I am allergic to mosquito bites. They turn red, ugly and swell up. Little did I know that I am allergic to other bugs too. I found out this trip when I got a few little black fly or "no-see-um" bug bites. You don't see them, and you don't feel them. But, wow, are they there! The bite starts out as a little red hole in your skin, and then spreads out a bit and itches. I was wearing a lot of bug spray of different kinds, and I learned to stay out of the tall grasses that line the shore. I had packed different kinds of bug bite analgesics made with lavendar and After Bite for Kids, made with eucalyptus, which all worked fine and smelled ok too.
On Thursday, we were driving along, and I felt a teensy sting near my eye on my nose. I rubbed a little tiny green bug off my face. By that night, my eye had started to swell, and by the next morning, my eye was completely a puffy mess and I was a sorry sight. The next morning we went to the nearest drugstore 25 miles away to talk to the pharmacist, who advised Benadryl capsules. That afternoon, George bought me this little friend, Spongebob "bad eye", who has an eye that looks exactly like mine! He was my mascot and companion for the rest of the trip.
Now, three days later, my eye is almost completely ok again...thank goodness! This experience sure put the "fear of bugs" into me.
