A Biblical Plague

I really feel like I have been infested with a Biblical plague.  I have chronicled my automobile and cell phone problems.  Thursday night, my skin infection returned from out of nowhere! And, today, while I was doing laundry, my drains backed up.   So that put the kibosh on laundry.  The drain clean out was covered with leaves, so I thought I should clean that area of the backyard.  And, of course, I ended up cleaning the entire back yard.  I did not even plan to do that this weekend. I will say that between the celebrex and my physical therapy exercises, I am getting stronger.   It only took about 2 hours to rake the entire yard, with only two rest breaks.  That is about what it used to take before my back started bothering me.  Of course, I am very sore tonight.

On the other hand, the snow and freezing rain we had last weekend and early this past week knocked most of the leaves off the trees around my house, except the Bradford Pear, to the east.  I sometimes do not even rake leaves until New Years, because I want to wait until they are all down.  The last couple of years, I have raked a couple of times for two reasons 1) I get tired of looking at the leaves and 2) it takes me so long to rake.

I still have to do the front and alley, but that is not so bad.

I did some serious house cleaning that I was not planning to do, but did not mess with the bathrooms until I can get the plumber in. Nor did I wash the kitchen floor, for the same reason.  I called, but it was about 1 PM, and the on-call guy had 8 calls ahead of me.  I will check in the morning and see what the prospect is for repairs tomorrow.  Amazing, at 10:15 PM the plumber called.  He has had a long day, but says they only take weekend call once a month.  He was willing to come out tonight, but I told him not to: the cleanout is in a corner of the backyard where there are no lights, and he will have to get on the roof to do the washing machine cleanout.  So we have an appointment for noon tomorrow. That makes me happy.  I will be able to do the laundry in the afternoon.

The car starts once, but does not hold enough of a charge to start again. I am hoping it will start Monday morning so I do not have to bother a neighbor to get a jump start, but either way I need to be able to get to the repair shop. 

The injection that Sake received last Tuesday just did not work as well as the first time.   She runs to food, but does not eat.  She smacks her lips, but does not eat.  She did eat some baby food chicken, some hard treats, some turkey wing meat, and liver tonight. Just a little of each.  It is so frustrating. She eats a little at a time, but will not go back to something she has eaten earlier in the day.  I am thinking the next step is to have her teeth extracted.  I hate to do that, because she will have so much trouble grooming. She will just have to let me help her more. 

Well, the cell phone works.  The car is safe in the garage.  I can renew my library books online or by phone tomorrow.  I did get groceries today, but had to get a jump start to get home.  It takes almost nothing to start the car, so that is weird. 

One thing that has come out of this is that I can now back the car into the garage.  I did that for the first time Wednesday night, and I bet it took me 30 minutes. Maybe not, but I sweated over it and did it inch by inch, correcting and recorrecting.   Yesterday, it did not take me that long, and today, it took even less time. Of course, I still need to be careful, but it is nice to know I have that skill.

What is really weird, is that I do not think twice about backing the car out of the garage, it is just a straight shot, but sometimes, I end up crooked off the driveway.  Well, I am glad I have learned this new skill!

My Skin Condition and Advice From Coworkers

I have had this skin problem that started on October 27, 2013.  I kept trying to figure out what I could have done or gotten into that would have cause the problem, that mostly manifested itself on the backs of my hands, but spread to my forearms, initially. I thought it might be related to yard work, or the pumpkin I purchased that day, for Halloween.

When I was in high school, I had a reaction to something that manifested itself like this, only over much more of my body, including my face.  The skin around my eyes was swollen, and I had pustules oozing over my body. I was prescribed pills (maybe cortisone) and cream, and it took about 2 weeks for things to dry up, and a maybe two more weeks for the dried up skin to return to normal.

Well, whatever I had waxed and waned. I tried to manage it with cortisone cream and calamine lotion. It got worse the night I carved the pumpkin, but was localized on my hands and forearms. For about 10 days. Then, it spread to my neck and chest, in a V-shape under my neck. 

I called the doctor, got in and got a diagnosis (that I did not agree with) but got creams and ointments and treatment that I did agree with.  I did the treatment. I was not really pleased with the results of the treatment.  It included topical ointments and washings. The stuff on my hands was contained.  I had stuff on my nose and lips.  The creams and ointments helped some, and I also used dandruff shampoo on my nose and lips and that helped a lot.

My coworkers, especially the physicians' assistants, were very helpful, concerned and supportive. Then, I took a week off, and took a trip out of town.  I kept up with the ointments, creams and dandruff shampoo.  I did ointment and lip balm on my face and lips. I did a second treatment after I returned home (within the specified time frame.) 

And, things seemed to be drying up. And, when things started drying up, things changed from burning to itching. Burning is manageable, but itching is almost intolerable.  Or at least very uncomfortable.

Today at work, the physician's assistants checked me out.  They were pleased that things were doing better, but one was concerned that the drying up of the inflammation looked red and angry still, and wondered if I needed to see a dermatologist.  If the inflammation does not resolve, I will go back to the doctor, and ask if I need something else.  But I believe it will resolve. Because it is taking the course that the inflammation I suffered as a teenager took.

Well, during the day, a couple other coworkers weighed in on my skin problem: Both thought that I needed a skin cream that their doctor prescribed, without knowing what my skin problem was. I appreciate their concern. But I have to ask myself, where did they get their medical degree?  A coworker who says, get a specialist opinion makes sense.  A coworker who says this is what I did no matter what your problem is, is dangerous.