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Not-So-Speedy Dressage

From Endurance to Dressage

Spider Woman!

1/27/2020

 
Did I ever have a weird week. Have you ever woken up and immediately thought, ouch, what's that? ​I got out of bed to check my back and was horrified at the huge pimple that had popped up over night.
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Yeah, like that.
It was gross. It was gross the next day, the day after that, and the day after that. In fact, it stayed gross for more than a week. It hurt like hell, especially since it was just under my bra strap.
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Like I need another reason to hate my bra.
The damn thing would just not go away. By the second week, I was begging my husband to just stick a needle in it. He of course refused, loudly while swiftly getting the hell out of Dodge. It was planted right on my shoulder blade, so no amount of contortion would allow me to actually poke it with a sharp object. I tried.
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Not even she could have reached it.
Somewhere after the second week and maybe into the third week, I told my husband to look at it. And I meant REALLY look at it. He might have shrieked a bit. He definitely made a noise.
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I mentioned that I should maybe go to the doctor. Uh ... yeah, you think? Was his immediate response. But really, who goes to the doctor for a pimple? What 49 year old woman even gets pimples? Setting my pride aside, I called during my lunch break and got an appointment for later that afternoon.
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Not actually my doctor, but she was puzzled.
I couldn't see the doctor's face as she was examining my pimple, but I could hear her. THAT IS NOT A PIMPLE, was her diagnosis. It's not? I stupidly asked. Although she didn't come right out and say so, she must have thought me incredibly stupid. Um, no. It's an insect bite, probably a spider, and it looks as though it bit you THREE times. Oh, that must be why it hurts so damned bad.
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I am sure it was something like this.
I'll spare you the worst of the gory details, but she numbed it - that hurt like a mother forklift, and then she lanced it. Google how do you lance a wound if you really need to know. As a side note, I once had to have a sore on my eyelid lanced. This was nothing compared to that.
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I didn't actually see the needle, but it felt like this.
When the cutting was done, she sent me home with the wound zipped up tight with Steri Strips topped with a pressure bandage. She also loaded me up with a bottle of antibiotics and insisted I come back a few days later for a check up.
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Spider Woman I was not.
I was more than a little disappointed that I wouldn't be donning a mask and shooting webs from my wrists, but being told to NOT wear a bra for the next few days sort of made up for it. I spent most of the week babysitting my shoulder so that the knife wound on my back wouldn't break open and bleed all over my shirt. 
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I discovered that I must do a lot of talking with my hands as I was really sore at the end of my first work day. Oh, and we had our pest control guy out the very next day to spray the inside of our house. I made him do our bedroom twice.

Saline solution, iodine, packing material, pressure bandage, digging with a sharp object ... all that's missing is the duct tape. Holy hell, I just had an abscess.
M
1/28/2020 08:10:06 am

Ouch! It's good that you went and got it looked at. Hope it heals soon!

Bakersfield Dressage link
2/1/2020 08:17:22 am

Thanks, the steri strips finally fell off yesterday. :0)

lytha
1/31/2020 07:17:22 am

omg in 2016 I had a spider bite that turned into an "Eschar" which is basically a big black hole. Size of a quarter, but deep. It would alternatingly fill with pus and turn black and hollow. The doctor put a bandage on it but that wasn't right, it was completely festering under there. I have a photo but it's really too gross to post. Google Eschar.
Two doctors said it's just a tick. Tick? I know ticks very well and they don't get in bed with me in January. Also, I always see the ticks on my body at least by the 2nd day. Ticks leave red wounds that eventually heal. This is permanent.

It's been 4 years and I have a permanent scar that looks like someone burned me with an oversized cigar.

Since I'm terrified of spiders, I don't want to know which one bit me.

Pretty funny that you got to get out of wearing a bra. You're so skinny now I'm sure that was simply wonderful.

Bakersfield Dressage link
2/1/2020 08:18:18 am

Ew! I wonder if it was a brown recluse? That's what they do. This one was pretty simple. As soon as she lanced it, it felt better immediately!


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    About the Writer and Rider

    ​I am a lifelong rider. 
    I began endurance riding in 1996 where I ultimately completed five, one-day 100 mile races, the 200-mile Death Valley Encounter, and numerous other 50, 65, and 75 mile races. I began showing dressage in 2010.
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    ​Speedy went from endurance horse to dressage horse. After helping me earn a USDF Bronze medal in the summer of 2020, he is now semi-retired. Speedy is a 2004, 15'1 hand, purebred Arabian gelding. His Arabian Horse Registry name is G Ima Starr FA.
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  • Home
  • About
  • My Horses
    • Horses
    • Imperioso
    • G Ima Starr FA
    • Sunshine
    • Nakota and Gideon
    • Corky
    • Sassy
    • Montoya DSA
    • Mickey Dee
    • Sydney
  • Show Results
    • 2022
    • 2021
    • 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013
    • 2012
    • 2011
    • 2010
  • Dressage Organizations
    • Dressage Organizations
    • Memberships
    • 2019 Dressage Tests
  • Local
    • Shopping List
  • Home