Health Update (March 10)

My eye is looking better! The smallish red lump looks like a mosquito bite and is mostly disguised by my eyelashes. Fortunately the skin wasn’t stretched to the point of no return so I don’t have an extra flapping eyelid.

Here’s how it happened:
The weekend before my appointment with the doctor the lump started to bruise and develop a soft spot. Monday afternoon it burst in class. Someone was giving a presentation about something and I bolted from my seat, running out of the room with my hand over my bloody eye, saying “Ohh (insert crap)!”

Can you imagine what people were thinking? I laugh every time I visualize it. Everyone in the first few rows was checking out the monster before class (or they were just staring at me because I’m white). Either way, I’m sure it was talked about.

I went to the hospital to have it dressed that night so it wouldn’t get infected. I’m not taking any chances here. The nurse tried to pop it and tugged, saying that there was something that needed to come out, prompting my imagination to do what it does best. I convinced myself I had a mango worm.
(Mango worms: mango flies lay eggs in cloth, usually when left to dry outside, which hatch as worms and burrow into the skin. To get them out you cover the bump with Vaseline to suffocate them and when they come up for air, squeeze like pimple. Instead of a white head out comes a squirmy little worm)

The following afternoon was my appointment with the specialist. After waiting five hours I was disappointed – no scalpel & no worm. He just poked it a little, told me to keep applying scalding water and taped my eye shut. Totally anticlimactic.