Something bit me early Friday afternoon while I was moving my tomato plants. It bit quickly and left a tiny red mark with nearly no pain or itching.
The utter lack of initial redness, pain, and itching is inversely proportional to what I am now experiencing from the little bastard. I have a dark red mark the size of a half-dollar surrounding the bite. The redness is surrounded by a pale ring. Outside of the pale ring is more redness, looking like a good fresh sunburn. Total diameter: 6 to 7 inches. The bite is on the front right corner of my left ankle, at about the level of my anklebone but an inch to the left of it. You can almost see my anklebone through the swelling, which makes me look like I have a healthy sprain. There’s a little blister in the middle, but nothing’s rotting off, thank heavens. The itch isn’t as bad as, say, fire ant bites, but it’s definitely always there.
Remedies: Baking soda paste. Tried it. Benadryl cream. Tried it. It’s too late to use meat tenderizer on it, and we don’t have any anyways (but I’d be happy to take a hammer to it … ).
Parents, docs, nurses, I beg you for advice. I’m going to go crazy if I can’t get the swelling and redness and itch down in the next day or so. I’d call a doctor, but I’m in grad school and our blessed student health service is closed until Tuesday.
Charleston, SC is great … except for the bugs. Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated.
