I looked in the mirror and saw a red spot on my belly. Shaped like a sanitary napkin about 10 inches long. A few days later it was redder, and bigger, so I went to the dermatologist. She found a small ulcer in my eye and prescribed antibiotics for the belly spot, which was then over a foot long and due to Lyme disease, she diagnosed. Now I have an appointment with my eye doctor and am taking antibiotics with all the side effects such as funny looks from the person at the pharmacy (dermatologists in Austria do skin and STDs, is it like that in other countries?) dizziness (discovered while balancing on the top rung of a 14′ ladder with a shopping bag with 10lbs of prunes in my left hand (as I was telling David Lynch), myopia and wacky driving (discovered on the freeway last Sunday, in the rain), increase sensitivity to the sun (got a rainburn at a wedding on the same Sunday), and I don’t know what else. Never look in the mirror, it causes rainburn, and you might fall off a ladder. The spot seems to be fading, which is good. Very happy about that.
If I ever meet a dermatologist I’ll ask about STDs. Last time I found a spot on my belly it was shingles. Man, that hurt. I’ve had cloudburn a lot – curse you, vampire genes! How’s your vitamin D?
Shingles, ouch.
I’ve been wondering about vitamin D since I avoided the sun a lot this year. Maybe I should go eat a salmon.
That’s interesting…. They don’t make ‘em much paler than me (you’ve seen my Facebook pic, no doubt Mig) and I have NEVER gotten a rainburn, despite living in Oregon my entire life where I am pretty much predestined to have a vitamin D deficiency. It does take me a bit less than 15 minutes to burn in the sun, though.