fire ants and Benadryl

Sticking my foot in a fire anthill and overdosing on Benadryl will become a monthly tradition for me. It’s my newly discovered gateway for sleep so assured that my hand slaps myself in the face because I’m on Hour 18 of sleep and I can’t hold it up in my propped up-wrapped-in-a-blanket-dont-even-care-about-the-noise-and-lights-around-me state.

I didn't make this discovery intentionally.

I was feeding the horses Saturday night about 10:30 and felt something stinging my left foot, and then burning. It annoyed me. I kept feeding the horses, kept feeling the stinging and by the time I was walking back to the house, I had chills and my foot was burning.

Fifteen minutes later I was itching all over and 15 minutes after that I thought maybe a shower would help. It didn't, and in the process, I discovered I'd broken out in hives. After my shower I woke Mom up to tell her I was having an allergic reaction. While I was talking to her, my tongue started swelling and she wanted to take me to the hospital.

I opted for two Benadryl and the couch. I promised her if at any point I couldn't breathe, I would notify her immediately.

My tongue continued to swell, hematoma-like hives were on my body, and suddenly I was sleepy. But I didn't want to sleep and lose track of my ability to breathe. 'Twas a quandry.

A qualified friend advised me to take another Benadryl and an hour after that, I took a fourth. Elsie said she was sleeping on the loveseat next to me to check on me and then the sleeping began.

At some point I moved from the couch to my bed, and in the morning Mom let me sleep and stayed home from work to finish the house projects I'd started the day before.

And thus started the Day of Sleep, which was amazingly wonderful and at the same time disrupting. I had things I wanted to accomplish. I did manage to do a couple loads of laundry and scrub out the horses' trough at 7 p.m when I started to perk up a little. I barely stayed awake through Mother's Day dinner and by 9 I was in bed.

My foot is still swollen and my index finger is too (random!) but I woke up this morning feeling well, rested.

Hence my deduction that once a month I should stick my foot in a fire anthill, take 4 Benadryl and call it a day. Or a night. Or 24 hours plus 8 of oblivious sleep.