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Monday, May 6, 2002 The Diagnosis.  The inflamed skin and welts were alarming, but the itching was enough to drive anyone insane. Surely, this was more serious than a case of dry skin resulting from the dry Vegas climate and hard water. Or was it? Being the natural hypochondriac that I am, I was afraid that I was inflicted with hives or perhaps that horrid flesh-eating bacteria that Rod mentioned, so I called my doctor. Unfortunately, she was away at a conference and wouldn't be returning until Wednesday. The receptionist offered to have the other doctor in the office call me to make a recommendation in the meantime. Being that she was taking care of her patients as well as covering for my absent doctor, her schedule was quite understandably booked.  It was a couple of hours later around lunchtime when they called me back and told me to come in at 3:00 pm. It must have been the shrill tone of irritation in my voice, hanging by my fingernails on the brink of insanity that caused them to squeeze me in. (Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating just a wee bit.) Whatever the case, I was glad that she was going to be able to see me today. I figured that it would be much easier for her to get a visual of my skin problem rather than me trying to describe it to her with all the gory details over the phone. The weather was unusually bad today. Torrential rains swept the islands and caused traffic tie-ups everywhere; as we all well know, Hawaii folks just don't know how to drive in stormy conditions. We were late for my appointment, but only by a few minutes.  I was whisked in to the examining room soon after we arrived, where I waited for about twenty minutes for the doctor to see me. Being that my primary care physician is an OB/GYN, there were dozens of photos of smiling babies and proud parents hanging on the walls. It served to keep me busy, trying to see if I knew anyone. After all, Hawaii is a very small place sometimes. When the doctor came in, she cheerfully greeted me by saying, "So did you at least win something in Vegas?!" "Nope. Didn't win a thing," I replied. She shook her head in lament as she approached me, "That's too bad. Didn't win and now this. It doesn't seem worth it, does it?" I immediately liked her. She had such an upbeat personality that immediately put me at ease. She looked at my skin and made sympathetic sounds, then informed me that it was not hives. She said that the skin irritation was probably caused mostly by the hard water and worsened by the dry climate. The doctor wrote me a prescription for Allegra, a histamine blocker commonly used for allergies, promising me that it would help with the itching. She also recommended using Calamine lotion to ease the irritation. It immediately brought back memories of the old camp song, an ode to Calamine lotion. ("Calamine, calamine, calamine lotion... Whoa-oh! Calamine lotion..." I can't remember the rest.) Images of pink splotches all over my skin almost made me cringe as I recalled the time I contracted the chicken pox at age 21 and Calamine lotion was one of the few things that brought me relief. I left the office feeling somewhat better, knowing that this skin problem would soon be on its way out. I was afraid that it was a rash or some kind of new skin condition that would plague me for an extended and undetermined amount of time. When I got home, I had Hubby put the Calamine lotion on me although I was fully capable of doing it myself.   There's something about being nursed back to health by Hubby that makes me feel all the more comforted. I think I'm starting to feel better already. .top.

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." -- Romans 8:38-39 Search Champuru.com  powered by FreeFind ::Show your Love:: Please be a dear and  indulge yourself in a few grains from the rice bowl before you leave. Your clicks help to rank me higher on the Rice Bow Journal directory and that makes me happy. :)   A collaborative effort of spiritual significance.