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I have a rash. Not just a little poison ivy .. no, we're talking medieval. Went to Urgent Care walk-in clinic yesterday morning (Sleepy Hollow Medical, here in Laguna, cost me US$211). The doc there didn't know what the h3ll is was .. spent 30 minutes looking thru a book on rashes. Thought it was viral (not fungal, not bacterial or allergic reaction, or insect bite). Haven't had s-e-x in a year, so it can't be STD. Started around my ankles/heels (clue? maybe from showers at 24-Hour Fitness?). At first, I thought it might be from flea bites (altho no fleas here). ••• today's entry continues here ••• Then it started *spreading* .. to pretty much everywhere *except* soles, palms, face, back & crotch (thank God). Not on fingers either, stops at backs of hands. Tops of feet & ankles are worst (up to hiking-boot high). Doc at clinic drew 2 vials blood and gave me number of Dermatologist to call. I called this morning. They made apt for wednesday afternoon. UPDATE: Dermatologist office just called back, to say they received call from Doc at clinic .. they want me to come in first thing tomorrow morning. They also changed my apt to see the HEAD DERMATOLOGIST there (not one of his flunkies.) Sounds serious, no? Bad as this stuff *looks*, I don't actually *feel* very bad. It doesn't itch, hurt, or keep me awake. No head-cold symptoms, or sneezing. Chest is scratchy, but no crud to cough up. Worst part is I am so dang TIRED. The idea of getting up to go to the bathroom is *exhausting*. Mere walking gets me huffing & puffing (with my mouth open). I get COLD easy, too. Drinking tap water makes me shiver for a few minutes. Could be stress-related. (I *have* had plenty of excellent reasons to be stressed.) It is symmetrical. Whatever appears on one side of my body is mirrored on the other. To convey how whacked I am, I was just looking for my reading glasses .. and I was *wearing* them. (Never did that before.) I'll know more tomorrow morning. Nobody has this thing but me, no friends. Doc, said he didn't think it was contagious, but said, "You look pretty scary, so no one is gonna wanna get near you." "The good thing about viruses," he said, "is that they usually go away untreated." I had mono (infectious mononucleosis) when I was 20 years old, in the Navy, stationed in Maine, at Bath Iron Works. That hit me like a freight-train. This feels like mono with a rash. I remember the mono epiosode. I was in the gym working out (strong as an ox, too), doing lat-pull-downs. Quick as you snapped your fingers, the weight became 3X as heavy. I could lift *nothing*. All my energy had been sapped in an instant. Took the Navy a while to figure out what it was. They thought I was making it up to get out of work. Eventually they drew blood, when I refused to work any more. After the results came back from the lab, the Navy Doc who drew blood said, "You're a pretty sick young man." They told me mono can *kill* older people. Told me to stop taking anti-biotics and go home and stay in bed for 2 weeks. Anyway, I should know more tomorow. The shame is .. I was just starting to let down my defenses .. (re: previous entry, directly below) .. starting to loosen up, and feel good about life again. Now I feel like I'm merely trying to stay alive. Someone suggested I might be emotionally-detox'ing. It's true that I had stopped feeling so resentful recently .. due to new emotional focus. The worst part is NOT KNOWING what's causing it. When you hear a doctor say, "I'm stumped." .. uh, that doesn't make you feel very warm-n-fuzzy. (This was an older doctor, too. He has seen a few things.) |
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