Wednesday, June 27, 2007

WNBP: Some Like It Hot...

And others...not so much. The current temperature in the Sheepie condo is 95 degrees Fahrenheit and I'm too hot to convert that over to Celsius for the rest of the world. Just think, "hot." You'll get the basic idea. So this week's Wednesday Night Bullet Post comes with a side of Bleh and a cold compress.

*Now, don't yell...none of us needs that in this ungodly heat. But, I may have been just the teeeeeensiest bit less than forthcoming regarding last week's little visit to the hospital for my CT scan. There were a few more concerns that I really wanted to think about, frankly. Sometimes I'm more ostrich than Sheep. But the reports came back today and things aren't looking quite as issue-laden as they did two weeks ago so Sheepie did a little dance of joy and promised herself a new camera in the near future.

*For those who questioned why I chose to do the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life while I wasn't feeling exceptionally well, I'm going to assume that things make a little more sense now.

*I wish I could say such nice things about the stupid rash that has been wandering over my left arm for the last month. Dr. J decided that she wanted to take another look at that since her initial thoughts regarding Benadryl and ice packs didn't really do much to solve the problem. She remains somewhat perplexed by the state of my reddened flesh and has referred me to a dermatologist. But she did come up with a diagnosis. I saw it. Right there on the chart...big as life.

*She wrote, and I kid you not: Weird Rash.

*That bears repeating. My doctor, who has been to medical school and knows big words like "myocardial infarction" or, "placebo" wrote the words, "Weird Rash" on my medical chart. Where I could see it. It's been a long couple of weeks, folks. That struck me as the funniest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. She said she wrote it to tweak the interest of the dermatologists and maybe speed up my appointment scheduling.

*It didn't work. The first opening is at the end of August. Meanwhile, I'm on prescription strength hydrocortisone and cold calling any dermatologist within a reasonable driving distance.

*The Big, Fluffy Kitty has a brown belly. She is not using a tanning lamp or developing a rash of her own. She simply wiped off the hairball goop that I'd smeared on her paw before she realized that she actually likes the stuff. It was too hot to wipe all of it off and my attempts to sit her in a position where she could see it and clean it off herself were not met with the enthusiasm I'd hoped for. She and I were both somewhat confused when the goop disappeared from her paw before our very eyes. She got over it. I did not.

*I have reached the conclusion that my cat is either the dumbest thing in the whole world or a comedic genius.

*Did I mention that it is hot in here? It really is. And I have a rash so I'm doubly miserable...

*I realized last night (while it was also very hot) that I have a very naughty Monkey on my hands. My sock in progress turned into something not very pretty that required an hour of painstaking tinking. I have everything under control now, though.

*But I have learned a very painful lesson with regard to blogging about the ease of any particular pattern. I believe that we have all covered my relationship with Karma.

*For any new readers or short term visitors: you should probably know that Karma hates me. A lot.

*So, to be on the safe side, I worked on my nice, simple Socks Of Summer for most of today. I may even have one finished tonight.

*And I'll start the second at tomorrow's day long training on Reading Across The Curriculum for 6th grade teachers.

*I will check to see if reading patterns counts. But I'm betting that it doesn't. I'm probably going to have to participate in the full 8 hour training.


Have a wonderful and blissfully cool Wednesday evening folks! Assuming I don't melt or my rash doesn't take over my entire body and turn me into some sort of mutant superhero who needs to spend all her time saving endangered mortals and hiding from the light of day, I'll see you all tomorrow!

SA

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would have thought that "weird rash" would get you into the dermatologist's office immediately. How do they expect you to wait 2 months! That's crazy.

I'm glad to hear the CT scan results were good. I was worried about you.

Anonymous said...

It is hot here too! I can not believe how hot it is. I hope your rash gets better soon. Stay cool ;)

Anonymous said...

I just went to Dermatology Assoc. in Portland about a week ago and had some suspicious spots looked at on my face. I saw Betty Small a nurse practitioner there.
She was fantastic! I have anxiety and worry about everything. I left there feeling great.
I would highly recommend her. My Dr. made the appt. for me it took about 2 weeks to get in.
Melissa

sheep#100 said...

