3 Steps Forward and 2 Steps back

I'm going to be honest, Negative Nancy might be writing most part of this post. To start, yesterday morning, while straightening my hair, an ant bit me on the ankle. I know you're thinking "Oh, waa." Except I am allergic to insect bites. Thus far, I had not had any major issues, but if you understand allergic reactions, you know each exposure can produce more severe reactions. My ankle swelled up pretty bad. After work, I thought no biggie, I'll pop a Benadryl and call it a day. (Expecting the swelling to be gone in the morning.) The irritation actually woke me up at 3:00 in the morning and I had to ice it in order to have some comfort. Still going with my usual, "it will heal itself" attitude, this was my ankle, or should I say CANKLE,  at the end of the day:

Yes, one small ant caused THIS! So needless to say, with minor convincing, Jeff got me to go to the Redi Clinic. Before we went, I called ahead to make sure they could treat a reaction like this. When I met with the nurse practitioner, she was shocked! She had thought it was strange for someone to call in about one ant bite and was expecting a laughable bite. She said she had never seen any reaction like this from one bite before! She prescribed me an antibiotic and a steroid (which hinders sleep, hence the midnight post). The really lame part, we leave for New York Thursday morning! Considering it's pretty painful to walk and our entire trip will be filled with walking, I'm really hoping this heals quickly. This leads me into event #2 of the day.

Since we are going to NY, I had started packing our suitcases. Jeff's suitcase was laying on the floor in our bedroom (next to an exterior wall) and what do ya know? The ankle biting ant had invited all his buddies and Jeff's entire suitcase was filled with ants! I'm so glad I wasn't home because I'm pretty sure I would have had a panic attack! Lucky Jeff got to come home to this... so I'm more venting for him here because my wonderful husband had it all taken care of by the time I got home! The only annoying thing for me will be having to re-fold and re-pack his suitcase. (But I'll take that over killing a bazillion ants anyday!)

But, the real kicker of the day was the call I received from Dr. Wheeler. He had called with my blood results. Good news, my liver and cholesterol are good (whatever). Not so good news, the thing he thought was some sort of follicle in my ovary (apparently this is a good thing) was really just a cyst. (He can tell this somehow by the estrogen levels in my blood). I felt instantly like all the positive things from Friday's appointment were completely negated! He did reassure me that I was still making progress and that the meds are working, but I couldn't help but feel bummed.

Now that Negative Nancy has had her turn, I will try to end with Positive Patty. I'm going to be working from home tomorrow (which is always nice) since I have to keep my foot elevated and iced (periodically), which should give me some rest before our trip and hopefully help my ankle to heal. Plus, Jeff and I leave for NY on Thursday and we have lots of fun scheduled! I'm really looking forward to an exciting vacation with my hubby! I hope to have some great pics to post when we get back!