One of those days

Today was one of those days. You know the kind where you wake up will a giant lump on your neck and try to pretend that it's not there and then you go to work and your coworkers try to not stare at it and then the children walk into your room and try not to stare at it and then the really loud and rude girl that drives you crazy comes in and screams, "Oh My God! What is that on your neck?!?!?!"

One of those kinds of days.

I left work early today. The lump on my neck continued to grow through out the day. See the lump appeared yesterday. I had a small dot on my neck that itched before I went to work. By the end of the day I had a pee size lump under my skin. By the time I left for work today to go to the doctor it was even larger.

I was really trying not to freak out about the whole thing.

See I'm allergic to all of the insects in New City. I've never really been aware of my allergies until I moved here. In Old City I knew that I was allergic to bees but unless they were flying after me, I didn't even think of it. Here I am acutely aware of how close I am to nature at all times. I watch where ever foot falls, were every bug hovers and were every breeze comes my way. I've never felt like Mother Nature is out to get me like I have since I moved here.

A usually allergic reaction for me manifests in swelling. Lots of swelling. It begins at the bite site and slowly works it's way toward my heart. The goal is to first not get bitten but in that event get to a safe place to sleep and take a benedryl or two and hope that it takes care of the bleeding before it gets to any vital organs. It's worked well so far. This lump was nothing like that reaction at all.

I was thinking that the lump was not an allergic reaction because it was presenting in such a different manner. Just a tiny bit of swelling and all located at the site. Hard mass under the skin and very painful.

I was thinking that it was a zit gone wrong but knew that it could be worse, like a spider bite. There are really poisonous spiders here. My Mother-in-laws friend was recently in the hospital because of a spider bite. AHHHHH! My lump happens to also look like the bite site of a Brown Recluse Spider in the early stage.

I went to the doctor and the nurse that saw me first said that she also believed that it was a bite but that the doctor would be able to tell me what they think.

At this point I'm really getting nervous.

The Doc comes in, looks at my neck for one whole second and says that it's a cyst. Then he starts writing in the chart. He wrote for almost three whole minutes without saying a thing. It was very hard for me not to ask a million questions while he wrote but I had a very strong feeling that he could not write and answer questions at the same time.

After he was finished writing I asked him a bunch of questions. It all basically comes down to this, it's a cyst. Put warm compresses on it three times a day until it goes away. If it gets bigger, starts to weep or I get a really bad fever come back to the office. If it does not go away in a week, come back to the office. Do not pick at it or try to pop it. It's not a giant zit and will not come out. It's a hard mass and will slowly dissolve. Popping or picking will only lead to infection.

I'm very glad that it's not an allergic reaction to a bite but I'm still not sure where it came from. It seems to be one of those thing that just happens. You know like when I got hemorrhoids while I was a junior in college. Stuff like that.

So I'm sitting with a heat pack on my neck trying to act cool. I might wear a band aid over it for my class tomorrow. Just so there are no questions or anyone screaming from the room. Luckily it will be with adults tomorrow and not kids. Usually adults are better about not screaming the obvious. Usually.