At 12:22 PM 4/7/98 -0400, you wrote:
>I finished with the bees, and moved away to my truck and was
>hit from the side.  I do not think that I was in a glide path, in fact was
>behind the bees.  I got a hot flash in the side of my eye.  A quick look
by my >wife, a quick scrape, and a sting was out.  A few
>hours later my eye was swollen shut.  I have not had a reaction from bee
>stings before, only a slight swelling and itch alittle.  This scares me a
>little.  Is this a reaction because it was in a very
>soft place, or can I look to get more reaction in the future.  I get stung
>very seldom. The swelling is almost gone after 3 days, but still tender.
>
 
Walt,
 
I seldom swell from stings but was hit once in a tender part of my ankle
near the achilles tendon and it swelled up like a sprained ankle.  The
ankle was swollen and itchy for days.   I was also stung last year by two
bees (through canvas gloves) within an inch of each other on the back of
one finger.  My finger grew quite large and couldn't be flexed for about a
week.  Since I have gained confidence and stopped wearing gloves, I haven't
been stung in the hands. :-)
 
Last week a friend stopped by while I opened one hive and though he was 20
feet away and out of the normal glide path, a bee flew onto his head and
stung him in the scalp about an inch above the ear.  My friend has short
hair that stands straight out about 1/4 inch from his scalp.  I guess the
bee had a hard time landing there and panicked.  Fortunately, my friend
didn't, I scrapped the stinger out and he only had a slight headache
without any noticeable swelling.
 
Tom
 
3 hives in Northern Illinois (Rockford)