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I'm a Minnesota Girl, living in the south. I tell my friends I try not to talk and think like a Yankee, but sometimes I slip up!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

REITERATING THE PAST


THIS HELPS.....SOMETIMES



Florida is a tropical rainforest this year.... it's been pretty much non-stop rainstorms since June 1. I'm not complaining, because the thunder, lightning and intensity of it all is pretty awe-inspiring. Unfortunately, it does result in some standing water...like in the gully in the preserve behind my townhouse. Standing water=mosquitoes. Mosquitoes=bad for Lynne.


I started the battle with bug bites about 3 weeks ago. If I stay on top of them, use strong topicals repeatedly, take Zyrtec during the day and go into the sleep zone with Benadryl at night, I can sometimes fight my way through it. This time, though... I've collected 8 bites on my ankles, and each day my skin becomes a little more of a raging allergy fest. Had to pack it in today when my eyes started watering and my throat got raspy. I'm lucky to have an immunologist as my primary... a prescription topical, a shot of cortisone, and unfortunately, 4 days worth of prednisone should bring me back to the land of the semi-conscious, and wipe out the histamine drama. Prednisone always makes me feel like I aged about 5 years overnight, so I can't wait to be finished. Too wheezy and sneezy to think like a writer, I unearthed a piece from 2005 from Pearlsoup, written in a similar vein:





I'm A Cottage Industry


All right....I've watched this insect bite for about 6 weeks. Got a lot of bug bites when I moved into a new rental house. Turns out the landlord hadn't treated the lawn, so all the neighborhood insects and critters were congregating in my new yard. You couldn't get the mail, wash your car in the driveway, go out with the dog or water the plants without getting bitten.



I'm extremely allergic to bug bites. I've had minor health crises morph into physical catastrophes from the sting of a wasp, an infestation of fleas from the dog, or a spider bite. I carry an epi-kit for those times in my life, when, if bitten, my throat starts to close. Indoors, with the AC is the best place in Florida for me, or right near the gulf, where the bugs don't predominate.



So, since June, the bites went alway with a lot of Waldryl (poor woman's Benadryl) and Aveeno cream to stop the itch. One remains, right above my ankle. It's gone from bad to worse. The swelling started last week, and it's feverish...there's some contact dermitis too....so attractive!
My healthcare plan won't approve Zyrtec (which I've taken for 6 years) because Claritin is available over the counter. Claritin stopped working for me after 8 years of it. So I haven't had any allergy medicine for about a month. Somehow, the doctor has to get involved and wrestle the HMO to the ground to get me the Zyrtec. That, or I pay $71 a month.




So I gave up and went to the doc. That's when I discovered I'm a cottage industry. I have 6 prescriptions, had an EKG, have an appointment for blood work and an echocardiogram. I gotta go to a lab to have an osteoporosis test, and I fought off their urge to send me for a colonoscopy. They signed me up for an online diabetes wellcare plan and another one for blood pressure. I guess I'll be getting a lot of emails from both of those and have to report my blood pressure and sugar weekly. I'm statin-ed, steroid-id, thyroid-id and hypertensively medicated. Holy crap!
They were so busy with the rest of my anatomy, they forgot to ask me how menopause is going. Don't get me started!



I wish they'd find someone else to make their science experiment. All I had was a yucky bug bite. Now I'm a cottage industry.



Guys... I expect to get a few "poor baby"(s) now.


quid

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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Quid,

I can definitely understand how very uncomfortable you must feel, as you experience such a violent reaction to the bug bites (and I do not know what would help against those). But I truly feel for you.

With a hug,
Raven

Donna said...

Awwww ... you poor baby!

I hear ya - Publix now calls me to find out what time I'll be dropping off my new Rx. One yesterday, two today, a sonogram next Tuesday - and I'm positive it's not a boy or a girl. Oh boy!

Kelly said...

Poor baby! I DO sympathize with you. Living in the country I definitely have my share of bugs! Take for instance the wasp that charged me when I entered our wellhouse the other day.... but that's another story.

Hope you make it through "mosquito season" relatively unscathed!

Oh..and Donna...I've had a few of those "not boy or girl" type sonograms. No fun! Hope you get some answers.

Pam said...

Awwwwwwww..you poor, poor baby! :)

I have allergies and asthma. I don't, however, have any insect allergies, thank God!

I do sympathize, and I've had enough prednisone in my life to know exactly what you mean.

Back in the 80s when I was having all the autoimmune issues I was a Prednisone queen! Yuck!

Feel better and put a hex on those nasty bugs!!!

Papa Chuck said...

Quid.....
suck it up!!!! They're just bug bites!!!

LOL..coming from a guy who w/ one spider bite, got a very, very gross knee last year...And with atrip to the emergency room w/ an allegic reaction to the sulfer drug I was on, the E R Dr looked at the knee, and called it "Knarly"!!

quid said...

Right of center...

I really do think you have surpassed me in the "nightmarish stories with insects" category.

quid said...

UPDATE:

I'm in remission! It helped to stay home from work today.

quid