I'll just cut to the chase and say..it hurt like hell. At least what I would think hell would feel like. And if this little thing caused me so much pain I can only imagine the pain and suffering in hell.
I had no idea what happened at first. I looked over at my trash can and saw trash spilling over the top and thought I'd just push it down a bit. As soon as I put my hands near the top without really touching anything I felt extreme searing pain in my left thumb. I quickly withdrew my hand and ran to the sink pouring cold water over it.
It was like my thumb was sliced open and now on fire, but there was no sign of blood. I shut the water off making this localized pain almost unbearable. Within seconds after not noticing blood I started to see swelling emerge. Immediately my thumb went to twice and then three times the normal size.
What the heck happned? I started to panic thinking I was maybe bit by a poisonous spider. I've heard about them and living in Florida I know they exist but I didn't see anything. So I had no idea the cause of this sharp pain.
So I called my husband thinking I may need to go to Urgent Care. He was home within 20 minutes. In the meantime I did my best to get dressed with only one hand trying to keep ice on the affected area.
After that I peeked cautiously around the top of the trash to see if I could see any crawly insect. When I could not, I gingerly picked up the trash bag and brought it out to the garage with one hand while the other was holding an ice cube.
Whatever was in this trash I did not want in the house.
When my husband came home, he checked my swollen hand and didn't like what he saw. My thumb was not only swollen but also red and hard and couldn't bend.
He put gloves on and dumped the small white trash bag onto the garage floor spilling the contents of the last two day's worth of trash. Cautiously he shook each tuna can and piece of trash before putting it back in the bag. I stood over him (well behind him ready to run-heh) half expecting to see some big spider crawl out or something. As he got near the end with nothing suspicious in sight, I went back into the kitchen and grabbed the big wicker basket we use as a trash can.
As he was finishing up his task, I took the now empty wicker basket and started to shake it upside down noticing a few small pieces of trash at the bottom. Just as I did this I heard him shout "watch out" as I again felt a sharp sting, this time in my little pinky on the same left hand.
WHAT? Again? I ran to the sink but knew immediately it wasn't nearly as bad. Behind me I heard my husband say "it's just a hornet." He had noticed what I did not. This wasp was on the outside of the basket near my finger facing my hsuband. The hornet was lethargic; barely moving and my husband stepped on it. That thing was huge.
So needless to say, I felt bad having him come home over what turned out to be a hornet sting. It brought to mind the writing in Revelation about the scorpions that will invade the earth at the last days and sting for a period of I believe five months. People will cry out and seek death but will not find it.
Ok, it wasn't that bad, but it sure felt bad and the panic of not knowing wasn't a good feeling either.