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I know some of my regular fans are wondering when the rest of the Macedonian story will be published. Well, I beg your indulgence as I take a small aside to tell you another tale. A tale of pain, and suffering, a tale of a struggle and triumph of the human immune system.
You see, although I thought I had made it out of Macedonia unhamred, my initial impression was false, for I had brought with me a parasite. You see, the beast, known to the locals as the Balkan Blood Bug, had laid it's eggs in the skin of my leg without my having the slightest inkling. After several days the eggs began to hatch, and the larvae began to eat their way to freedom.
When the first boil broke in an erruption of fetid pus and squirming maggots, I was a little surprised. I cleaned the wound, applied a plaster and went about my life. Another two days later and my skin was festering with multitudes of the little worms, so I up and visited the doctor. Doctor Gfeller explained what had stricken me, and explained the treatment: wait. The grubs would wriggle out of their own accord.
In the meantime, I was to take a strong mix of anitbiotics, apply disinfectant twice daily, and keep from exercise. The last of these, to me the most worrying, was prescribed because of the bug's tendency to ride the bloodstream about the body. They had then been known to burst out of any number of places - the hands, the ears, the eyes...
So, being the natural journalist, I carefully photgraphed and documented the spread of the bug:
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