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  • Super User
Posted

Short version: Ground wasps. Don’t mow over their hive. 
 

Storytime: 
 

So looks like I’m done fishing for the year. Remote chance I’ll be able to get out in late November, but I’m not banking on it. 
 

Saturday morning started innocently enough. Was gonna mow the lawn and then relax the rest of the day. Made the first pass with the lawn mower, and my left foot gave out on some wet grass and I went down hard. I look at my foot, and it’s facing the wrong way. Totally busted. I yelled some profanities, and started to crawl to get to my girlfriend inside so she can call the ambulance. And then I felt it. I looked down at my body, and I’m covered in wasps. Stinging me on my face and neck, legs, arms, in my shirt, pants, there are hundreds. I start to fade in and out of consciousness as my busted ankle and million wasp stings start to get to me. I’m swatting them the best I can, but with a totally shattered ankle I can’t do much.

 

I ended up losing consciousness on my drive way as I tried to crawl across it. My girlfriend thankfully had heard my yells, and comes out as I regain some level of consciousness. I tell her not to come near me as I’m covered in ticked off wasps, and just call 911. She sobbing of course, and calls ambulance that would end up showing up very fast, in under 10 minutes. So they show up to a guy with a foot that is facing the wrong way, covered in wasp stings, huge hives, and wheezing so much I can barely breathe. 

 

They load me into the ambulance and give me epinephrine and some other stuff to stop the anaphylaxis, and some pain meds for the leg. At this point I’m completely delirious, and immediately admitted upon arrival to the hospital. They scheduled me for surgery that was completed yesterday morning to fix 2 broken bones in the tibia and fibula, as well as 2 in the foot. In the meantime they had me on a Benadryl drip to help curb the anaphylaxis, which had thankfully started to fade by this time. 
 

Surgery was successful, and the reaction to the wasps is gone besides hundreds of itchy welts. No more hives or labored breathing. I’ll be on crutches for 10-12 weeks, then a boot for some time after that. 
 

So that was my weekend. A bad situation that almost turned really bad because of wasps. If you see any wasp/bee activity along the ground, inspect for a hive before mowing. If I was highly allergic to wasp venom, I probably would have died as they stung me dozens and dozens of times as I could barely stay conscious. 
 

So that’s my story and PSA. Ground wasps, they suck. 
 

 

  • Like 2
  • Sad 18
  • Super User
Posted

Wow.  That is quite a story.  Hoping you make a full recovery.

 

I dealt with a ground nest/hole once at my last house while mowing.  The first time, I thought a small pebble or something had come out of the mower and hit me in the leg.  Didn't think much of it.  Later it was very itchy but went away soon enough.

 

The following week, mowing again, in the same spot, again.  This time I saw the wasp sting me.  I then saw another buzzing the tower and where it came from - a small baseball-sized hole in the ground.  My dog got hit once too, just above the eye.  She ran out of there like her fur was on fire lol

 

I waited until sunset, filled that hole with lighter fluid, and shoved a brick of black cats down there with a long fuse.  Placed a rock over the hole and lit the black cats.  They're DEAD.

  • Like 3
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  • Super User
Posted

@Jar11591

What the heck Dude !!!

That's a Bad day right there.

Glad you're mostly OK and on the mend.

Hope your leg heals well.

I broke the same two bones in my lower leg playing football half a life time ago.

I was going in for 6 but got wiped out at the goal line. 

Surgery and 3 screws to hold it all in place 

4 months later, I was good.  Besides having an itchy pencil leg when the cast came off, to this day I can tell you when it's going to rain 24 hours in advance.

Take it slow my friend.

We just never know what each day will bring. 

:smiley:

A-Jay

 

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Posted

Dude... that is a bad morning. Thankfully your girlfriend was home and heard you! Hope you make a full recovery with little to no residual effects.

 

You may want to get tested for allergies to bees/wasps. As you may know, some people become allergic later in life after being stung through out their life. Sounds like you got a couple lifetimes of stinging in a few minutes...

 

Thought I was all that at 14 years old and messed with a nest of yellow jackets at my cousins. I lost lol. Had a nest of the same kind of yellow jackets in the ground at the house next to my parents several years later. I plugged up the emergency exit hole and dumped a whole can of raid in the main entrance. No more yellow jackets

  • Thanks 1
Posted

Goodness, that's a horrible day!

 

I've heard stories of ground wasps, but thankfully have never encountered them! Whew. 

 

I do have some lower leg issues...ruptured my Achilles tendon playing basketball...and also broke bones in my foot...again playing basketball. Those days are over. 

 

Broken bones are no fun, but today's medicine is pretty fantastic...I'm sure you will have a full recovery!

