Deadly Bug Bites

I woke up this morning to find that I’d been assaulted by a deadly, vicious mosquito in the middle of the night.

Let me preface the rest of the story with two things:

• The mosquitoes in the greater Shanghai area are vicious. Also, it’s been raining like crazy the last few days, although yesterday and today the rain eased up a little. You know what they say; after the rain comes the mosquitoes…
• I have crazy sensitive skin that reacts really badly to mosquito bites. Mosquito bites cause me to swell up like no other.

The first thing that alerted me to the fact that something wasn’t quite right was the strange sensation I had in my lower lip. It seemed tingly and felt huge. A quick look in the mirror and I discovered that my lower lip had swelled to almost triple its size. My right middle finger has also swollen, to the point where it hurts to adjust the ring I wear permanently on that finger, or to even bend the finger. Also, the top of my right hand as well as my right wrist has swollen almost beyond belief. At least I can bend my wrist, though.

You know what the worst part is? I don’t have any ibuprofen on me (forgot to pack that, all I have is Tylenol which is useless for swelling) and my mom steadfastly refuses to let me take anything to help ease the pain and swelling. She’s all about “letting it heal naturally.” (She’s even gone as far to give me silent treatment when I asked if we had any ibuprofen around.) Well, that’s easy to say when you’re not the one that’s swelling up the way Violet Beauregarde did when she became a blueberry!!

Tags: health