This is Why I don't do Drugs

On Tuesday I noticed a little itch at the inside corner of my eye. I thought maybe something had bit me. A mosquito? Was it time of year for mosquitos?

On Wednesday it was a bit puffy, a lot itchy, and I worked very hard not to mess with it because, you know, that skin around the eye is so sensitive and the last thing I wanted was to make it go from puffy and itchy to rubbed raw and sore.

I stopped and talked to the pharmacist on Wednesday. He gave me an anti-itch cream that he said would be okay to use near my eye. It won't hurt your eye, he said, but it won't feel good if you get it in your eye. Just be careful. Try to keep it around your eye, but not in your eye. He also recommended I take some Benadryl. He said be careful, Benadryl makes you sleepy.

I waited till I got home to take the Benadryl. I was in bed by 7.

On Thursday I planned to have a normal day. My eye was even more puffy. I was beginning to suspect this was something more than a bug bite. A little rash had spread from the inside corner to the outside corner of my eye. This reminded me of poison ivy. I remembered that on Sunday I had worked in the yard. On Sunday I had trimmed tree branches and that tree was covered in English ivy. I had looked carefully for signs of poison ivy and I saw none. I remember looking. I remember thinking there was none there and that I would be okay.

On Thursday evening I had a tiny rash of blisters inside my ear, on my jawline, and on my neck. I took more Benadryl, doubled the dose. As I drifted off to sleep, I was sure there were bugs crawling all over me. They were inside my skin. But I was too sleepy to get up and do anything about it.

Woke up Friday morning to a very swollen eye. I looked like Quasimodo. I have pictures, but I can't show you... I look like this. No kidding. Just like Will Smith...



That was yesterday. Yesterday I looked like Will Smith. I still had a sense of humor about it when hubby finally dragged me out to the urgent care clinic to get a shot of steroid.

This morning, however, I look worse, but on the plus side, it's harder to see myself. I woke up with a sore shoulder from the shot, and my right eye entirely swollen shut. I could still see for most of yesterday. Today it is completely swollen closed.

So my answer, in the last 24 hours hours, has been something along the lines of sleep, sleep and eat more junk food. I'm not taking Benadryl today. I can't take another day of sleeping and the quiet little bugs crawling. I'd rather stay alert and miserable eating brownies. I need more chocolate. I need more junk food.

This is why I don't do drugs.