  • Thanks 1
Posted

Could not have much worse than that, I wish you a full recovery.  I had a scary situation with ground wasps while mowing with my zero turn mower;  lucky I wear glasses.  One of them bounced off my glasses while another got me on the eyebrow and closed that eye for about a week.  Nasty critters!

  • Thanks 1
Posted

So did the ground give way and your foot went into the hole where the nest was? Or did you just slip on the grass and then get attacked?

 

Either way, I think you used up your bad luck for a while.

 

I've had several run-ins with underground yellow jacket nests while mowing the lawn. That's bad enough for me. I remember the first time, for a second I thought my old riding lawn mower had caught fire and that's what was burning my leg 😆

 

They will return to the same nest in following years if the holes aren't blocked.

  • Like 1
  • Super User
Posted

 

 

Wow! Jar, I'm glad you're ok. That's nightmare fuel as my SOP is to jump off the mower or tractor and do a 40 yard sprint. But with a busted leg you just had to take it. I carry Benadryl when I bush hog, because it's not a question of if I'm getting stung, but when.

  • Like 1
Posted

Man that’s a rough day. That’s an awful feeling laying on the ground hopeless fighting for your life. I’m glad you came out on the other side. 
 

I took 5 hits from wasps two weeks ago. One got me in the eye lid and my eye was swollen shut for a day or two. Doc gave me a shot that really sped up recovery. I can’t imagine having dozens of those all over. 

  • Like 1
  • Global Moderator
Posted

Yikes! Glad you’re above the dirt! I’ve had some serious allergic reactions to bees and a few random other things. Luckily my bee allergy is trending downward as I stirred up a nest of yellow jackets (which I guess are ground wasps?) last summer with weedeater and they were all inside my clothes stinging the hell out of me. I had to strip down and run for it, there were hundreds in my pants. And I wasn’t at my house so that was a little interesting running through a crowded neighborhood that I didn’t live in wearing nothing but boxers. I didn’t have a reaction like I used to when I was younger. I’m told it either gets worse or better with time and hopefully mine is getting better. Honestly in your situation I feel as though anyone would have a reaction, that’s a lot of stinging when you can’t escape, you might have had more venom in your veins than blood at that moment 

  • Like 1
Posted

Sounds like a scene from a Stephen King or a Hitchcock movie.

 

Glad you survived. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

  • Like 1
  • Super User
Posted

Dang Jar!!! Glad you're mostly OK.  Praying for your healing brother.

  • Like 1
Posted

Glad you’re mostly ok considering! It has been a bumper year for ground wasps and yellow jackets inNC this year. Tons of them on the mountain bike trails and there’s a nest on almost every bench at a sports field where I run. I’ve never seen anything like it.

  • Like 1
Posted

Wow, that's crazy. Glad they didn't kill you. Prayed for you, and hope you the best!

  • Like 1
  • Super User
Posted

That is one hell of a story. You are really lucky to be alive. Hope you heal fast. 

  • Like 1
  • Super User
Posted

Jar, I sure hope you get feeling better soon. Sounds like a really bad deal you've been through.

  • Like 1
  • Super User
Posted

Thanks for the well wishes, all. It’s truly appreciated. Hopefully that morning will be my worst for some time. I can go without another situation like that. 
 


@fin I don’t really know. I remember my foot giving out and realizing it was broken, then the stings started. It all happened so fast. But if I had to guess, I’m assuming I stepped on the hive and caved it in. 

  • Like 2
  • Super User
Posted

Hoping for a fast and complete recovery for you. Dang that was a seriously bad day. 

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  • 2 months later...
  • Super User
Posted

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Slowly healing up from the leg break and subsequent surgery. Pictures are from 4 weeks ago, when I first got the cast taken off. I’m in a walking boot now, and can put light pressure on it as long as I have my crutches as well. Range of motion is still very limited, but I’ve started physical therapy so hopefully that comes back soon. Getting very antsy to get back to my normal life and even more antsy to get my d**n boat out on the lake before it freezes. This has been quite the ordeal, but I’m on the home stretch. Hopefully I’ll be able to join a baseball league next year as I had originally planned. Doctors say 6-12 months before sports are a possibility, so I’m hoping it’s closed to the 6 months. 

  • Like 7
  • Super User
Posted

Glad to hear you’re coming around. That’s a journey you never want to take again.

  • Thanks 1
  • Super User
Posted

Wow 😮 

Hope 2025 treats you with an epic year of fishing.

  • Thanks 1
  • Super User
Posted

Geez, that’s nasty. I’m glad you’re on the mend.

 

Last month I got lit up with 6 or 7 yellow jacket stings mowing over their nest. But that’s like a mild sunburn compared to what you went through.

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