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The G-Rant : Grant's Rants on Adventure Racing

“Without adventure, civilization is in full decay.” - Alfred North Whitehead

Let me tell you about the time I almost died . . .

I know, the title for this post is a rip-off of the movie Fallen, but how often can I say "Let me tell you about the time I almost died" and really back it up?  This race report is the whole story.  I won't rehash it all in this post.

It was good that I raced the very next weekend; it was tough at times, especially when we came across a buzzing insect or two at the next race, but had I not gotten right back out into the wilderness and overcame some of my fear it would be that much tougher to race the next time.  Of course, my immunologist (I've started venom shots that should make me 99.99999% immune to stings in the future) said going back out into the woods like that was a bit risky but she understands where I'm coming from.  The good news is that with the help of the allergy shots I'll be all set in a matter of months!


Comments

TimWhite said:

You mentioned getting stung on the head. When I was about 3 years old I got stung on the top of the head by some sort of wasp and was allergic to the venom for close to ten years afterward. Then I had a multiple sting incident around age 13 and had only the usual localized effects. No problem since...but I haven't been stung right on the noggin. I wonder if that had a lot to do with it.
# October 20, 2005 11:44 AM

gkillian said:

Hey Tim, I've wondered that too -- was being stung on the head part of my issue? Did that help disperse the venom to my blood stream more quickly etc?

I asked a few doctors and it's amazing what all we don't know. Security is such a veneer . . . a perception . . . Anyway, the conventional wisdom was that the location of the sting didn't really matter and that any sting, any time, any place, can cause a different set of reactions. Apparently there's little rhyme or reason to it. How's that for disconcerting?
-Grant

# October 20, 2005 1:36 PM

TimWhite said:

You can only plan for so much. Then you can't really worry about the rest. If you hide at home in bed you could get bitten by a poisonous spider. Dang.
# October 21, 2005 2:45 PM
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