The bugs and me

Just so everyone gets the part of the poem in my last post, I thought I would share my experience with the bugs here in Iraq. We haven't gotten along very well to tell you the truth. I had one minor bug bite on the back of my neck, which I took some pills for and everything was fine. About a month after that I was bitten again, on the leg and foot this time. When my foot started to swell and I couldn't fit my shoe on it, I decided it was time to get it checked out. (I just have to say my wife was telling me to do this the whole time.) So the medics were pretty impressed, they had been having an upsurge of personnel coming in with this, but mine was one of the worst. (Being that I had waited so long.) They said I was about a day away from being sent to Germany. (Should have waited!) So they started me on three types of anti-biotics; Two different pills and I had to go in for an IV with anti-biotics every 8 hours. After a few of these treatments, a doctor nicknamed "Captain America" (Former navy corpsman, ex special forces medic... seen a lot of things) decided it would be good to dig in and clean out the infection. Yeah, this is as painful as it sounds, especially since they couldn't use any Novocaine due to the risk of spreading the infection. It turns out he was also a very funny guy who had me laughing hysterically in between my winces of pain. Of course a buddy of mine was there for moral support (okay, his own enjoyment.) One of the funnier moments included the good captain stepping away for a second, leaving the long sterile Q-tip sticking out of my leg. That's right, it was about a quarter inch into my leg sticking straight up, and it had me in stitches! (I don't recommend it.) After that, everyone wanted to go with me to the IV treatments, in case I needed some additional "moral support". So after about a week I was walking normally and I have been bite free for a few months now... knock on wood. So that is the story about the bugs biting me. Below is one of the pictures I sent Sarah, she wanted them for show and tell at school. It is my foot after they were finished digging. The yellow coloring is because my foot was soaking in iodine, not from the infection.