I had been to the doctor the day before for my terribly itchy eye lid that was swollen shut that morning. She said to take Benadryl. By the time we left Wednesday along with the eye thing were hundreds of red sores appearing all over my face. weird.
The flight went ok, although flying is a hassle. We had one layover, and got to the motel at 1:00am. By 7:00am the next morning i told Rod i need to go to Urgent Care. So we had the privilege of starting our vacation at the doctor! Since there was an hour wait we went to the Phillies Spring training stadium about 3 miles away and watched them practice for a little. It was really cold that day!
The doctor thought i had a bad reaction to a lotion, or something, to break out so bad. He prescribed Prednisone to zap out the rash and swollen eyes. The next morning i could open my eyes pretty easily and was encouraged. It was a bit warmer so we laid by the pool. It hurt my face though, so i had to keep it out of the sun. We also went back to the Phillies and ABC News interviewed me and said it would be on the 5:30 news that evening. We didn't see it, but may have had the wrong channel.
Getting ready for the interview...
I was getting extremely uncomfortable in my face. The rash was screaming and the prednisone was not working other then with eye swelling. I wanted to enjoy and take in the vaca, so we kept active. I took a run over the one bridge by our motel. It was really beautiful where we were staying in Clearwater.
Rod parked along the beach and dropped me off for my run..
at the Hotel
The sand dollar i found compared to a regular sized one
Before we left for home on Sunday we ate in town, outside on a 2nd floor restaraunt. That was a good memory, but i was still so uncomfortable and worried about my face. Things were starting to show up inside my eye lid and on my lips.
Rod was so supportive! We enjoyed being together and I appreciate all he did for me. He even went pad shopping for me (because of course i had to get my period early this month).
We had delays and a missed connection but we made it home safely, again at 1:00am. Right away on Monday i got into the natural doctor, she hooked me up to the machine (Asyra Technology) and she was able to see i had viral issues. She thought i had shingles and gave me some meds for the virus. I was so relieved to finally know what it was and that it wasn't an allergy or hormonal. I wanted to see what the medical doctor would say, for confirmation, so i went in there that eve thinking she'd confirm but she said the opposite...a bacteria, for sure not shingles. She said it's definetly impetigo. She gave me all different meds then i got earlier. Um ok, now what!? i already started the anti viral meds. So I went straight over to our neighbor, a highly respected head doctor of a local practice. He's never been wrong with us. He said it's neither of those, you need a stronger dose of Prednisone for an allergic reaction/contact Dermatitis. He gave the script to start right away. I went home with all kinds of drugs and no idea what to do with them.
I decided it can't be Shingles since it wasn't extremely painful and was covering both sides of my face, so i went off the Viral meds and started treating for Impetigo (2nd diagnosis) with antibiotics even though i didn't quite think it was Impetigo, but i had to rule something out...I called the doctor the next day (tuesday) just to share my concerns with her diagnosis. She was sure it's a bacteria. But she felt so bad for the way it looked that she got me into the Dermatologist that afternoon in case it was an allergic reaction/Dermatitis that turned into this.. Dermatologists are scheduled 6-8 months out, but she got me in.
I was skeptical. I told Rod i know i'm going to get a 4th diagnosis that won't make any sense just like the rest of these! They immediately ruled out all 3 of the previous diagnosis ...and said it's along the same line as Shingles (a virus), they call it Eczema Herpetium. It's treated the same as Shingles, so i should have just stuck with the first diagnosis :) Apparently this is rare, but you get it when a cold sore or mouth ucler interacts with an open patch of eczema. I just so happened to have had my first patch of eczema a few weeks ago on my forehead, at the same time as mouth ulcers. I remember the ulcers well, i got 4 - one after the other and i thought that was strange. So good grief, how random can that be! No wonder noone knew what it was. I have a lot of respect for Dermatologists now!! The one i had has been in the practice 8 years and i'm her 2nd case. An older doctor came in as well to see it and said he's sent people to the hospital for it. It can get out of hand very fast and i'm lucky it didn't spread or get in my eyes. This thing loves eyelids. It's more common in babies and they can die from it. I immediately went back to anti-viral meds. That's where it's at now and I am starting to feel some relief.
I need to give God the glory. I am not good at researching. i don't comprehend things well and get overwhelmed with internet research. But i prayed for wisdom, and i really feel like God allowed me to be calm and persistant, have a clear mind, ask the right questions, and learn what each diagnosis meant and if it made sense for me regardless of what 'they' were insisting. (and there was plenty of insisiting going on at every doctor visit, would have loved to have them all in the same room together) Yesterday's diagnosis was the missing piece that was needed and now it makes sense. It was interesting to work with a Natural doctor and medical doctor at the same time. They have completely different ways of doing things but everyone was trying to give me the right answer. I appreciate all of them.
On the mend.....It was much worse friends.
