Itchy Red Elephant Foot and Leg

I haven’t run in over a week because about 1 1/2 weeks ago I woke up one morning with a bug bite near my akilies tendon and a small bump near the bite. Over the next few days, the bump grew until my entire foot swelled and the swelling started to proceed past my ankle toward my lower calf. My ankle bone disappeared and it itched like crazy. Every time I looked down to scratch, I was reminded of a beautiful red elephant leg. Every night before falling asleep, elevated my foot and iced it. I was popping Benadryls in case of the swelling was a reaction to the bite and I was popping Ibroffen in case the swelling was from walking too much in cute lil sandals. Vanity is painful, isn’t it? Getting to the doctor’s office was another adventure. I came straight from work and had a few empty paper boxes to use for moving. Picture me looking for the office while juggling the boxes, my purse and another tote bag. Oh and did I mention during a storm? So yes, I was also holding an umbrella, too. UGH! This would never happen in CA because I’d be in the comfort of a car with my boxes and bags sitting nicely in the trunk! The office was only within 5 minutes walking distance but I decided to hail a cab. I could barely walk because my wet feet were slipping in my wet sandals. It was disgusting to step into ankle deep nyc rain water to get into the cab. And of course I needed to point out to the cabbie that he drove past the office. He apologizes profusely and reversed as much as possible, but the point was I paid for door to door service. And of course it would happen that on the day of my doctor appointment, the swelling goes down and my ankle bone begins to materialize. But I show the doctor pictures of elephant leg and even she is surprised. I was also happy to see that she was clean enough to use hand sanitizing gel after she handled my nyc rain water soaked feet. My diagnosis? A very very bad reaction to the bug/spider bite. To quote Mary, “Dang New York bugs!”