like a dork for posting this, or for what you consider your mistake. It's when people tell their stories like this that we can all learn from, and for that I am thankful. Makes a person think for sure.
Glad you are ok, I would probably have phoned for emergency, being female would have been reluctant to stop (sad sign of the times we live in). I'd like to think I'd stop, you'd have to put me in the scene to say for sure.
But... you're here to tell the story, thankyou for that, and I hope you get back on the trails soon, with confidence, for you came through an ordeal, and that what has not killed you will only make you stronger

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I am a backpacker, and I wear hiking boots - don't diss my boots