We went fishing last weekend and I got stung by something with a stinger.  It hurt.  I felt something fluttering around where your arm attches to your body (chest?  shoulder? upper arm?) and absently scratched at it.  Next thing I know there's this incredible pain right there.  I thought it was a really big red ant biting me, but it hurt much worse than a red ant bite.  So I looked down and saw nothing.  So I pulled down the neck of my shirt and there was a stinger sticking out of my body, with hair/fur from the thing still attached.  I grabbed it and pulled it out, but there was still 1/4 inch stuck in me.  Yeah.  1/4 inch!!  What the heck was that thing?  I looked around and couldn't find a body and it wasn't in my shirt, so I have no idea what happened to the owner of said stinger.  I yelled for my husband to come look (he was only a couple feet away, but I was a bit panicked by then) and he had to take the pliers out of the fishing bag and pull the stinger out. 

Now normally a bee sting or wasp sting or some kind of flying bee-type creature sting isn't a big deal. But I'm allergic.  At least I used to be.  I remember being sent home from school in junior high because I got stung by a bee and my arm swelled up.  I think I was in high school before I realized that most people didn't swell up and get welts on their skin when stung.  I haven't been stung since I was a kid, so we weren't sure what was going to happen.  As it turns out, not much.  I got a welt and it was red and swollen and super itchy in an area about the size of your fist on Sunday.  Today, 4 days later, the red part is about the size of a half dollar and the itching is gone.  Huge improvement.  I'm not sure if this means I'm no longer allergic or if the reaction has lessoned (because I'm bigger?), but I'll take it.