bobquasit | Massive allergic reaction

Ever been tempted to post that you were dying of an incurable disease, just for the attention you'd receive? