Riverbee's Journey

[brooksbeefarm]

Don't think i would like having Mammy Yoakum and Squirt ganging up on me. but of course i would win in the end. Jack

[iddee]

Mammy Yoakum was the toughest little squirt I ever knew of, so I figured the title was well deserved.   

[Zweefer]

...  I have also had volunteers on this forum and in our bee club offer their assistance

And it still stands!

[riverbee]

i backed into my extractor today.
4 days ago, i dropped the soft top to my jeep on top of it.
the soft top was stored sort of above it in the general vicinity, knocked it off the hangers and pling!  i put the jeep in gear (today), skipped a gear and whammo......
 
we took honey supers off 2 weeks ago.  extraction is done at my city res, and equipment is stacked  up neatly in the garage to take back to my rural res for storage.  moved the extractor and the soft top.....it's all good, maybe a ding or two.....

i took no stings while taking supers off.   the bees have been so calm and gentle. maybe it's just me, maybe i am being more careful about the bees now. full gear is annoying and gloves sometimes make it fumbly, but i have always been one to take my time.

since reading tom's post, i have had some  moments of reflection for myself...
tom's thread is here:
In an hour all my bees will be gone

if you are reading tom, not easy, very bittersweet to give up bees.  i wish you well, and i really hope you hang around here in the forum to help others.

i might make it sound like this has been easy, and i am not 'indomitable' , but thanks scott. there has been many discussions in my household over my desire to continue keeping bees.  what i haven't said is the compromises and promises made short of getting rid of the bees since my doc's release to work bees again. 

1. i will not work bees alone, catch swarms or look at 'bee's' that turn out to be wasps, hornets or yellow jackets on my own.
2. i won't work/check anyone else's bees.
3. any larger than normal reaction to a sting to be determined.
4. any systemic reaction whatsoever, for example hives, the bees will be gone.
5. any e/r visit the bees will be gone.
and all my equipment.

that's where i am at right now.  only the first few stings or future stings will dictate where i will be at with keeping bees in the future.  for now, i am content.

just a short story....a couple days ago, i was out in the back forty shooting walnuts out into the woods with a hockey stick instead of a golf club and picking up downed branches before i started mowing....
in the tall grass, i saw a little fuzzy head poking up.  i left the little fuzzy head there for a few hours thinking the mother would drag her back up to the nest. (sometimes they do)  we had some pretty good wind gusts that day, so figured she blew out of the nest a short distance away (like rounding up my deck umbrella 50 yards out) and for me a cherry picker to get her back up in the tree.  i kept checking, and found her nose down, shivering in the grass.  when i walked up to her she crawled right up onto my foot and ankle, just shivering.  i couldn't leave her to die. brought her in, got her warm and later, rehydrated. later, pretty hungry. called a friend of mine in wildlife rehab.....
a female, pretty healthy and about 4-6 weeks old.....
i enjoy critters as much as i do bees...

[Gypsi]

please please please River, stick a bottle of clorox in your jeep.  Just a tee tiny bottle with an eye dropper, enough to smear on a sting while the other hands is fumbling for your epi

[Jen]

Awwwwe Riv, that's the sweetest story ever. Reminds me of when I found my little brown bat on my back steps. I feel inside that we were meant to find them. Bless you for taking care of this sweet thing ~sniff~

[lazy shooter]

I'm delighted to see this thread is still alive.  I'm surprised a wild squirrel would let you pick it up.  You must be close akin to nature.  I think your five articles of bee keeping are well stated.  Good on you for surviving the wee one, but be aware they are terrible house pets. 

My home is surrounded by pecan, persimmon and live oak trees and my squirrels look like they are cardiac patients.  They're the biggest fox squirrels that I have ever seen.

[brooksbeefarm]

Hope that never happens to you squirt, I enjoy fighting with you. Jack

[riverbee]

.............
well jack, IF it did, you can guarantee i'll be here picking on you for some reason or another............you are stuck with me

the squirrel lazy is an eastern gray. the squirrel came to me, crawled up on my foot and looked up at me. when i picked her up, she just curled up and tried to burrow in my shirt for warmth. seems over the years, i have been a 'rescuer' for many birds and critters of all sorts.   she went to the wildlife rehab friend. they really do need to be raised with other squirrels when motherless in order for them to survive when released.  she won't be released until next spring.  i donated the dollars for her feed and care, and also to support the non profit organization.  these folks are volunteers and are not paid for what they do. i volunteer time when i can to help out.

thanks gypsi, i hope to never be fumbling around with the eppy. 

[Jen]

Hey Riv    that's the type of organization that I sent my little bat too. I found him/her in the late fall clinging onto my back step. I was going out to get some fire wood. Carefully and safely I put little bat in a box with flannel and a low watt light bulb to warm him up. I was able to give him water. Then I went to work finding where to take him. Turns out, that northern California had such a long cold winter/spring that there were not enough mesquitos or air born insects for bats to eat that summer, so they never fattened up for the winter. Calif Fish and Game posted an article due to many calls of bats on the ground. Nothing was wrong with 'little bat', he was just starving

Long story short, the organization that he went too, was able to keep him hibernating and fed for only three months, then he passed. The sweet lady that took care of him, said that 'little bat' would lay on her lapel to get a bit to eat and a drop of water everyday, then scoot back in his box to sleep. It was a moment in my life that will always stay with me.

[jayj200]

riverbee's journey?

i am an allergic beekeeper having developed a bee venom allergy in the summer of 2012, and as it turns out, after the testing in october of 2012, i am allergic to all stinging insects; honeybee, yellow jacket, wasp, and hornets, and have been undergoing venom immunotherapy injections for all of these stinging insects since january 24, 2013 of last year, one year coming up.  3 injections per week and am now on monthly injections.  the monthly injections, (3) consist of venom equivalent to one sting of each of the following; honey bee, wasp, and mixed vespid (hornets and yellow jackets).

in the spring of 2012, i developed larger than 'normal' reactions from honey bee stings not normal to what i had been accustomed to.  these reactions increased in severity.  as the season progressed into july of 2012, i wound up in emergency rooms after july  into august 2012 on 3 separate occasions being treated for anaphylaxis.  the last one was pretty scary for myself and my family.  i still remember it, the fear, struggling to breathe, my life really essentially passed before me.

as beekeepers we really never think of suffering from abnormal reactions, or anaphylaxis, i never really did, and wasn't prepared for it.  i was fortunate, i had early warning signs and ignored them. sometimes there is no warning, one sting is all it takes and within 20 minutes your life changes. one sting changes everything.  for me it did. i have taken many stings, so why now, or why me?  i can't answer this.  no one can, lots of theories, our immune systems are so complex.

in the fall of 2012 i went through the testing process for stinging insect allergy twice.  after the testing, it took a month to order all of the required venom before i could start receiving injections. my immunologist  doc  informed me that  i could not work bees for at least 2 years and up to 5 years depending on my progress with the injections, to once again develop immunity to stings, and to protect myself from an anapyhlactic reaction. i might be in the category of a 'lifer';  continuing to receive injections on a monthly or 6 week basis for the rest of my life.

so i came to a 'crossroad' in my life, a choice of whether to continue to keep bees or not.  whether i make that choice now or sometime in the future, one choice was clear, that i needed to take venom immunotherapy injections for all the other circumstances arising by coming across a stinging insect, but could i or can i give up honey bees? i still struggle with that.  i have a great passion for honey bees, how can i give this up?  only time will tell, and that is the journey i am on. 

since late summer of  2012, i have not worked my bees, but did capture a swarm in full gear at about 100 degrees and high humidity last august.    i carry two epi-pens, an emergency dose of steroid, and liquid benadryl.  the winter months give me a reprieve on this. my epi pens have seen a fair amount of adventure and travel; learning to carry them, 'where's the pen",  losing them, leaving them behind,  being run over and near smashed, floating down a river, and actually having them stolen one time and returned.....

i still have the majority of my hives, and they have literally gone almost untouched.  a great degree of frustration of crash training a spouse in the fine art of keeping honey bees who is now very addicted to them, and catching swarms. 
 
my injections have been a long journey; weekly visits that were often times frustrating,  stressful,  and with a number of setbacks. i have suffered a great deal of abnormal reactions, (still do) adjustments to my injection schedule, a preparation of the needles to minimize the large reactions and  taking benadryl before and after the injections.  my doc and shot docs have been  entertained/educated in the process.  i found a way to teach  about honey bees.....from painting smiley faces on my arms (where i receive the injections), to wearing all sorts of bee hats, antennae,  bringing  pictures,  queen cages, package cages, honey, and comb honey and frames of capped honey with me.  wearing bee antennae in a clinic waiting room full of allergic patients gets a lot of looks, laughs, and questions, especially from children.

i still suffer from large reactions to the honey bee injection; probably always will, and my doc says, once back into the bees, i will most likely always suffer from large local reactions, and will most likely have to wear full gear.  i can deal with that. 

will i be ready to work bees this spring?  right now this is an unknown for me, my doc says lets talk about it come february or march and i think, another round of testing.  my doc says venom immunotherapy is successful. and i might add, encouragement of others has made this journey less stressful, and me a less impatient beekeeper as time passes with the injections.

i have never spoken of this or shared this.  the summer of 2012 was a very hard summer for me besides developing the allergy.  i hope never to see another emergency room, dentist, orthodontist, oral surgeon, or an orthopedic surgeon again, well, at least not all in  the span of a few months. the allergy was enough in and of itself.....so some history......

in 2010, i had to have a root canal re-done through a 3 crown bridge on an anchoring crown of a tooth of the seated bridge, leaving the bridge in place but cleaning out of the original root canal, as i said through the crown of the bridge. just wait......don't forget this......

in the spring of 2011, i suffered a stress fracture to my r hip socket and completely tore the hip flexor muscle, so spent most of the fall and winter, 2011/2012  on crutches.  working bees in crutches is not on a bucket list and neither is fishing on a pair of crutches....don't forget this....
in the spring and summer 0f 2012, the fracture was not healing properly. i thought i might have to have surgery on this.

fast forward to 2012:
in june 2012 i lost a very good long time friend to ovarian cancer, she was only 48.  her husband is still lost without her.  can't imagine.

in july of 2012,  i developed a toothache under the 3 crown bridge. in short, a trip to the dentist, a trip to the orthodontist to look at the re-done root canal, back to the dentist, off to an oral surgeon, who sent me back to the dentist to cut the bridge off and then back to the oral surgeon who extracted the tooth. lots of mystery tools these folks have. LOL.  i chose to be put under.  needless to say i went to sleep without realizing it talking bees, and when i woke up apparently i was describing how drones mate with queen bees.   

in late july 2012, off to montana.  the night before we left, i checked the bees. i was stung.  i didn't feel good, by very early morning to get on the road, hives.  by noon i was covered in hives.  in miles city, montana i was treated with massive injections of steroid, an antihistamine, and a steroid prescription.

two days later, SOMEONE left a window open next to a doorway that shouldn't be there,  where underneath sat a cooler of cold ones.  after a long day of fishing, i grabbed a couple cold ones, and whack, hit my noggin on that window.  didn't feel so good. about knocked myself silly. red stuff trickled down my face.  off to the emergency room in livingston, montana.

two days after that....are you all still with me?    .....i slipped going up the bank of a river, and fell  on my right knee on a rock and jammed that right hip. and  dinged a new fly reel.  it was a long haul back to the truck.  stubborn as i can be sometimes, wasn't going back to an emergency room.

 3 days later in an emergency room in kalispell, montana, i was treated for that fall.  i was in excruciating pain.  i thought i had either re-fractured the socket or tore the muscle again.  so pain killers and a pair of crutches until i could get back home to the orthopede.  the crutches; alot of mileage, from my dad, to me, and now to my brother. so my fishing/family vacation was spent in e/rs, on steroids, painkillers, benadryl and crutches.......btw, you can fish on crutches with drugs.....hard to run after grandchildren  though.......

august/september/october 2012, two more e/r visits for anaphylaxis and then the tests for the allergy.  and ps, never want to be on steroids again, the withdrawal from these are incredible.

i don't lead a dull life, but does settle down from time to time....

so....up to date...i hope with this new thread to keep everyone updated on my progress, and also answer any questions, or help educate others on reactions to stings, or the entire process; testing, venom immunotherapy injections, epi pens, etc  i have learned a great deal of information since my allergy started and wish to share what i know with others from my own experience, and maybe a few funny stories along the way. 

last but not least, i can't express enough of a thank you to all who have encouraged me through 'my journey'.  i have never 'met' any of you but think and feel as if i have.  many of you have given me a great deal of encouragement when i needed it the most.  thank you.  sorry for the long winded post!

what a great start for me to a great new year, one year of injections behind me.....old friends, new friends and a great new forum!!!
how cool is that!!!

I am just say en someone is telling you to get right with GOD

GOD is not dead

*thanks jay

[efmesch]

Thanks, Jay, for collecting all those dispersed, choice selections fron Riverbee's Journey.  On the one hand, I repeated my suffering with her pains for a second time, but on the other hand, I thank the living God for showing that He is with her all the way.  Obviously, she must be doing something right.  I'm sure I join with many others on the forum wishing her many long years ahead---in good health.






*thank you efmesch~

[kebee]

 Amen to that efmesch.

Ken






*thank you ken~

[iddee]

GOT MY VOTE.








*thank you iddee~

[lazy shooter]

Here, here, I always have been, and still am, in Riverbee's corner.  As always, Ef's use of our language is extraordinary.  We're privileged to have River and Ef on this forum.






*thank you lazy~

[Perry]

Here, here, I always have been, and still am, in Riverbee's corner.  As always, Ef's use of our language is extraordinary. We're privileged to have River and Ef on this forum.

Couldn't have said it any better myself! 



