Warning: it is not for the faint of heart, but it is true , because it happened to me.

Up until about a month ago, nothing scared me.  Storms.  Tight places.  Creepy crawlies.  Spiders.  Dark alleyways.  None of these things bothered me.  I was a normal person who had "it all together".  I was in total control of my life and what happened in it.

Then came the day when I started getting this weird sensation. This sensation started at the top of my neck and went down the entire perimeter of my spinal column.  It wasn't bothersome at first:  I chose to ignore it, but it really never went away.  As the weeks went on, however, this "tingling sensation" grew more intense and even painful.  I grew concerned, so I went to see my doctor.  My doctor, in kind, couldn't find anything wrong.  He just dismissed my symptoms as stress.  He told me to take it easy and try to reduce the level of stress in my life.

At the time this happened, I was in the middle of switching jobs, getting ready to make a major purchase (a new van), and paying off my wife's medical bills.  It was a very hard time for me.

I took The Good Doctor's advice and hoped that this change in my routine would get rid of the nagging tingling in my spine.  It was, by now, starting to drive me insane, especially when I would lie down to go to sleep.  It seemed during the night it grew worse.  A lot worse.  

Well, one day, I was getting ready to take my daily bath.  As I removed my clothing and looked in the mirror, I was startled to see a hole in my lower back.  It was about the size of a half-dollar.  Funny, I remembered thinking, I don't remember cutting myself.  It didn't hurt too bad, but it was bloody, and I couldn't remember for the life of me how I had done this.

I got into the bathtub and was in the process of washing myself when the painful tingling got even worse.  Then I washed my back (carefully, of couse) and was surprised to see this ... this ... this ... THING ... sitting on the washrag.  It looked like a blob with spider-like legs and it was pulsating rapidly.

It truly scared the living hell out of me.  I din't know what it was or where it had come from.  I then looked down at the water: to my horror, it had become bright red with blood.  MY blood.  

That was the last thing I remembered before I mercifully passed out.

~To be continued.~