Parts of the weekend were good, very good. Parts were...not so much.
Friday was my "early day"--the one day a month I get to leave work early for no particular reason. Always good. Before I left I noticed I had what looked like a pretty large insect bite on my arm, but I didn't give it much thought. Just smeared it with some hydrocortisone cream and off I went.
I stopped by my favorite Vietnamese vegetarian restaurant for some take-out, headed home, pigged out and then napped. A long, long nap. Maybe a little too long, actually. I woke up a little groggy and disoriented, but a workout, followed by a go-round with my new yoga video, woke me up, and I actually managed to make it to the party I was invited to that night. Good party. I saw Spock/Wiley, who seemed to remember me (or so I let myself think). Saw some people I hadn't seen in a while, met some new people, drank some beers. It was nice. I actually stayed until 2:00. I think that's a record for me lately!
Saturday morning I did my usual household chores, and Saturday afternoon New Guy (nope, still no blog name) and I headed off to the state fair. The weather was perfect, and we had a delightful time. We toured the exhibition buildings, the animal barns, spent quite a bit of time admiring vintage tractors (New Guy grew up on a farm, and he's a BIG fan of the tractor.) He threw darts at balloons and won me a little Big Bird. (Awww...) We ate many things on sticks--pizza, cheese (me), shrimp, gator (him). Fun was had.
The insect bite was still there on my arm, and it was getting bigger and redder, but I still wasn't too concerned. I've had mosquito bites swell up like that before, and tick bites sometimes swell my lymph glands--I'm sensitive like that. At some point I did take a pen and make a couple of little marks, so I could see if it suddenly got bigger. I'm smart like that. Heh.
Sunday morning I was kind of lazy. Napped, did laundry (yes, his), napped, then did a dance workout, followed by the yoga tape, which left me feeling pretty good. I had a bite to eat and was heading to the shower, when I checked the red spot again and noticed there were now red streaks heading up my arm. I'll repeat that--THERE WERE RED STREAKS HEADING UP MY ARM. I decided to forego the shower and head straight for the minor emergency center, fearing that flesh-eating bacteria was even then preparing a full-on assault on my body.
One hour and $209 later, I headed out the door with a diagnosis of cellulitis, a buttful of antibiotics and a prescription for more, some pretty purple sharpie drawing on my arm, so I can monitor the spread of the redness, and an order to return in a couple of days for a recheck. What fun! The doctor told me I did "exactly the right thing" in coming in right away, as it's much easier to treat when it's caught early. And, judging by the pictures you'll see if you're brave enough to click on that link, it's definitely best to treat it early. Yowza.
Last night I helped New Guy unpack the latest load of his belongings he'd brought back from where they'd been stored, accompanied him to the grocery store, and that was pretty much the weekend.
The arm still looks a little scary (the spot's only about the size of a quarter, for anyone thinking my entire arm is a weeping sore), but it's not getting any bigger, and I don't have any of the more serious symptoms that would indicate systemic involvement (fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, headache.)
So it's all good.
It's not all perfect, for those of you thinking I am now frolicking through a lovely, charmed, free-from-angst (well, except for the flesh-eating bacteria) life. Now that the first flush of new...whatever has passed, we're into the "dealing with each other's years of accumulated baggage and hard-earned defense mechanisms and figuring out if we can let ourselves trust again" portion of the festivities. Oh, it's still lovely, and I'm still smitten...it's just that the work has begun. It's exhilarating and it's terrifying.
And such is life. You know I'll keep you all posted.
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12 comments:
Those are scary pictures! Yikes! It's a good thing you went in and had it checked. Good girl!
As for dealing with that "portion of the festivities", I'm sure you will manage. Just don't freak out and don't forget to breath!
I did not click on that link to scary bug bites, and yet I am still a little grossed out. Glad the bites are not getting any worse!
I'm glad you caught it early! That is a real bummer of a weekend activity, that's for certain!
I'm glad you caught it early! It's also good that you guys are moving out of the original "whatever" stage. The next stage isn't quite as fun, but it's more real, isn't it? :)
Oh no! I had cellulitis when I was 15. NOT FUN. My "buttful of antibiotics" didn't work and I ended up having to be on IV antibiotics for 10 days. Also NOT FUN. I feel for you.
Although, because of this harrowing ordeal, my 10th grade crush realized his concern and love for me and became my 10th grade boyfriend! Hope good things come of your cellulitis, too.
YIKES, Liz!! Also, where have I been? NewGuy? Woot! I need to do some archival reading!
I'm glad you're okay.
You take them both and then you have the facts of life, the facts of life.
I'm totally going to have that in my head the rest of the day.
Ouch on the bite. Glad you caught it early enough to avoid looking like those pics.
If it still feels good to be with him once the work part of a relationship starts, I'd say you're in good shape.
stinky, I've been doing some yoga here lately, so I'm all about the breathing and tranquility. (In, out, in, out.)
-r-, be glad you didn't actually on the pictures then...if the mere thought of it squicks you out. ;)
noelle, that is definitely NOT what I had in plan for the weekend, for sure.
3c, it's NOT as much fun, is it? So many other things start to come into play...work stress (that's mostly him), ghosts of relationships past...but I think it's a good sign that I actually WANT to work through it, and not just cut and run.
lsass, you're scaring me. :) So far, New Guy has been decently concerned, but not overly so. Of course, I'm totally downplaying the whole thing, so I can't blame him.
gg, yes, you've missed out on a whole lot of my deep-seated insecurities on display. ;)
sparkling, yeah, that earworm has now taken the place of yesterday's, which was "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." (Don't ask.)
And I'm ready to do some work, I just hope he is, too. (Deep-seated insecurity rising up.) Heh.
OK, so I didn't scroll down far enough to see the pictures the first time, but because I am stupid, I clicked to go back and look again. Ew. Very glad your arm does not look like that!
Also, good thinking on marking it in pen. I will admit that probably wouldn't have occurred to me. Such a smart girl, Liz. :-)
I couldn't look at the photos. Waaaay too early in the a.m.
I'm glad you got it treated, and I am happy your dating is progressing so very well.
stef, they are horrifying images, aren't they? Mine doesn't look anything like that--yet, at any rate. (And fingers crossed.)
suebob, thanks for the good wishes!
my goodness! i would hate it if you lost your arm to such scary business when you are just starting a new relationship. it might put a little strain on the getting to know you part.
glad you are feeling better and you don't have a BIG RED gaping hole in your arm. sending positive thoughts your way!
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