*thank you perry~

[riverbee]

thanks jayj for your post.........
and to ef........

"I thank the living God for showing that He is with her all the way.  Obviously, she must be doing something right.  I'm sure I join with many others on the forum wishing her many long years ahead---in good health."

thank you ef. i feel blessed in many ways, and sometimes beyond belief, and i am thankful, and thankful for the greater 'compass' guiding me..... i hope to enjoy many years ahead in good health as we all do.  i had not read my first post here on the journey that started my injections since i posted it here in january 2014. so, some reflection for me.  i take very little in my life for granted anymore, and i have come a long ways since then in many ways.  thanks to all of you for your uplifting comments.  i wish we had a thank you button, but seeing's how i am a moderator on this forum i found another way to say thank you.......

btw i received my 6 weeks injections (all 3) last friday.  my injections went well, and very little welting, itching, or other side effects.  it is so nice not to suffer from the reactions; so nice not to take benadryl before and after or tape ice packs to my arms for the first 24 hours.  those days are gone and i feel i am well on my way......like a garmin gps saying....'arriving at destination'........
only my destination will be reached when my injections begin at intervals of 8 weeks or maybe 12 someday, and more importantly, that i can take stings without a life threatening reaction. 
for some reason i believe i can and i believe i will.
if not i will adjust, as tom did and others have and make an appropriate decision, or .......'recalculate'.............

[lazy shooter]

Doctors are very cautious professionals.  Their liability insurance causes this.  Therefore, I believe with all my heart that if your doctor told you that you could resume beekeeping that he is SURE that anaphylactic shock is in your past.  I realize he is human and could be wrong, but again, I believe he thinks you are for practical purposes cured.  I'm sure he will want to keep you come in for a visit and another round of inoculations from time to time.

Also, I was thinking of the squirrel's affinity for you and I remembered the old quote, "birds of a feather flock together."  From there it's easy to go to "squirrels gather around other squirrels." 

Have a nice day gal.

[riverbee]

they are lazy, but just as we all are in our professions.  the immunotherapy, from my own personal experience is the doc's follow a protocol.  i don't know how to explain this for others to understand, and there are different 'schedules' for the protocols, and standards that must be met.  how do i know this? because i asked my doc.  most take this for granted and do not ask, i learned from asking. and i also learned because my 'schedule' and the protocols had to be adjusted according to my reactions.  my doc is good though, she takes the time with me to explain and answer my questions.  i am most curious, and more so maybe than others.  there are very few patients she treats for sting immunotherapy, and i am the only one she treats for immunotherapy for all stinging insects.  it's not common.

i am confident in her, and i am confident that she would have never released me to resume keeping bees, given the knowledge i have about my own immunotherapy and the education she gave me.  in simple terms, i don't know how else to explain it, but when the injections reach a certain stage with little to no reaction, the immune system has built up the immunity.  i remember how much i pressed her, when? when i would ask, will i ever be the same.......she would smile and say "be patient" .  and so i was, and am, but impatiently.....    
i learned that if my immunotherapy had progressed very poorly with systemic reactions, even one,  they would have ceased or the amounts would have been greatly reduced and the outcome perhaps would have been different, and i would have been advised to stop keeping bees.

is medical science, diagnosis, treatment exact? a certain 'cure all'.  what is?  only time will tell, only stings will tell, and i have made the decision to continue for now.  she does not 'promise' me  or 'guarantee' that i won't suffer from a systemic reaction, but speaks rather in terms of medical/scientific probabilities of the likelihood of suffering a systemic reaction after successful and ongoing successful immunotherapy that a systemic reaction is highly unlikely.  i know it's jibberish to everyone but in short it's probably covering the murphy's law thing i think.......
with that said, i have been encouraged about how successful immunotherapy is. i met a commercial beekeeper she treated/is treating who suffered from systemic reactions, and anaphylaxis.  he went through the immunotherapy successfully as i did, went back to keeping bees, and receives injections every 12 weeks or so, and has for the past 5 years with no problems. 

as far as the squirrels lazy , they aren't the only ones that seem to have an 'affinity' for me......my prince often says to me, what is it with you?  i don't mind.  he comes home from work sometimes to find i have some feathered or fur in the house; in the living room, in the bathroom, in a box, in a cage, in the garage.......
don't ask me why they were in the bathroom......
have you ever held a hummingbird in your hands? or an oriole, a young pheasant or grouse, or maybe a baby great horned owl, a young fawn who can barely stand in your arms?  pretty cool!  just getting them back to their environment successfully.  it doesn't always happen. 
thanks for your comments lazy!

[Jen]

Sweet River, you are the woodland critter whisperer    an honor indeed ~