For the past two weeks, I've had insomnia, very little sleep at night. My mind races. I'm too hot and have to turn on the ceiling fan. I'm still hot and have to get the oscillating fan on a stand. I get thirsty and have to get up for a glass of water. I toss and turn. And I itch.
I have a weird thing going on. It first began around 2008 when we were in New Orleans visiting Mike's son,
Tom. It was a couple years since Hurricane Katrina had hit. Shortly after Tom and his girlfriend (now wife) were able to go back home, they started feeding the dogs that were homeless and lost. They would drive around with bags and bags of dog food feeding the poor creatures with nowhere to go. They ended up adopting Jack. Jack is a very large dog. Very large. A St. Bernard.
Anyway, back to my story. We were there visiting around April. We always go in April. Number one, because it's Tom's birthday that month. Number two the weather is good that time of year. Number three, it's after Mardi Gras. This particular April it was humid and muggy. And hot. Jack is a long haired dog and gets on the sofa, etc..
A few days into our visit at Tom's place, I noticed something red on my chest. It looked like ringworm and itched like crazy. It got bigger and started changing shape. When we arrived back home I scheduled an appt. with my doctor, who thought it was ringworm, but just in case, sent me to a dermatologist. The dermatologist took one look at it and gave me the name for it (it's a
long name) and said it was an allergic reaction to something. I had no idea from what. All that mattered to me, was that the medicine prescribed made it disappear. I thought it was a one time freak thing.
Then one day, later that same year, I drove up to Vacaville for my hair appointment. It was a hot day and there was this guy washing his dog on the lawn in front of his house where I had parked my car. I went over and petted the dog and spoke briefly to the man and went on my merry way. That day I broke out again on my chest. Same thing, same general area but a different spot. Luckily, I still had the medicine so used that to clear it up. And thought, hmm. Coincidence? Dogs?
About a year later we were across the street visiting our neighbors. They have two little Shih tzu dogs that are as cute as can be. Ronnie and Pucchi. Not sure if the spelling is right, I think it is, sounds like poochie. What can I say, dogs like me. I guess. These two jumped up into my lap and of course I petted them. Well, anyway, you guessed it. I broke out again. Same place, the chest. So, now it's confirmed and I finally realized that I'm allergic to dogs. Or dog hair.
About a month ago we were visiting our friends and they have a dog. A black lab named Bella that I adore. She's the sweetest dog. Has a big smile on her face to greet you. Big smile. I got a little too close and broke out again. After two weeks, this time the medicine wasn't working. I emailed my reg. doc and got a new prescription and used that for a few weeks. (It was not the dermatologist who saw me the first time all those years ago.) Anyway, the new stuff wasn't working so I went in to see her (doc) this morning.
Went over everything that's been going on, the close contact with my friends dog approx six weeks ago. She got her curiosity up and asked to see it. I pulled up my shirt and she took one look at it and said, "ringworm". I explained to her that no, it's not ringworm. It was confirmed all those years ago that it mimics ringworm in appearance.
She got on the computer and took a look at what my dermatologist had said and prescribed for me back then. So, now I have the official name for this thing. It's
Erythema Annulare Centrifugum. And they really don't know much about what causes it. It was first diagnosed for the first time in 1916 by Darier, a French physician, pathologist and dermatologist. My doctor was curious to learn about this thing she didn't know about and said she was going to research it.
Dr. H. (that's what they call her because her name is very, very long) said that basically the medicine I had from the dermatologist wasn't working because it's so old and is no longer effective. It was basically like putting on a plain do nothing cream. She ended up prescribing a one time pill and another tube of the potent cream.
Fingers crossed that this does the trick. I'm sick of this thing. Itching and keeping me awake at night.
Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't had any time to take pictures of the yard. We've been working so, so hard all week long on orders, trying to get everything finished and boxed up for shipping tomorrow. We still have two things to pack up in the morning before we leave for Carmel. A coffee table and a Railroad Shelf.
We got up at 7 am and worked until 7:30 this evening. I just finished up packaging and boxing twelve orders. No dinner to be had. Poor Mike ended up with a bowl of Cheerios and I found some leftover egg salad from the other day and made myself half a sandwich. I'm grumpy. And tired.
Mike is in the recliner reading the paper. I'm stretched out on the sofa as I write. The doors and windows are all open because it's hot and I can hear the fountain in the backyard. It's so sweet. The fountain, that is. Every morning we have hummingbirds and robins and bluejays taking their morning baths in the cool, cool water. Splashing and flitting to and fro. It's a joy to watch.
I'm sort of looking forward to this trip. The reason I say sort of is because our yard still isn't back to normal and my house is dirty. The floors are gritty and grimy from tracking all that dirt and sand and grout into the house and needs a good mopping or two. I need to wash our bed sheets. The furniture is dusty. That's why I'm grumpy. I know that once we get away though, I'll be better. I just hate coming home to a dirty house. I usually always clean house before we go anywhere so all I have to do when I come home is unpack and do laundry. Not this time.
