aesc: (i wish I was pope)
aesc ([personal profile] aesc) wrote2009-06-02 08:36 pm

tales of horror and grossness

sheafrotherdon told me to post this.

A few days ago while showering, I felt something on the back of my left thigh that I took to be a bug bite. It wasn't particularly itchy or painful, so I let it go.

Until today, when I realized it was a lot bigger. And, in fact, somewhat loose, like a skin flap.

I called the roommate up because no matter how I contorted myself I couldn't see what was attached to me.

Roommate's first response: "Jesus, you should probably go to the hospital."

Then she touched it.

Roommate's second response: "OH MY GOD IT'S A BUG."

My response: "GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!!!!!!!!!!"

We shrieked and flailed for a minute or so, then calmed down, and roommate removed what turned out to be a tick. A gigantic, gross, horrible tick that has been stuck on me for the past three days at least OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD. I have a picture here, if you would like to see it. (The white thing is a damp cotton ball... A website said to put a damp cotton ball in with the tick to keep it hydrated.)



I am going to the clinic tomorrow (it was conveniently closed today), tick in hand/plastic bag, to see what the odds are of my experiencing a lingering and painful illness. While I'm not worried about Lyme disease or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, I am acutely grossed out and every time a stray hair brushes my neck, or fabric falls a certain way on my skin, I am all OMG OMG OMG IT'S A TICK JESUS CHRIST IT'S A TICK GET IT OFF!!!!!!!1111!!!

Of course, then I read something like this, and that makes my thigh-tick seem not too bad after all.*

* = THIS IS HORRIFYING AND WILL MAKE YOU SCREAM. CLICK ONLY IF YOU ARE OKAY WITH THIS.
aethel: (spock young)

[personal profile] aethel 2009-06-03 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
Lightweight! (Okay, it is freaky.)

If it's not Lyme disease or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, then there IS nothing to worry about. I've had tick bites. (Although I didn't leave them in so long!) And the test they do for Lyme disease is not at all accurate; basically, when you show the symptoms is when they know you have it.