This is not a tall tale

Can you tell how miserable and unhappy we are?

 

 

Sometimes you just have to put on a happy face.

 

Because the sun always comes up on another day.

 

Vacation was a bust for so many reasons. As regular readers know, I was under a lot of stress, so my honey decided to take me to my favorite place on earth, the beach. We drove for two days almost to Miami, down to Ft. Lauderdale. I was so uncomfortable with five red, raw chigger bites in one spot below my waist on my tailbone, also one big one on my middle back and one on my stomach. Try riding on an itchy behind for two days. No way to get comfortable no matter which position.

 

First night I slept 15 minutes out of every hour, up all night in agonizing pain, self medicating with every kind of topical ointment and over the counter pain killers. This went on for a week. I felt as though I was being branded with a hot poker. Because I didn't want to get an infection, I did not go in the water, but I did walk the beach, much to my delight.

 

We headed home and decided since my chiggers were completely healed we would spend a few days in the Florida Panhandle. When we arrived, we expected a throng of young people cruising the strip and thought the hotels/condos on the beach  would be filled with No Vacancy signs. Very little traffic, hardly any vacationers. We figured school must have resumed a week early down there. We found a wonderful place overlooking the ocean and turned on the TV to hear the horrific news about rioting in our home town, 30 miles away from where we live. (There is far more to the story than the sensational journalism.)

 

My chiggers, though healed, were still painful, so I didn't go in the water, but I was able to walk and walk and walk the beach, much to my delight.

 

 Went back inside and the local news came on. We were aghast when the anchor said, "29 people have come down with flesh eating bacteria; there have been 12 deaths to date."

 

We figured they were talking about the Ebola Virus in Africa. Nope! There was flesh eating bacteria in the warm beach waters of the Florida Panhandle. We went out to get peroxide and alcohol and cleaned our feet. Packed up and headed home. 

 

 Came home to hundreds of emails, hopeful that one would be an acceptance. One pleading for porn, one begging for a date with a hot chick! and the list goes on. Junk-junk-junk!

 

Still having trouble sleeping, I went to the doctor who said the two bites on my stomach and back were spider bites, completely healed and should be no problem, BUT the little cluster of chigger bites are shingles, brought on by stress.

 

She offered me three drugs: one that would sedate the nerve ending and ME. No thank you! Or a steroid that would cause weight gain. Hmm, no way! A third that would make me loopy and unable to drive (teach). No-No and No thank you! So I am taking prescription strength Ibuprofen, getting some relief and sleeping better. The residual pain is on the nerve as there are no lesions/bites, and can last for months or up to a year.

 

As we pulled into our driveway, glad to be home, I held out my hand and said, "Did you see this?"

 

Bill said with alarm, "Where did you get that?"

I said, "On the beach."

He looked at me like he'd seen a ghost and said, "Holy shit! You're going to need radiation to get rid of THAT one."

 

I laughed until I cried.

 

"It's a unique little shell with ruffled edges for my collection."

 

Take my advice, avoid stress at all costs.

The good news: the sun will come up tomorrow, so I am trying to look on the sunny side.