IMMUNITY LAPSED

 

          It’s been almost 57 years since my body was the recipient of enough mosquito saliva to cause my immune system to do whatever it did that kept me free of mosquito bites for all that time.

          It was on my honeymoon in 1966 that I counted forty-five mosquito bites on JUST my left leg. I still had one more night to sleep in our little cabin in Acapulco. I was simply covered in mosquito bites. To make our honeymoon even more enjoyable, we swam out into the bay to the raft tethered there. John was horribly sunburned in the process. We thought if he was under water, he wouldn’t burn and we were wrong.

          To make matters even better, in 1966, couples were given twin beds as opposed to double, queen or king size beds. We did end up using both twin beds for a couple of nights because being touched caused my mosquito bites to itch horribly and John’s sunburn was very painful. Good thing we thoroughly enjoyed lots of marital bliss before the bites and sunburn.

          Anyway, back to now and mosquito bites. Over the years, I’ve been quite smug about how mosquitos left me alone. I’d recite the tale of forty-five bites and laugh about how lucky I was. Now and then I would receive one or two bites a summer and actually enjoyed them because it was so fun to scratch the itch. As of today, there is no longer any pleasure in scratching because I have way too many bites. Apparently, my immune system’s response to mosquito bites has finally worn off.

          I haven’t seen or heard a single mosquito. I cannot swear they are mosquito bites, but they certainly look and feel like it. And, either a single mosquito finds me so tasty it has to bite me more than once close to the first bite, or she (only females bite) is calling all her friends in to feast since I have five bites on the inside of my left shin in the radius of a small coffee cup. That grouping stings more than it itches.

          On the outside of my left leg, there are four large itchy bumps as though she either began just below the edge of my shorts and worked her way down or vice versa. On my right leg, I have two on the inside and four along the outside of my calf. They are almost through itching…I think. The last bites are on my left arm. Those two not only itched, but the area seemed a bit painful. They are now fading.

          Of course, these may not be mosquito bites, but I can’t think of what else they could be. Spider bites are a possibility, but I always thought they were much smaller. I guess it serves me right to have been so smug for so long. Still whether it’s mosquitos or some other bug, I do so wish I had my immunity back.