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Meeting Florida's Vampire Ants

 It was a quiet Halloween afternoon. I was relaxing at my daughter's house, making up some Halloween treats. Mummy wrapped brownies, witches fingers and all sorts of yummies. It was a nice afternoon. 

Then we decided to go out and see her 3 new pets; Chickens. Buckbeak, Hennifer and Marmalade. All three were in their coop and we brought them out some tomatoes and bananas to munch.  We were all standing around talking about the chickens when I felt a tiny pinch on  my ankle. I brushed it off and kept chatting. Another pinch and it hit me; FIRE ANTS!  I do the Fire Ant dance where you start jumping and swatting. ]

This is Florida and those horrible little creatures will eat your flesh and leave little itchy blisters in their wake. Yuk! 

I've been bit by these little creeper before and immediately brushed them off and got back onto the patio. We went into the house and I didn't think anything else of it. I've been bitten by these little vampire ants before and although uncomfortable a few bites wasn't so bad. 

I'm on the couch talking to my daughters and everything starts burning and itching. It was like something lit every inch of my skin on fire from my head to my toes. I jump off the couch and run to the bathroom to check my clothing. Were those nasty vampire ants still on me? 

In the bathroom I rip off my shirt and check it for ants. Nothing. Now my arm pits are super itchy! Behind my knees, elbows. ears, my entire scalp! I look in the mirror and I'm all bright red; front, back, face. I pull my clothes back on and go out and show my daughter my back. She says, "OMG, you've got hives!" She pulls Allegra out of the cabinet and says take one. At this point my skin is on fire and itching like crazy. I swallowed one. She gets me another bottle of water and tells me to drink as much as I can. Then we go back to the bathroom and she puts that over the counter cortisone cream all over my back. I apply it to my legs and every other place. 

At this point my heart is pounding. She asks if my throat is closing up, is my tongue swelling. I pause in my scratching and say no. I rub my itching ears and so hard I think my ears are starting to swell.  I've never had this kind of reaction to anything before in all my 64 years.  

Now I can't sit still so I go to fold a load of laundry. (Yes, I was a stay at home mom for a few years and always found basic household chores could take my mind off things.) My husband comes in when I'm trying to get the clothes out of the dryer and at this point I'm going crazy with the itch and burning.  I lift my shirt to show him my bright red torso. He says Oh my God and maybe you should go to the hospital. 

Noooo, I don't want to go! I hate hospitals. 

Back out the the living room and I get ice packs and start placing them on my pulse points and the itchiest places. After a while the Allegra is starting to kick in and the pain is easing. 

Whew! I relax a little. More ice, deep breath. my heartbeat goes back to normal and I think it's going to be okay.  

Next morning my ankle is swollen and red but the hives are gone. I use cortisone cream and take Benadryl. I can't get a shoe on. Next day still swollen and painful, more Benadryl. I switch to Neosporin incase it's getting infected. Day 4 I'm at the doctor because, although the swelling is down a bit the bite from that nasty mini-vampires is red with little red lines curling off of it and running outward. 

Good news, it's not infected. That redness and streaky lines are all part of the allergic reaction. 

I have to wonder if I didn't immediately take the Allegra would this have been worse. Would I have ended up in the hospital? Scary thought when you live in the land of the Vampire Ants. Now there's some Benadryl in my purse to prevent another reaction that might be worse. If those Vampire Ants come near me again I'll be ready. I'll also be running the opposite direction!