Arachnophobia Personified....

Last week, after having friends over to dine outside on the patio,  I awakened the next day to discover a bruise on my right forearm that has a large knot in the center, thinking I must have at some point hit my forearm on something but couldn't remember having done so. (Sure, there's a surprise.) Because I have the hairy arms of an ape-woman, it was impossible to tell if there were fang marks (for a spider bite) or not. Believe me when I say I even tried to view it with my jeweler's loupe, with no discernible success (besides it being fundamentally scary). Utterly frustrated, I even took at least a dozen digital close-up shots which ultimately did not achieve a good enough shot to allow me a microscopic vision of said bite. Thank. Gawd.


Said bruise was a bit tender to the touch and the center reddish knot was hard but it hasn't bothered me other than the fact it's horrendous looking. No itching. Nothing, really. I've been wearing long sleeves to hide it since a week ago Sunday, (It was 93 degrees today, which was ever so fun.) and it still looks the same today as it did Sunday morning a week ago but it's no longer sensitive. After my self-diagnosis of it being a spider bite, I've been unable to get a sound night of sleep ever since. In my self-diagnosis, I believe that if it is indeed a spider bite, the venom was released under my skin, thus causing the bruising. But hey, I could be wrong.

This is, of course, the time of year when outdoor spiders begin working their way through any little nook and cranny in your home, to secure a nice warm place to winter. Especially wolf spiders, brown recluses, black widows, brown widows, and brown house spiders. Might I just add here that they all look the same to me? Call it racial (spider) profiling? So sue me. Last week the weather was actually quite cool. Eeeeeeek! I'm half insane at this point, seriously. So, my new mission has been to buy mass quantities of caulk in order to seal said nooks and crannies. Clearly, I've lost my mind and until I rid my home of every single, tiny little insect and spider, I won't be rational any time soon. The company that sprays our house on a regular basis was just here a few weeks ago, so there shouldn't be ANY of the little critters. Anywhere. At. All. Not after paying $150.00 for pest control, per visit. So, I'm calling them again tomorrow for another visit. Ugh.


So, has anyone ever experienced this or anything similar? I KNOW that it's not a mosquito bite since I've gone all summer without one because I wear my patches every day and because it doesn't itch like the devil. Obviously, it must be some kind of insect or spider bite.  I unfortunately found nothing on the internet that even remotely resembles it, so I'm troubled as well as pissed off. However, I do have my scheduled doctor's appointment on the 21st and have to take a blood test for said appointment tomorrow.


As much as I distrust the drug pushing doctors in this country, I'm hoping my doctor can give me some answers. Fortunately, I'm not expecting an answer from him, so it will surely be a surprise if he can identify the source. ARGH!!!


To Be Continued....