Bitten

This past weekend I passed something off of my bucket list that I did not know was on it till it happened.
I spent the past weekend up in McCall at my uncle's cabin with some other friends. (Thanks Again Uncle Mike! I had the greatest time EVER!) In order to get to the cabin we had to snow mobile in. Now I'm not overly great at snowmobiling, but I grew up around 4 wheelers and felt confident enough in my abilities if I took it easy. We got there without mishap and enjoyed a wonderful time with one another goofing off and sledding. The next morning was bitter cold (like around 2-12 degrees) and we began our journey back to the pickup we left at the bottom of the road. I had my helmet, goggles and hood on and was ready to go. What I didn't realize was that I had left a small space at the bottom of my goggles which was not covered. We began the trek with no problems. I usually drove around 40 mph and the cold began to freeze the condensation which had accumulated around the hood covering my mouth and nose.

The cold wasn't unreasonable so I continued, not wanting to stop to fix it. Over time I began to feel the wind and air biting my right cheek  worse and worse than ever. I realized that I hadn't covered it properly and figured it wouldn't be a big deal. It continued to get worse the farther we went. I thought that my cheek would go numb and I wouldn't have to feel it. It didn't. Mercifully, the rest of the group in front of me stopped to play in a meadow nearby after about 45 minutes of solid driving.  As I was stopped I was able to recover the exposed area and felt immediate relief. We got back to the pickup and prepared to leave. I noticed that my cheek was very tender and became a little worried about what had happened to it from the cold.

In the pickup driving home, I was informed that I had received a touch of frostbite on my cheek and a little on my nose where the condensation froze. Yes it was true. I have REAL frostbite on my face. I didn't know what to do about it so I did nothing.  When I imagined frostbite I only thought of when your skin turns black and you have to cut something off.

I was pretty alarmed at first but the next day the spot was angry and red, but nothing too weird. A couple days later it peeled just like a sunburn, but it continued to peel again and again the following days, which leads me to believe that the frostbite killed a few extra layers of skin than a typical sunburn. But I am proud to say that I survived it. And nothing had to be amputated or removed- Thank Goodness. (it is kinda tiny and a little hard to see in the picture, but I assure you, it is really there.

2 days after. Super angry isn't it?

about 5 days after. Its hard to see in this pic