I think that if anything weird would happen to anyone, it would be me. I'm sure y'all would agree. I do mean weird, not bad. I think that I put it 'out there' that I enjoy telling stories, so let's make sure I have something to tell. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Friday, I noticed a bump about the size of a mosquito bite on my leg. It wasn't itchy, but I suspected it was a spider bite based on how it looked. I don't remember getting bit by a spider, nor have I seen any in the house- but I was pretty sure it was a spider bite and thought nothing more of it.

By Friday night, I had a bruise about the size of a quarter around the 'bite'. It didn't hurt, so I ignored it. Yesterday, the bruise was doubled in size and it was warm to the touch. I called my resident park ranger (my brother, Michael) to wish him a happy birthday and oh, by the way, what do you know about spider bites? I described mine and he said that it sounded like a brown recluse and I should go see a doctor. I assured him that I would if it got any worse.

The muscle by the bite area started becoming painful last night and when I woke up this morning, it looked like this:


BJ insisted that we haul my leg to urgent care and get it checked out, especially after all the horror stories I read on the Internet about brown recluse spiders. The idea of flesh eating bug bites was something I didn't want to experience for myself.

The bruising is about 4 inches across and it feels like someone has kicked me in the leg. Even walking hurts. I also didn't put two and two together (I've never said I was good at math) that the headaches and nausea I've had over the weekend might have anything to do with this. For being so smart, I'm awfully dumb sometimes.

The doctor I saw said that I should take pictures and send them to my friends and family because I have bragging rights on having a very nasty spider bite. I told her I have a blog, and she can bet that I'm going to post about it and gross out all my friends.

She said that we don't have brown recluses here, and said that it looks like it might be a hobo spider (hey, maybe I got it on the train!) and it looks like it might have become infected so she hooked me up with a 10 day course of strong antibiotics. Now I need to call Michael and tell him that he was (partially) right.