Six days ago I told Ryan that I was getting bug bites in Annie’s room.
He didn’t believe me.
“How, then, do you explain this???” and I would point to some obscure spot on my body that had been attacked by a small critter while nursing in her room.
“That’s not a bug bite. Me and Annie aren’t getting bug bites, so that’s not a real bug bite.”
This response makes me want to pull my eyeballs out. Why in the world would I make up a bug bite? I know I am getting bitten…I feel it. They are in my hair and on my skin. I know it. I know they are. They are trying to eat our baby in the middle of the night. They want to eat all my skin and suck out all my blood. Our house is a breeding ground for fleas, ticks, mysterious south Nile virus carrying mosquitoes, and probably swine flu. PLEASE someone believe me, I am getting bug bites every time I go in that cursed nursery to nurse.
“Nope,” comes the smug response of my husband, who by the way, doesn’t get bug bites. (And this coming from the man who really does have the strange power of controlling his illnesses, his urge to pee, his need for immediate sleep or food, and other bodily functions. He really does have an annoying command over his body, saying “Jenny, you can have control over your bodily functions if you try hard enough.” This is absolutely infuriating to hear. He must be a wizard, cuz when I have to go, I have to go. Anyways, he probably can wish away mosquitoes, while I, on the other hand, practically beg them to come feast on my body.)
So back to the real story… I have invisible bug bites that no one else seems to be getting. But, seriously, I am under attack.
One night later and three hours before we have to load our infant into the car at 6 a.m. for her seventh flight I am being bitten again. This time they are everywhere. It feels like ants. My body is burning. Maybe they are invisible. Maybe I am cracking up. But oh my gosh everything hurts. I think my eyeballs are being bitten. And, maybe I’m crazy, but I think the back of my head is swollen. Is that possible?
I freak myself out. I’ve got to get Annie out of this room. We have to escape.
Everything gets blurry and I go back to the bedroom, drop Annie on the bed, and in a slightly alarmed-there might be a burglar in the house- voice say to my heavily sleeping husband, “They’re everywhere!!!!” and then proceed to strip down naked, do a dance around the room, and itch all over.
I wish I had recording of this moment.
He pops out of bed. “What’s everywhere?” “What’s wrong?” “Where’s Annie?”
It’s too late. I can’t talk. I have the lights on, I am shaking my body trying to get them off. I am looking in the mirror… my body has welts and bug bites all over it.
Small Victory
This… this my friends is a small victory. Real bug bites. REAL. Proof. I am cunningly happy for my present turmoil.
I get in the shower, scrub the top seven layers of skin off, get out and use an entire tube of hydrocortisone cream on my body, take two Benadryl, and drift off into a bug-free sleep.
Five hours later we land in Omaha, Nebraska.
Two Benadryl’s apparently put me into a coma. I don’t remember anything. I only hope Anniston is alive. I never even checked her skin. I just went into a naked rant of itching and craziness.
So Thursday we drove from Nebraska to Iowa, checked into our hotel for the weekend, and then went and led worship. By seven p.m. I still felt incoherent, but I made it through the evening…
Until
Until three am when the bugs came back.
This time they got me good. One eyeball was swollen. My head had about ten knots on it. The backs of my legs were swollen and puffy. They were in my ears, under my arms, the size of dollar bills spread across my stomach; they were even in, well…unholy, unmentionable places. The worse were my fingers. This is when I felt worried. I couldn’t find my knuckles and my hands ached so badly. I woke Ryan up again. This time a little more afraid.
He sensed my fear and took care of me. Helped me calm down. Got me medicine and coaxed me into sleeping for just a few more hours before going to the emergency room clinic.
Seven a.m. it is unbearable. Eight a.m. I finally make it to the clinic. Nine a.m. the verdict is in: no bug bites.
I have been having a severe allergic reaction to my acne medicine. Emphasis on severe. They write me a prescription for steroids. I beg them for a shot instead. In my eyeball if they have to, just make it go away. They give me shots and steroids. I have hives. 28 years old and getting my first case of hives in the midst of performing three shows and bringing my infant to the middle of no-where Iowa. Hives. Really?
Ryan smiles… I told you you weren’t getting bug bites.