Soon after our honeymoon, I came home to discover that the reason why I couldn't raise Number Guy on the phone all afternoon was that he went home sick. 104.3#176;F sick. This man wears shorts in January. He was in sweatpants and sweatshirt over t-shirt with socks on his feet IN MAY. He (of course) did not want to go to the doctor. I wanted to drive him to the ER. We compromised: if the fever wasn't down by morning, I was taking him to the doctor. It wasn't and I did. His doctor's professional opinion upon viewing tonsils swollen to resemble tennis balls? I quote, "Ew!"

On a completely related note, I called a dermatologist on Monday afternoon and got an appointment for Tuesday (yesterday) for the removal of The Mole of Less Than Disturbing Dimensions. I nearly fell over myself saying, "We'll take the appointment."

Anonymous said...

The whole "appointment with the dermatologist in two months" thing is ridiculous. We have that problem when we send our patients there too. A little advice, some of the offices in the area have one morning a week where they'll fill empty spots, just call around and ask. It's kind of like buying concert tickets, you have to call the office at 7:30am Tuesday and they may have some openings later that week. Crazy!

Mel said...

95F = 35C

I got to sleep in an air-conditioned bedroom today, so I'm in better condition to do conversions. The heat is supposed to break tomorrow night.

Anonymous said...

I feel so bad for you with the heat and your rash. I'm glad your scan had more positive results than you expected, but I'm still concerned about you.

Lorraine said...

Happy about Scan results - sad about rash. We had a break in our heat yesterday, so I'm sure it's a comin' your way soon. I'll grab a big fan and start waving it energetically in a easterly direction to hurry things along, 'kay.

Anonymous said...

I think the doctor should change your diagnosis to "Spreading Weird Rash". That will get some attention.
I hope it goes away or you get an appointment.
Karen
http://nothingbutknit.blog-city.com/

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

hmmm, two months seems like a long time for an appointment. but at least the CT scan news was good.

Cursing Mama said...

I hope "Weird Rash" is code for needs more yarn.

Any thoughts on skipping the camera and going for the portable a/c they sell at T@rget? You could maybe even write it off as medically necessary for the rash that might be heat related....

Donna Lee said...

My family calls me the queen of weird diseases. I have recently had my own scare with an mri involving my breast. The (trained and presumably educated) doctor told me (after 21/2 hours of breast squeezing in machines and goopy ultrasounds) "I don't know what I am looking at. I have NEVER seen anything like this in my life". Boy, just the words you want to hear. I also had an er doctor write "uvular edema" on my chart. Sounds threatening? The uvula was swollen and I couldn't swallow. I knew that-I wanted to know WHY!

Anonymous said...

A pediatrician whom I otherwise liked and respected once wrote 'catarrh' as a diagnosis for my daughter. Didn't notice it until after I got home and had to look the word up. "Nasal congestion." Well, duh. I hate it when doctors do that.

Sheila said...

Cold calling is a good idea...2 months is just too long to wait! I'm relieved to hear the CT scan results look better then expected. I, too, have been worrying about that chest of yours.

Anonymous said...

I'm guessing if your apartment is 95 degrees that means you don't have a/c. Yikes! Nightmare situation. I would spend lots of time in an air conditioned place. :)

So glad to hear your test results were good.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad too, to hear that your scan came back non-issue-laden. (I love that and I hope you don't mind if I use it).

Not sure what medications you're on, but maybe some of them make your skin sensitive and that is what's causing the rash? Or simple "heat rash" could be it? My experience has been doctors looking for the plague when the simple answer is usually the right one. (shaking head at doctors). I actually had one antibiotic that said "do not ingest grapefruit with this medication." If the label hadn't been on there, who would ever know? :)

Ronni said...

Yipes. I'm glad to hear the later info on the CT scan was happier. I'm wondering if the rash might co-incide with the taking of a new medicine? I'm also of the opinion that under the circumstances some dermatologist or other ought to be able to fit you in sooner than 2 months. But what do I know. Good luck with the battle vs the health care system, Sheepie.

Nancy said...

OMG I hate the heat! You have my permission to crawl in your freezer (drill an air hole first) for a while. I'd be on the phone to the dermatologist's office every morning asking if there were any cancellations for the day.

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad your CT results were good. Scary, that. I had an over-anxious, over-zealous radiologist once who had me back several times and had retrieved my previous mammo results (from another state) before she finally decided that whatever it was, it had been there for years and hadn't changed, ergo, it was nothing.

We had your horrible heat here in the midwest until Tuesday afternoon, when it broke. Hang in there -- relief is on the way. I'm wearing a sweater as I type this.