icky icky icky.

[dragonlady7]

Icky, icky.
Icky.

It was hot and sticky and icky today. not so hot, but very sticky.
I wore a short skirt and a tank top to work today. The a/c was on, though, so I was ok. I actually wore a sweater for part of the day.
Work was frustrating but I'll probably post about that later. And yes, i did bitch computer guy out for staring at me, and especially at my boobs. (I was wearing a sweater at that point, so don't say I was asking for it with my little tank top. I was wearing a high-neck sweater that wasn't particularly form fitting. So. It's not like they were hanging out being distracting, which I could almost forgive. No...)
Anyhow.
I got home and it was so icky I stripped down to boxers and the tank top. I had an itchy bug bite at my waist, so I rolled the boxers down a bit and hitched up the shirt. I know, exposing my fat pasty jiggly belly, but I wanted to be comfortable and Dave wouldn't really notice.
I was itching at my bug bite and it was really really itchy, so I pointed it out to dave. "Ooh, it looks really bad," he said. "Doesn't it hurt?"
"Hurt? No, it's really itchy," I said.
"It's got a black thing sticking out of it," he said.
"Probably a scab," I said, remembering that I'd been itching a bug bite around my waist somewhere two days before. I'd probably itched it too much and had made it bleed and scab over.
I twisted around to look-- it was kind of above my hip, on my back, in a spot where I could just barely see it. dave was right, it didn't look like a scab, so I reached around and kind of pulled/squeezed it out, not wanting whatever it was to get partially stuck if I just pulled on it.

It was a dead, squashed deer tick.

The kind that carries Lyme disease.

It had bitten me and had died and the skin seems to have partially grown over it, and it was just getting to working its way out of the hole it had dug itself into.

EWWWWWWWW.

So, chances are pretty good I'm infected with Lyme disease. So I finally got off my ass and called the doctor I'm listed with on my health insurance co's website, thanking the dark lords of chaos that I actually do have health insurance now. They're closed, of course, but I left a message. I'll call back tomorrow. And I got hours. They're open Saturdays and a few evenings a week. Thank fuck. I don't want Lyme disease.

And it's just so icky. I've just taken a hot shower with lots and lots of soap and I still feel icky and gross. I could douse myself with Lysol but doubt it would help.

Ew ew ew ew ew.
How long is the incubation period for Lyme disease??? How long do I have before the joint pain and neurological crap cripples me? I hope this doctor accepts me as a patient because I know this health plan can be total bullshit; dave had trouble with his when he finally decided to get medical attention.
Anyhow...
Icky poo yechh ptooie.

Comments

this is from kat

[(Anonymous)]

Don't panic. Although you should get tested for lyme disease, because many ticks have it, the likelihood of getting bitten by one with the disease is pretty low. On the AT people were literally covered in ticks and no one I met ever got lyme disease.
Also, the disease does not have the same effects on everyone, and the earlier you catch it (most people don't catch it until years later when they've got some medical problem that makes doctors suspect it) the better off you are.
I've been food for ticks every summer of my life and haven't gotten lyme disease yet.

Randomly passing through

[ajollypyruvate]

via a shared interest in Moomintrolls.

One place to check for info on any infectious disease is the CDC, another is the NIH.

Not all ticks will pass on Lyme disease, so it probably would have been best if you'd saved its tiny carcass for examination by a lab.

Good health to you!