The Jellyfish Incident

[Note: Due to popular demand, the following post is being reproduced for this blog. The incident took place on the first day of our honeymoon in Negril, Jamaica on September 24th, 2007]

On Monday morning, around 7:30am Jamaica time, we put on our bathing suits and went into the water. It was warm and clear and all those things.. and quite shallow, too. We were about 20 feet out, water about chest high, when... something happened. I thought that I had accidentally stuck my arm in a light socket, and I start waving it around, but I can't figure out what's wrong. I'm looking at it, and my whole arm is just on fire, from my elbow to my hand, and
I completely lose the ability to move it.

I believe I, quite rationally, said "Uh, something is wrong?! My arm is.. something? Arm? OWWW IT HURTS AHGHHHH!!!"


So we wade out of the ocean, David heroically half-carrying me, and by this time its starting to swell like an enormous tied Ham.





I still haven't, at this point, seen a jellyfish or a downed power line or anything else that would explain the electrical pain.


I look at my arm, and these horrible lumps and lines start to appear. I notice a piece of my hair is on my arm, and (again) quite rationally start screaming "Get it off! Get it off! AHHHHHHHHHRHGRGRG!" Dave just looks at me like I'm nuts, wondering why I'm freaking out about a piece of hair when we're desperately hobbling to the front desk to get help, and takes a few swats at it.

About 10 seconds later, my hand feels like its falling off, and I notice that the "hair" has rolled down to my hand, and the hideous lumps and lines are appearing there as well. I do the "Get it off!" routine again, and, realizing that this strand of hair is the jelly fish tentacle that's been stinging me for minutes now, we grab it and throw it on the sand. (It literally was the size, shape, and color of one strand of my hair).

The people at the front desk of the resort didn't seem to realize quite how severely I had been stung, as most people have contact with the jellyfish for only a few seconds, not minutes, and they took their sweet time getting the vinegar and cortisone cream. However, once applied, the vinegar helped right away, and we went back to our beach chairs and sat down. Frosty 8am margaritas ensued. We did go back in the water, a few hours later, but it still HURT, which was, I was told, odd. Apparently, most people when stung have pain until an acid is applied, and then some marks for a few hours, with no lasting damage at all.

Most people.

Could I manage to just get stung? No, of course not.

That night, it was still quite red and swollen, and very painful. That's when I took a few pictures of it, which you can see here. In the pictures, most of the swelling has in fact gone away, and those are just the red marks-- it looked very much worse previously (and twice the size). So at that point I figure it will just go away, and we go to sleep.

The next morning, it has gotten much, much worse. Long story short, I am, it seems, allergic to jellyfish. Horrible horrible rash, itching, swelling, and its spreading by the hour. We go to see the nurse, and she looks rather horrified.

She asked me if we wanted her to call in the doctor. I wasn't sure that was necessary, and she looked at me, and said "Well, you can just try putting some more cortisone cream on it. It will probably keep spreading, and it won't ever stop. Or, we can call the doctor."

They call in the doctor.

It takes him about twenty minutes to get there, and I get a shot in the ass, and a couple of dozen pills of several varieties that I have to take. After about 10 days, the arm-engulfing rash finally went away. The red marks faded to brown swirls, and it looked like I drew on myself with a marker. As of today, about 4 months later, there is a very faint brown area on my arm, where the swirls of red have left their legacy.

The photos were taken with a P&S camera that was suffering from a semi-broken auto-focus, but you can still see the lovely pattern that jellyfish made!


(Don't forget-- all images are © 2008 Pamela Follett. Contact me!)