Recluse

Yesterday I had to leave the house to return a dog to a neighbor. I really didn't want to leave the house but I didn't have my neighbors phone number so I reluctantly got a treat to entice the dog to let me get close enough to grab its leash (it broke its tether in the yard and chased the nanny and Kea back to our house). With my head down I walked around the corner and knocked on my neighbors door half hoping she wouldn't answer so I could take the little mongrel home and leave it in the yard and have Ryan deliver it when he got home.

I barely made eye contact with my neighbor while I hurriedly told her what happened before running home. On the short jog home I prayed no one would see me for two reasons. One, I was wearing my indoor lounging type pants topped with a ratty t-shirt, hair a mess. The other reason was my face was an even bigger mess.

I don't particularly feel like going into all the gory detail so I'll just say I have a cold sore. No. That's not telling the whole story. I have a cold sore which had babies all over my mouth and chin. As I told someone, trying to describe my fat, swollen lips, they look like they could eat Angelina Jolie's lips for lunch.

Since I'm a puffy, oozy, crusty mess I'm not going to Shoreline this morning to do the Free Them 5K. My face is that horrific. Ryan can hardly look at me. The boys don't know better but Gavin did point at me and say, "Red." Heck, as I'm sitting here writing this I stuck a vaseline covered gauze pad over my mouth and chin because I'm tired of the yuckiness that cold sores produce.

When I saw my doctor on Thursday she took a look and said, "Oh, wow. Hmmm. I'm surprised you aren't having more of a reaction (systemically)," as she felt my glands which she said she would have thought would have been really swollen based on the severity of the outbreak.

My appearance has only gone down hill from Thursday. I'm hoping the oral and topical antiviral medications I'm taking will kick in today and I can start looking like a human again soon. And be able to open my mouth all the way and not have to - eh. I forgot. No gory details.

As much as I love to gross people out that is not why I'm writing this; I'm writing to say I'm not doing the Free Them 5K this morning. My friend, Heidi, was going to join me and now I bailed on her. She said she doesn't care if I'm crusty but understands my desire to not be seen. I spent a lot of time yesterday trying to figure out how I was going to do the walk without doing something really gross in public (like showing my crusty face or doing something to make it not crusty but then .... blech).

I think its time to take my vaselined, gauzy self back to bed. Heidi should be waking up soon to get ready for the run. Well, at least this way she can run it instead of walk.