Men. I want to hit him but my knuckles and wrists won’t move.
Six hours later they stop itching. By Saturday they are completely gone. This morning I am headed back home to Dallas with my bug free baby and husband and one exhausted mom…
But I don’t care what the doctor or Ryan say… I am stripping Annie’s room down and methodically getting every living organism out of there before she goes back in… you know…
Just in case it really was bugs.
15 comments:
Oh gosh... that is most definitely terrible. Hives attack me regularly, there's nothing we can really do to stop them anymore. I scratch in my sleep. The problem is I'm just too allergic to EVERYTHING. Until we can move to the coast (where I know the sight of the beach every day will be enough to combat my allergies) I'm stuck scratching!
I got hives a few years ago..and man, they itch!!
Even though it is hives, I recommend you make sure Anniston's room doesn't have any bugs in it! (Just to be safe to check if there are actually bugs in her room!)
Hope the Hives go away soon!!!
poor jenny!!!! was the acne medication retin-A? i've heard scary stuff about that. i'm sorry you had to go through that. :(
Annie,
"sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!"
rebecca
p.s. how was glorietta?
"This response makes me want to pull my eyeballs out."... I seriously don't recommend doing this. Take this from a friend who happens to have two eyes... they are useful, you'll find out later in life that you need them.
Also, this was a great story about pretend bugs.
How horrible that you had to go through all that! I hear you about your husband. Mine is the same way. He says he's never, as in NEVER, had a headache in his life! He even got hit in the face with a softball 2 weeks ago, and busted 5 teeth. Finished that game and played the next. Guys are crazy! I always tell him they did some weird gentetic experiments on him when he was in the Navy (before we met) and they wiped his memory of it.
I'm glad you figured out what was going on, but yeah, I would totally clean Annie's room too. Cause I'm like that.
Lol, Lisa, I've never had a headache. I'm the same way pretty much. I haven't been in the service though, so I'm fairly certain I've never been experimented on.
That's sounds miserable!
And isn't it just what every mother with a newborn needs? Sheesh. Here's to happy skin.
Wow! I have to say, I was hanging on your every word waiting to solve the bug mystery. Glad you know what it is and that you're okay. But I am sorry Ryan was right, because it's always hard when the men are right (ruins my street cred). :)
just reading that made me itch. Hives are the worse. Glad you found the source of the problem though.
About halfway thru, I knew. As a pharmacist and someone who has been there with anaphylactic reactions before, I just knew. Until you said what the clinic told you, I was ready to ask you what you were taking. Mine is a food allergy, it was harder to figure out, but same welps, same sense of impending doom, all of it! Am so glad you are better (and that you didn't spend money on an exterminator!).
Anxious for new tunes from AR.
+
Oh my...that's terrible! Like you, if that happened, I would want anything to cure it ASAP. Gosh, now I hope my acne meds won't attack me in my sleep.
I read this article in a magazine about some 16-year old chick that was a leper (I think that's how you spell it) and she somehow got cured by this questionable doctor in her hometwon. I don't know how I suddenly started banging on about THAT, but anyways, I love your music, I always will!
~Kasiana (Isabella on blogger)
www.simplejoys12.blogspot.com
The same thing happened to me about three years ago also from acne medication I was taking at the time. I didn't know what was happening at first, but my face was red, swollen, and itching like crazy. And it seemed to move through my whole body before it finally went away. When it happened to me it started in my throat, and then even my tongue. It felt like my mouth was on fire. Then of course it got worse before it got better. Needless to say, I switched to a different medication.
Oh My Dear Sweet Friend!!!!!
I am so sorry but am so glad you know what it is now!!!!!!
Oh man, oh man. I love reading your blog, Jenny! It makes me feel better no matter what I've been going through. =] You are such a relatable person and have a way with words. Don't ever stop writing, blogs or songs!!!
so i know i'm a little late on this post, but glad to hear you are "bug" free. and let me just say that riley has that same annoying command over his bodily functions. he doesn't understand how i fall asleep reading or in movies. i try to tell him that i can't help it, but he is unconvinced. claiming "you have to make a choice to go to sleep." not true for anyone outside the simmons brothers i believe.
oh, and p.s. i grow more excited for amsterdam each day!
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