Something Pinched Me!

We were at the beach a few weeks ago and my 4 year old had walked toward the water. She came running back whining that, "Something pinched me!" I looked at her foot and saw nothing. I figured it was a grain of sand in her shoe or something. She stood by me for a few minutes and after a few minutes, she got very agitated insisting that something had pinched her. I took off her shoe again and found a large stinger with the bum of a bee still attached! Poor thing. When she saw the stinger she began to wail. Her foot had begun to swell and the site was reddening. I got the stinger out and immediately called for my other two children to search for plantain. They brought me a pile which we crushed and placed on my daughter's foot. I changed it literally every 30 seconds for about 5 minutes- basically as soon as the leaves were hot I changed them. After about 5 minutes, I kept a wad of leaves on for a few more minutes. Within 20 minutes, she had scrambled off my lap, foot restored to perfect health with no indication of a sting, no swelling, and no pain. The day at the beach was saved by plantain!