Criaturas que pican.

Lockdown day 23.
Today's theme is creatures that sting, because of what happened earlier this morning. I was eating my muesli as usual, when I became aware of an intense pain in my neck, just below the ear. Looking in the mirror revealed a lump around the size of a ping-pong ball in the area of the lymph node, and it was growing by the minute. My lower jaw and ear hurt, and I was starting to resemble the Elephant Man. Quick googling revealed that swelling on lymph nodes is a sign of bacterial or - shock, horror - VIRAL infection, so I went into panic mode at once, causing hyperventilation therefore breathlessness (another SYMPTOM!) and extreme wooziness. As the other person here is even more prone to panic than I am, I didn't raise the alarm, and self-medicated with antihistamine and ibuprofen. Just didn't want to be carted off to hospital at this stage as it is home to all the patients being treated for you-know-what, plus medics, many of whom have caught it too. Also applying a hot compress seemed to reduce the pain and swelling somewhat, though it was still hard to turn my head.
It seems that I had a tiny bite mark in the centre of the swelling, probably from a horsefly as different from a mosquito bite - they're itchy as well as sore, and the little buggers alert you to their presence soundwise on a victory lap after doing the deed, I find. Panic over, although having taken this whole pandemic thing pretty calmly so far, and adhered strictly to the rules, I was surprised how much fear I suddenly felt.
Seems staying at home has its own dangers too.