Bite Me!

Maybe it was a ploy, worked out in advance, to keep me inside at the computer on a sunny Summer Saturday.

A night or so ago, in my sleep I must have kicked the duvet off my legs, and a super-strength mozzie raiding party had streaked in through the open window and settled down for a slap-up feast at my expense. They struck right around where I was bitten during construction of the shed, at the top of my calf, just to the side of my kneecap.

Since then it’s got nasty. The past couple of days I’ve been scratching the itch like fury. Now the skin is mottled yellow, red and pink. With what looks like some orange in there for good measure, it’s like a big, colour-blind bruise stretching down toward my ankle.

From yesterday it has been slathered with various ointments that don’t seem to be that effective. The lack of success could be what happens when you mix the creams. Maybe the Clotrimazole and Hydrocortisone don’t get on with Methyl hydroxybenzoate and phenylethyl alcohol.

Not only is the leg swollen, but now the skin is hard to the touch. And a little bit crispy. In fact it looks like a roast chicken that was in the oven too long and dried out. Which is a pisser.

Rather than walking, I’m clumping around, with the knee joint refusing to bend the leg the way it is supposed to. Which means I stay at the desk sorting through the footage from yesterday, sorting out the useable takes.

While it may seem like I’m making a big deal out of it, the leg has probably got this way from the moment it was infected because I’ve been trying to ignore it. Apart from the incessant bouts of scratching. Growing up on a farm meant you only went to the doc when internal organs were outside or limbs had been shredded/torn off. Anything less was trivial.

After we called it a night and powered the computers down, Work Buddy went rooting around in the medicine cabinet. As for the pill he returned with, I wouldn’t say that it was anywhere near as strong as a horse tranquiliser, except perhaps in size, but it had to be broken in two - taking half now and half tomorrow - so I didn’t exceed the maximum safe dosage.

Down the hatch!