My Biggest Problem is Temporary Cankles

I went to the emergency room two weeks ago because of infected mosquito bites. 14 of them, in fact. They were all on my ankles, which made my ankles spread out to be cankles. So while in the emergency room, I looked around, watching small children coughing and crying into their parents arms. I saw an old man clutching his heart, speaking in broken English to his daughter that he was fine. Meanwhile, my biggest problem is that I had cankles.

I met with three nurses and a doctor, all of which were wonderful human beings. They laughed at my jokes and told me I was going to be just fine. They then took a serious moment and warned me that had I waited a day more to come in for my cankle problem, I would have needed to be hospitalized because the infection was just that bad.

I then drove off, back to my apartment, thinking the entire time, “cool, glad that my cankles are a serious medical condition and not just a personal issue or body dismorphia”.

It has been two weeks. My cankles have returned to regular old ankles. My reaction to drugs is still super severe as the antibiotics that I was put on caused acid reflux for ten days. I am aware of my privilege. I have a mom who urged me to go to the emergency room, I have friends who consistently checked in with me, I have the income to pay for these kinds of medical emergencies, and I have a job that was more than willing to work with my schedule. In the grand scheme of things, I am extremely lucky. Sure, I found out at age 22 that I am severely allergic to mosquitoes. It is a bummer, but there are far worse things. Like living with hypocrites.

But this is just something to tell my therapist.