Thank goodness for ICEMAKERS!!

So, let me tell you about the misery that has been my life for the last two days. I woke up Tuesday morning and felt like there was a little bump on the skin between my thumb and finger on each hand. Odd. It felt like a bug bite and itched. No need to panic. These "bug bites" (which they were not) rapidly spread until the palms on both of my hands were red, swollen, itchy and painful. Mostly painful on that day...I had to have Jackson open doorknobs for me and we were having company to dinner so that was an interesting feat. I had commented during dinner how great my ice water felt on my hands. That was Tuesday.

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I slept okay Tuesday night, but Wednesday I woke up with "the itch". My hands itched like they have never itched before. I was like a dog with fleas or a bear that uses a huge tree and rubs up and down. Nothing helped! If you can imagine how truly unfun it is to have your hands itch every second of the day, IT'S MISERY!! Imagine millions of mosquito bites on your hands that all itch and just won't stop!! Dennis called mid-day and I promptly burst into tears. Jackson, being the sweet little boy that he is, remembered that I had liked the ice water at dinner the night before and brought me a glass of ice. It helped take the edge off. Back to the story, I told Dennis that I just couldn't live this way forever and being the connected guy that he is, he called me back 5 minutes later to say that he had talked to the dermatologist who was just viewing slides that day and wanted to see me. How come the nurse that works with my PCP couldn't have done that? She insisted I needed to make an appointment with my doc (who was booked solid for the next 3 days) so he could refer me to a dermatologist??? Anyway, I went to the dermatologist who said it was an obvious case of contact dermatitis. Apparently I am allergic to Spokane. Okay, not really, but I am allergic to something. I just don't know what.

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Did I mention that I ITCH??? Despite the fact that I am now on steroids, I did not sleep a wink last night. I know because every 45 minutes or so I got up to change the ice in my sippy cup so that I could clutch it in the hopes of numbing my hands enough to get some sleep. I know because I was awake both times Taryn got up to potty. I know because I saw the sunrise and was awake when Taryn got up at 5:30. That led to another incident. I was walking down the stairs to renew my ice and see what Taryn was up to at 5:30 when I stumbled (no doubt from sleep deprivation) and fell down the stairs. I'm not embarrassed...okay, slightly embaressed to admit that I wet my pants just a little and really hurt my bladder. I must be related to my mother. =) I then went upstairs to change and literally almost passed out in the bathroom. Again, sleep deprivation?? The blackness closed in and I quickly laid on the cold floor to keep it at bay. What is wrong with me? I recovered enough to go downstairs and take my steroids which have to be taken with food and nothing sounds good at 5:30 in the morning so I had a Go-Gurt and a tortilla.

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So, with all that done by about 6:00AM, what is there left to do but to blog about it? Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go change the ice in my sippy cup.