In an instant the patio in front of the pro shop had become a disaster scene! The red and blue lights from the ambulance splashed off the picture windows like colored strobe lights. Big Willie, all 6’7” and 300 lbs. of him, lay gasping like an asthmatic child on the gurney as the paramedics frantically worked to keep him from having taken his last… golf swing. The gathering crowd of onlookers were shocked and pointed at his swollen lip and face.
Each members of this regular foursome had his own small captive audience as they related “their version” of the chain of events that lead to this disaster scene. “After his tee shot on 16 he came back to the cart and took a big drink of his beer. Big Willie jerked the can away from his face and screamed, ‘A damn bee was in my can and stung me in the lip’.”
“We did not know anything was wrong until his face started to swell and he became short of breath,” informed another.
“When he leaned out of the golf cart and puked, we knew he had a problem. That is when I called 911 and we raced for the clubhouse.”
The third member of the group talking, seemingly to himself, as he removed his golf glove, “it only took those paramedics about 15 minutes to get here, but I thought we might loose Big Willie before they got here. I have heard about that Anaphylaxis reaction but never seen it before. I heard one of those guys from the ambulance say that they gave him a shot of Epinephrine (adrenaline and it rapidly reverses anaphylactic symptoms) in the thigh and now they are giving him fluids. God I hope he is going to be okay. How could a little bee do that to a big guy like Willie?”
Willie’s cart mate told his private audience that the paramedics said, “this time of year, with the flowers gone, the bees are looking for sugar and seek-out pop and beer cans. The carbon dioxide in those drinks actually kills the bees so it is really bad for the bee population.”
As they loaded Big Willie into the ambulance one of the paramedics said to the other three, “I think he will recover and be okay but we will make sure he has a vile of epinephrine with him in the future. You guys can come to the hospital in town. He should be okay in a few hours.”
Thus ended another interesting autumn day at the golf course up north.
