Week of the bug bites
Yes, it is true. But they are all on me. I conclude, therefore, that either the spiders have decided I have the tastiest flesh or they haven’t yet discovered the room with two young boys.
First I got a misquito bite Monday night on the back of my shoulder. This produced minor fits of discomfort Tuesday, but nothing beyond annoyance. Then Tuesday morning I noticed three oval-ish rings of bites around my left knee. They didn’t itch, so I forgot about them. Tuesday evening they had almost disappeared. Wednesday evening the rings started itching and I discovered another bite on the back of my upper right thigh. Wednesday night at 1am I woke up suddenly, I don’t know why, but I felt itchy in several spots, and so, of course, imagined that I was covered in spiders. I’d scratch one spot, only to find a different spot crawling, over and over again. I think I rubbed my knee a bit too much, because the bites there, still fashioned in several rings, were quite red throughout Thursday, and occassionally slightly painful.
Today, the knee bites are still red and itch. Under the mistaken belief that it was Fresh Friday at our Fresh Market and various melons were 5-pounds for a dollar, the boys and I set off for a walk at 7:30am (while the day was yet cool at 78-degrees). While in the yet uncivilized portion of sagebrush sand before the traffic signal and main road, I thought I felt a stinging down by my left knee. I looked down as I brushed it, thinking it was only my previous bites, but catching just a glimpse of my hand brushing back a small, dark, unwinged insect. I have no idea what kind it was that had the audacity to crawl all the way up to my knee before biting, and that while I was keeping up a brisk pace!
That bite is pretty large, possibly growing, and also swelling slightly. It is, after all, right on the joint of my knee. When my knee is bent, it is stretched to whiteness. When my knee is extended, it is a goose-egg of red.
Don’t worry, I won’t post pictures.
Mystie dear, have you tried ice and cortisone cream?…it really helps the itchyness! I react the same way to spider bites…ouch”!
Yes, Matt went and bought cortisone for me after dinner tonight. It has helped. The trouble is with the newest bite on my knee. Every movement of my knee irritates it, and it’s pretty difficult not to move one’s knee! :) I’m hoping a good night’s rest will help. And to that purpose…..
Hello! I don’t remember how I first came upon your site, but found it in my “favorites” and checked back in.
My family just returned from 5 weeks touring around the U.S. I had trouble with bug bites a couple of times. In the Washington, D.C. area, I had bites all around my ankles. But the worst was Texarkana, TX. I didn’t see them–I was trying to keep up our travel blog, working late into the night at an outdoor picnic table. At first I thought they were just the old bites itching. Then I noticed a few pricks higher up. The next day I had many marks on my skin, but not much irritation. HOWEVER, over the next few days they became very itchy, grew larger, and became inflamed with heat–translation: every time we got out of the car! I finally counted: below the knee, on my right leg alone, I counted 53 bites! The other leg was comparable. Both had fewer above the knee, and I only had two or three on my arms.
I tried a couple of topical aids, but what helped me the most was simply a wet wash cloth. Because we were in the car, I could keep cool air flowing by. When I started to itch, I gently swabbed my legs with the wet cloth.
This, too, shall pass! I’m fine now, except for the slight scarring, which I believe will continue to fade until no longer visible.
Blessings on your journey! Sharron