Scratch Scratch, Itch, Itch…

Oh what a relief it isn’t.

I’m dying over here. I mean not literally dying but I had to see the doctor yesterday. My skin feels like a giant toad, but it’s all red like a Jila Monster or scaly like a shedding iguana.

Let me back up. That might be helpful.

Saturday morning I woke up with a few HIVES across the top of my thighs and my back. By Saturday afternoon my entire posterior had them, as well as the back of my legs from the knee up. Saturday night my feet were hot and itchy and otherwise kept me awake! I had to get up in the middle of the night to soak them in cold washcloths to get them to stop itching and burning. No hives just itchy. While in my state of itching sleeplessness, I read on the internet that Zytrec was good for helping these sorts of things. Score! I had some of that in my medicine cabinet. I’d already taken some vitamin C earlier that day (see I knew I needed an antihistamine!).

Wait, I might should back up even further.

Tuesday, remember we shipped calves for the neighbors? That evening I fought a bout of food poisoning and was up most of the night having trouble holding down even pepto or sprite.

Wednesday I was laid up on the couch, sore as you often are after hours of expunging every last ounce of matter in your stomach. Wednesday was a good day to have that problem as it was raining that day.

Thursday the underside of my left arm began hurting. Sort of across my left breast (when I’d move it a certain direction) and if I raised my arm it would go up my arm. It was sort of a dull throbbing pain and made me think I must have pulled my latissimus dorsi in all the commotion of being ill.

Friday I began to ice the muscle and it did sort of begin to feel better, but was still sore.

Which really puts as at the beginning of my current ailment.

Hives. And a lump under my armpit. Scary, I know.

By Sunday morning my lower back, my posterior, the back of my legs from the knee up, and the front of my legs from the knee up were covered in hives. The inside of my right arm was covered, and they were scattered down both arms and underneath both underarms. I had just a sprinkling on my belly. My arm was still hurting, but as I’d checked in the previous two days I couldn’t really pin point the cause of the pain. But that changed Sunday morning when I found it. A super painful lump in my armpit that sent me into immediate panic mode. Thank God for the level-headed Zach. He is always good at calming me. I heart him.

I made a call to the family doctor- literally the family doctor as she is Zach’s oldest sister- and she agreed to meet with me Monday after she got off work. She really thought that what I had under my arm might be something she could lance and we’d be pain free in short order. That theory definitely made me feel better.

By Sunday night my entire back ached, and the back of my neck was stiff. I really didn’t have any sort of appetite and was rather lethargic. That was again a sleepless night; itchy, hot feet and my hives swelled some more, despite taking more vitamin c and more Zyrtec and bathing myself in calamine lotion.

Yesterday I got up and took a tepid shower, but first I made the mistake of turning the water on hot so that I could steam up the bathroom so I wouldn’t freeze in the tepid water. Too cold and my hives itch. Too hot and they itch. You gotta keep your skin the right temperature, I tell you. And you must have some will-power, and mine is weakening with each passing day! I cannot tell you how that steam made me itch and contort and want to scratch more than I currently desired to scratch. Oh. My. God. However, when I turned that water to just over cold (which here it’s really cold- because it comes out of the river that never gets above 65 degrees or something like that) and began to rub with the Aveeno oatmeal bar the relief was simply delicious.

I laid around the better part of yesterday (again with no appetite) and was itch free for about 3 hours after the shower. It was glorious.

On the way to see the Doc, a hive popped up on my tongue, and several on the inside of my bottom lip and my hand/in between my fingers! The good news with these is that they don’t itch! But the few that popped up on my hands do. And that, my friends is not so bueno.

When Dr. Ducheneaux looked at me yesterday and actually found the lump, I thought the world might end, so excruciating was the pain when she put pressure on it. Honestly the thought of it being touched made me squeamish because it hurt so bad. And then she was puzzled. Because the lump, while it is certainly a lump, isn’t hard. It’s soft and she has no idea what it is. But she’s sure that it’s related to the hives or the hives to it. So if, by the end of the week there is no improvement in my condition I am supposed to go get an ultrasound on it so that it can be further assessed.

In the meantime I’m on Prednisone, Zyrtec, and Zantac. Did you know Zantac has a histamine blocker in it too? It blocks H2 receptors, and Zyrtec blocks H1. How cool is that to know? She also gave me some melatonin to help me sleep, but last night I was so darn itchy that I was up a minimum of 6 times bathing myself in calamine lotion, once again. I think I went through half a bag of cotton balls and half a bottle of lotion.

My under-arm feels better this morning- so far no dull, aching pain. A few of the hives might be smaller and less red so maybe I’m starting to get a handle on this thing. I hope so. The thought of actually wearing something other than yoga pants has me frightened, since blue jeans would make me really itch! I may have to suck it up tomorrow and get dressed anyway since we are supposed to be sorting off our steer pairs so we can ship on Friday or Saturday this week. Maybe if I can make the power of positive thinking work for me I will be better tomorrow and it won’t matter. We’ll see. Zach says the mind is most powerful tool we are blessed with.

I wouldn’t wish this misery on my worst enemy- well I might on suicide bomber. But then he’s going to kill himself anyway, so what would be the point?

Here’s to hoping everyone has an itch-free day!