A marked woman

I was supposed to go to the doctor's Friday morning for my second post-surgery check-up. I had been worried about some lingering marks from the caning I'd taken almost two weeks ago. The marks were fading. On Wednesday night I checked and I had a few small, light bruises; I don't think anyone would be able to tell what caused them, and I still planned to see the doctor and pretend nothing was up. Still, I didn't REALLY want my doctor seeing anything. So I said to myself, maybe Arnica will help. I have some in the medicine cabinet.

I've used Arnica in the past. It's supposed to help prevent or minimize bruising after a scene. But I haven't been very consistent with using it, so I can't say with any certainty that “yes, it works,” or “no, it doesn't.” I have heard that you should use it right away, but I figured even this late in the game it couldn't hurt -- it would either help, or I'd still have the small marks. I applied some on Thursday morning.

Midday Thursday, I go into the single-stall ladies room at work and check my rear view in the mirror. No way! On each thigh, suddenly I'm seeing four distinct cane lines (yes, you can tell they are lines from a cane -- or something else long and thin). Up to that point they had practically disappeared.

“Great!” I thought. “This is not good!”

There's no way. I simply can't go to the doctor looking like this. I went back to my desk, called and said, “I have to postpone my appointment. We're going to be swamped at work tomorrow.” (It wasn't a lie -- we were going to be busy.)

They gave me a choice of rescheduling for Jan. 8 or 12. I almost picked the 12th, but then I realized, oh no, the Delaware Valley Spanks party is on the 10th. Let's not go through this again! I'm being a good girl and seeing the doctor first before I go play.

Yeah, I know, I could maybe not go to a party for once; take a break. Ha ha ha ha. Right.