Suzanne Calling

I have allergies. Many allergies, and the majority of them are head scratchers, though this one leaves me scratching my pits (and other parts, too). Behold, the antiperspirant. Life in Florida necessitates the use of this stuff. Prior to living here, I could go most of the year without it, because I didn't sweat very much, even when active. Yeah, I know, I'm weird. However, for those few months when I needed to swipe the underarms, it was a struggle finding something that didn't result in my pits being itchy and me trying in vain not to look like a monkey. Until the stuff on the right came along. When I worked for Bath and Body Works (the first time), they introduced this product and I got one for free to test it out. Like many of their products at the time, I didn't have an issue with it, which we used in my store to great advantage (Suzanne is allergic to just about everything under the sun and has had no reactions to it!). As is typical, I stocked up on it, li...

I am allergic to a lot of stuff. Seriously. For instance, any time I see Nurse M and we decide to try a new product on My Stupid Leg (trademark pending), the first thing out of her mouth is “Are you allergic to this?” She quickly scans the ingredient list to see if there are any known Suzanne allergens in it. For this alone, Nurse M is worth her weight in gold. We learned of my allergies at a very early age, thanks to the rashes I’d get from soaps. Ivory was the WORST offender. I’d get a chicken pox like rash on my body any time I used the stuff. In the late 60’s and early 70’s, ‘deodorant soaps’ were all the rage. All soaps de odor you, so why the special designation? People are suckers for advertising. Those deodorant caused me to scratch non stop. As I was one in a house of many, I had to suffer with what was offered. Dad was a mailman. Back then, it was a fairly frequent to get free samples in the mail. Breakfast cereal, shampoo, candy bars (really), granola bars, femi...

Today is the day we head over to WDW for the long awaited scout camping trip. It was easy to get the boys off to school the past few days-any protests of going to school were met with "you want to go camping?" and voila, no more problems. :) One problem is that I am supposed to pack Ed's car up and run some errands, but I don't have the key! The leg is slowly improving, but you know hives, they don't just disappear. It'll probably be another week before they're gone. I'm torn between putting the next Unna boot on now (I was given the supplies) or waiting until the hives are gone. If I do that, then I might squeeze in some swimming this weekend. Tough choices. I have a call in to Nurse M, as the Lyrica scrip was written for me to take a pill in the morning and another at night, but I'm taking four pills a day now. As much as I knocked it at first, I have to say the Lyrica IS making a difference on the RSD. It's not as good as the Neuront...

Hives. What a lovely thing to deal with. Let's see, the medical allergy list now looks like this: Penicillin Indocin Cortisone Hydrocortisone Percocet Iodine surgical adhesives benzyl alcohol (used in injectible medications) Neurontin Calamine lotion (contains iodine) hibbaclens Do you get the feeling that my medic alert bracelet is going to be pretty big? Yes, we have further proof that I*am* a freak. I'm looking on the bright side here, at least I didn't suffer through the Unna boot until the 14th, the original date it was coming off. I called Dr. J's office promptly Friday am and told them I was on my way. Nurse D fit me in as soon as she could-and apologized, saying that the hydrocortisone was her thought to prevent the itching that everyone complains about with the Unna boots. I go back on Monday and get to shell out another 20 dollar copay. Basically, they didn't do anything on Friday for the 20 dollar copay-they just looked at the leg to see where we ...

Another 1am entry. This is getting so freakin old. I would love nothing more than to have a normal health issue with normal treatment and no complications. However, this is me we're talking about, so things will NEVER be that way. To whit: I had my follow up with Dr. J yesterday morning to have the Unna boot reapplied after he looked at the progress with my wounds. Unfortunately, he did not get to see them immediately after the first boot was taken off-they were dry and looked good. The six days in the boot made them noticeably shallower. Dr. K's nurse dressed the wounds in Xeroform, a moist dressing I'd been using. It made the wounds look 'soupy', as Dr. J so aptly described it. Fortunately, he listened to my description of what my ankle looked like upon removal of the boot. We discussed the visit with Dr. K and decided to go with another Unna Boot, with a change in two weeks. It was also decided that I'd be given dressings to reapply them myself (with...

It's my weekend off and I'm doing exactly what I want...not much of anything. The health has taken its toll on us, so to veg is a good thing. Next month's weekend off is already scheduled for a cub scout camping trip. I finally have all of the meds prescribed at the doctor's appointment earlier this week. There's a new debridement ointment. Man, it itches like you would not believe, but when I changed the dressing this morning, I could see the difference after just one application. I am hoping that the three weeks of this before the next visit to Dr. J will clear out all the infection and smelly, gross stuff. If it progresses at that rate, then I'll be in the Unna boot by the end of the month. The hives? Still here, and probably will be for another couple of weeks. That's typical when I'm allergic to medication. The jury's still out on the Lyrica, but I'll give it a week before I sing it's praises or bitch about how horrible it is....

Visited with Dr. J and nurse M today. The Solosite that I thought was doing a crappy job received the same review from them. Actually, nurse M wanted to know *why* I was using it, and Dr. J had to admit he'd prescribed it! I was prescribed a different debriding agent and will pick it up tomorrow. This one doesn't hurt as much, but boy, it itches like you would not believe. While I was hailing Neurontin as the king of all nerve pain relievers, it decided that it was abdicating. I have hives from head to toe, though not as bad as I have had from other meds. Lyrica is the replacement after nurse M saw the hives. I swear, my medic alert bracelet would rival any necklace 50 cent would wear. Dr. J reiterated his endorsement of the Vicodin. Much as I hate being on pain killers, he tells me that I need them. I was told that if *I* am complaining about pain, it really must be bad. This means I *NEED* the meds. He also went out and printed out the info about the Neurologis...