Send your peace globes to
blog4peace @ yahoo.com

Friday, June 1, 2012

Rocky Mountain Me

**note to Travis** Close your eyes. Approaching pic of icky long-legged creepy crawly thing.

So. There I was....getting ready to take a long nap one day last week, freshly shampooed, snuggled in a robe and wondering....what IS that itchy blurb on my shoulder? Maybe I should check this out before I snooze. There! It looks like a bite. And it itches. I turned to look in the double mirror to check my back for other signs of trouble when zowie wowie ohhh mmy my! I saw this

(isn't it lovely?)
stuck to the back of my left arm. Stuck. Like glue. To the Queen's pale skin. OH MY LORRDDDD!!!!

The nerve.

Now. Those of you who know me well know that I am scared of little (except rodents) and that I love love love love to wander in Bloggingham Forest and commune with the trees and the bugs and the leaves and sit on the ground and pick branches and pine cones and dig in the dirt. And that's just what I'd been doing when this wonderfully dangerous tick creature decided to piggyback home on my arm.

See? Holding up a tree with my bare hands several days before the onslaught of disaster.
I do not have a lick 'o sense.

So, after a very fast drive to the doctor to remooooove that which I couldn't reach and realizing that yes, I had been feeling unusually tired and achy with a low-grade fever for a couple of days and perhaps it really wasn't a harmless virus, I hear "We're treating you for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever just in case."

Every Queen wants to hear that.

The just-in-case diagnosis was short-lived when several hours later my royal flesh began to accumulate little red dots - like paint driplets - all  over said feet and ankles. 
I had the dreaded fever.

Only me.

After a short hospital stay (complicated by the fact that I am allergic to Doxycycline THE treatment for RMSF) we have a long story that I'll make short. I'm better, less spotted, not so benadryl-looped anymore and thankful for antibiotics and nurses who know how to use needles. And wondering....what else is going to befall me this spring? A friend said she thinks I should be a Pharaoh instead of a Queen, given the endless slew of plagues I seem to fall into.

I think not.
Pharaohs never got the good roles. If I'm gonna be a royal mess on wheels I'd just as soon play Cleopatra. At least she can wear lipstick in her delirium.


The moral of this story is simple. If you're gonna go frolicking through the woods on a spring day full of unseen bugs, put on a hat and spray thyself with insect repellent. 
And wear an asp on your head.


*images: MLenox or public domain






Join us for BlogBlast For Peace Nov 4
I promise. No bugs.






12 comments:

Durward Discussion said...

Baring your pristine flesh to the open air is not one of the better ideas. Glad to hear you are improving.

Akelamalu said...

Oooer Mimi!


In 1996 I got an insect bite on my calf and ended up with an inch deep hole in my leg that had to be packed with antibiotics for 3 months until it healed. I still have an indent in my leg. I hate creepy crawlies! :(

Charles Gramlich said...

Sorry about all that. I've been bit by many a tick but never got the fever. I guess I'm either immune or have been very lucky.

Lee I said...

Ugh. Not only your bad consequences, but also facing up to an eight-legged arachnidy-looking thing. Fortunately I immediatly recognized it as a tick and did not immediately close the page due to my spider phobia.

Take care.

Anonymous said...

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep.
Beware of things that crawl and creep. ~Robert Frost...well sort of :)
Glad you are feeling better!

ANGEL ABBYGRACE said...

Mimi
This is incredulous.
Yesterday while taking a shower lathered up (tmi) and found a spot on my rear flank. First thought it was a skin tag, and then thought again how odd of a place that it was for a skin tag. Got out of shower and saw it was black. Since I've had skin cancer this didn't make me feel very good, but I got a magnifier and took it to my husband and lo and behold I had a deer tick in a spot I would not have been able to reach. Luckily my husband removed him and no blood in him (MINE). So I read up on Lyme Disease and it appears very unlikely that will happen. Today the area is near healed. But, glad you are OK...weird coincidence for both of us.

xoxoxo

Mimi Lenox said...

Jamie - Not one of my finer moments for sure. Thank you.

Akelamalu - An inch-deep hole in your leg does not sound like fun. Awful!

Charles - I hope you're immune..seriously.

Lee - That's why I warned my friend, Travis. He would not be happy with me if I had sprung that ugly thing on him. Glad you soldiered through.

Dawn - Frost would be proud. That was so funny. Thank you.

Abby - Yikes!! Aren't they icky??

Travis Cody said...

Ick. Glad to hear you are on the mend.

Black Cat said...

Ick, glad you're recovering! I'm with Lee I, glad I recognised the 'orrible thingy and continued reading... Ugh, poor you!

Finding Pam said...

Being a naive queen can be deadly. Perhaps you should have sent your Lady in waiting ahead of you first to collect all of the little deadly creatures.

I am glad that you are feeling better.

Unknown said...

Damned bugs!

Mimi Lenox said...

Travis - Ick is definitely the word!! Thanks.

Black Cat - I am better now. That's the important thing. Thank you.

Pam - Next time I'll send Homer...good idea.

Nick - You can say that again.

Link Within



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...