Who knew that eventually I would be practicing my own little rounds at home tending to who needs help? In case you’re wondering, I’m not talking the usual patients of mine like my parents, or my brother or anyone in need of assistance. I’m talking about the small things in society that people tend to care little to none about and usually zap them in the summer. BUGS and INSECTS! Now I don’t really know how to sum it all up in as normal as possible but I will try for my readers. I’m back in New York and we all know it’s summer and the weather is beautiful, however sometimes it can get a little too hot. I have a fan that’s pretty much positioned into the top window of my kitchen. It’s very powerful and it reduces the temperature of almost all the surrounding rooms, which is totally neat.
Moving onto how it all began. I was in the kitchen washing dishes when I heard something like a short rattle in the fan then felt a small tap on my back. I knew the sound from it being common in the summer when a fly or typical bug believes that they can direct themselves through the blades of a fan. However the touch wasn’t all that common. Telling myself that it must’ve been a fly, I washed the last glass in the sink and dried my hands. I expected to see the slain victim on the floor with its body sliced (as I have seen in the past). However there was nothing. When I went to the trash can to throw away the paper I wiped my hands in, that’s when I saw my patient.
Now my sense of insects was not on point as I think it should’ve been. I mean, I know a fly, from a bee, a bee from a dragon fly, and all from a butterfly. SOOO, the way the story goes, hopefully in the future I’d just laugh about it, and not feel shame. I will tell it from how I looked at the whole thing while jumping into action. So It was a worker bee.
The poor guy was on my counter. His wing looked crooked but he was still moving fine. I knew I didn’t want to touch him because in the past, I have been stung by a bee in more than one occasion. Plus if he did sting me, it would’ve been alright because I knew that he was just trying to defend himself being scared, but the downside is that he’d die. I didn’t want to act carelessly and try to save a patient that I’d be responsible for eventually killing in the process. I was also aware that I don’t know my strength upon his little body. What I’d think be considered a touch might in fact feel like a blow to his body. So I acted fast and prepared several items for him that will be convenient for the both of us. I left him on the counter because he wouldn’t find danger whilst there ( I.e my cat was asleep.)
I gathered tissue paper as well as a piece of paper towel, three tooth picks, a stapler, a scissor, and a square piece of ad paper. The materials may seem ineffective at first for something like a bee but trust that it really helped. It also told me how innovative I can be ;). Knowing that this was my trauma victim, I had to make a cot for him. Cutting the paper towel, stuffing it with tissue, and stapling the sides, I was sure that I made a cot comfortable enough for the bee. I went back to it laying on the counter whilst holding a toothpick and tried to nudge him onto the cot. When he got on, Surprisingly he stayed put but he seemed to be slowly leaning. I felt so sorry for him but knew I had to do something. I Started to observe him. Lml I knew if anyone watched me do this, it would seem like I was prodding him constantly for fun but really I just wanted him on his back so I can see the damage to his frontal parts. His legs had a strong grip on fibers of the paper tissue, so I spent a good time trying to turn him over. When he finally let go and turned on his back, I saw his abdomen had a split. It looked almost like a pocket. I also saw that he lost a leg. Now knowing I couldn’t possibly connect his leg again, I still tried looking for it. I just felt so sorry for the little guy.
Keep in mind I’ve watched Bee Movie about hundreds of times. At some point, I wished that the little guy actually spoke to me like in the movie, and told me what would make him better, or what his mom usually does for him whenever he gets a booboo (crazy huh)
So having my patient there and watching the wounds that he had, I figured he was in serious pain and I thought, why not just try some of the remedies I use for cuts. Instead of using something strong, I’d use something fairly natural. I looked in my pantry and took out Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Before closing the doors, I peeked the honey bottle in a corner and figured, on my worst days medicine alone wont make me better. If I had a snack that I loved or a drink, I’ll feel treated and get better faster. BEES LOVE HONEY, so why not grab the bottle; which I did. Using the toothpick, I swabbed some Olive oil out the bottle. It’s a known fact that the oil is rich enough to enhance healing. Since I couldn’t bandage the bee, I thought a drop of the oil would do the trick. Next, I took a swab of honey on another toothpick and waved it over the bee just to see it’s reaction. He Looked like he wanted to follow the smell so I lightly placed the toothpick end to what I thought was the mouth of the bee. The mandibles moved excitedly to the taste of the honey and I just felt so satisfied that at least I was making the bee feel alright.
I decided not to hover over my little guy because I actually had things to do around the house. However I knew I’d check up on him a couple of times.
Given about 10 minutes, I went to check up on my patient. I saw that he wasn’t moving his legs as strong as before. To be honest, it seemed as though he was on his last. I didn’t know what to do. I moved his cot near my window, grabbed my book, took a seat and read till I knew that he was finally gone. I wanted to share this little story so I began taking pictures of everything. I already knew that I wasn’t going to throw him away nor flush him. My first thought was to wrap him up and toss him outside my window (which doesn’t seem as graceful now that I type it out) but ideally, doing that would let me know that his body is resting outside where normally a bee spends it’s life. However, I did just decide to bury him in one of my house plants. I made sure I’d wait till the next day though. Just incase there was a chance he wasn’t completely dead. I didn’t want to suffer him.
Now if all the above seemed a bit moving, Lets see how You find it when I tell you the downfall of everything. So like I said, I had the pictures of everything for that day. When I showed my brother, he gave me this weird look that implied his thought of what I did being odd and stupid. However when he squinted his eyes at the picture, he did tell me that I didn’t care for what I thought I did and that I might’ve actually killed it. It turns out, I treated a wasp as if it were a bee. Some of you may have guessed that from looking at the pictures above. Hence back to my saying that I don’t think my insect or bug instincts were on the point they should’ve been. But I mean hey, it was yellow and black. Who could go wrong with thinking the little guy was a bee. I totally went online and like TOTALLY saw the difference.
Now, lets look at all I did thinking I was caring for a bee. I thought that Honey would make it better. I FED it honey. I don’t even know what Wasps eat. I figured I had to have killed the poor guy. I looked at the whole thing as if it would turn out to be like Bee Movie. IT DID NOT! Also, I was avoiding a stinger. WHAT STINGER!? What harm does a wasp cause anyway??? However, through it all, I did have fun and the great thing was, AT LEAST I TRIED!
Rest in Peace little guy (where the toothpick is). Sorry for the little misunderstanding. Much love though
Moral of my little story,
For you bugs and insects out there, stop flying through fans, you might be treated as something you’re not (‘specially if you happen to survive flight through my fan).
For us Humans or even YOU my reader, no matter the extent of a situation, if you find yourself doing something ‘weird’ but related to what your desires are, just go for it and do it. Obviously it’s one of those moments that lets you know why you’re on the path you desire to pursue or why you are fit to accomplish a goal in such a demanding field. Hell I went for it and look, I saved a wasp that I tried to care and treat for a day. Was it a success? No lml. However in the end, I did contemplate it all and felt pretty good.
Signed
Creative Gloves
Grace Before Medicine 