recently, i went up to visit a relative who lives at a mountainous area of southern california. as i was walking in her backyard, a bit of tall grass brushed upon my socked ankle and i guess soemthing bit me right then because the area began itching shortly thereafter. after i went home, i discovered a swollen, mosquito like welt on my ankle and i immediately isolated those socks so they would be washed with boiling water later.

the next day, i found 3 new, much less pronounced -that is not quite as tall or large-, equally itchy welts on the other side of the same ankle. i thought this was quite strange because i hadn't put on those socks and also, all of the bites were on the same leg.

i didn't think much of it for about a week... and then i got a new bite on the same leg that made me think again.

this bite felt like -from moment to moment- there was something making small, tearing bites under the skin, only on ONE SIDE of the wound, which was moving up towards the torso. the allergic response was MUCH less: the first bite produced a half dollar sized, raised pinkish mountain on my skin, the second set of bites produced quarter sized reaction sites and this new 'bite,' moving up my calf muscle, had a reaction site only about as large as a nickel, with the same characteristic, small, raised bump that is 1-2mm wide and about 1mm tall at the center of the swollen area. it feels like there is something in the side of the swollen area that is facing my body that is continuously making tiny bites toward my body... and if i press down with my fingernail on all of the other areas of this raised reaction site, unless i press right on the 'bite' or on the quadrant that is moving up toward my body, the stuff within feels like it just easily moves aside without any pain, like my fingernail is pressing down upon a tiny packet of thick sauce trapped under my skin. it's like pressing down on a packet of flavored lard from a package of ramen noodles. whatever is within the wound stays where its been shifted once the nail is lifted up. much more disturbing is that if i press on the upward quadrant of the wound, it feels like whatever is biting me immediately releases and the sharp, continuous pain is immediately gone. i've tried pressing down HARD on this thing with my nail in an effort to kill whatever is inside... pressing down on the raised bump causes a sharp pain.

it gets worse.

as i noted, the sensation felt like something was making tiny bites and burrowing up my leg, so i noted its location, and about 8 hours later (i was tired and took a nap), it appeared that the 'bite' had moved up my leg, travelling up toward the center of my body by about 2 inches. it actually moved! it was as if the entire wound had shifted upward, and where the bite was just 8 hours earlier there was only a slight pinkish area with the diameter of a pencil eraser, centered around a 1-2mm bite mark. whatever this thing is, it still feels like it's burrowing up my leg. i am now very frightened. not enough to incur a 1 thousand dollar trip to the hospital (that's how much it cost last time just to get looked at for an adverse caffeine reaction) but darn it... tomorrow morning i am going to the pharmacist and maybe to a vet just to get this thing looked at.

i think i have something burrowing up my leg, toward the center of my body, just under the skin.

i can't help but to think of those infamous pictures of the damage that is caused by bot fly larvae chewing through soft tissues in the human body. one of the most shocking of these pictures is of a human brain with a baseball sized gaping cave chewed into it, which is astonishing and demonstrates that these pests can burrow through flesh and bone and love soft tissues. folks, i am literally very close to performing self surgery with a sterilized exacto blade to extract whatever is apparently travelling up my leg. any advice here would be well appreciated, especially if it's regarding killing this bug (preferably by some other method) or on how to locally anesthetize the area for surgery. honestly, i'm so disturbed by this that i am willing to carve into myself without any anesthetic. i don't have a thousand dollars or more to pay to go to the hospital (-and that's how much it cost about 12 years ago... that visit today would probably cost twice as much!). please help!!