No posts or pictures for the last few days thanks to a nice bug bite I got on that beautiful Thursday. At least we think it’s a bug bite. So I’m at the park on Thursday afternoon with my friend Michelle and the kiddos, and she tells me there’s a bug on my arm. Without giving it much thought I flicked it off. She said something about hoping it wasn’t a tick, but I didn’t think much of it.
That night I just happen to glance at my arm, and I see what looks like the beginning of a new mole. Nothing too exciting, just a different pigment than I thought was there before. Being the paranoid hypochondriac that only a medical career can fuel, I march into the office, demand that Mike look at it, and tell him I’m going to the dermatologist because I obviously have melanoma. He blows me off and goes back to one of his 7 poker games he has going (did I mention we have TWO big ass monitors for our computer now? But that’s another post).
Fast forward to Friday afternoon. Spot on my arm now looks dark and ugly, not like a bug bite, but like a pigment change. Now I’m getting really freaked out, but it’s Friday, so what do you do? My ear starts to itch, but I chalk it up to paranoia. I wake up Saturday morning in hives. My ear is huge and I’m rubbing it with my knuckles like Will Smith in "Hitch." Eye swollen, face puffy, area around weird skin thing covered in hives. Hives all down my arm. Now Mike is paying attention! I go to the walk-in clinic and tell my story. Freaky pseudo-doctor proclaims allergic reaction to bug bite. I get a shot of epinephrine and some prednisone and I’m on my way. I make it through Saturday. Sunday it’s no better, so I drug myself up on Benedryl and manage to stay awake just long enough to for the Colts game. A fans gotta do what a fans gotta do.
By Monday I’m thoroughly miserable and freaked out. I was able to get in and see a real doctor, who didn’t make me feel crazy about doubting that my weird skin thing is really a bug bite. I mentioned to him my melanoma freak-out and he didn’t laugh. I also mentioned that I have this tiny problem of breaking out into full body hives when I get stressed or my mind goes into weird overdrive. To make me feel better in the meantime, I got a major steroid shot, a bigger dosage of prednisone and Zyrtec. If the weird spot isn’t gone in 2 weeks, he wants to do a biopsy.
I’m feeling better today, nowhere near as itchy thank God. I’m hoping it really was just a bug bite gone awry, and by the doctor acknowledging my skin cancer freak-out, the paranoid hives (I’m sure they’re mixed in there with the real ones!) will go away, too.
I’d post a picture, but I can only think of 2 of you that would be interested. The rest would be thoroughly grossed out, never to return.
I’ll keep you updated. On a happier note, I’m off to see my super-favorite author, Anne Lamott tonight. I’m so giddy I’m forgetting to scratch myself.
Ang
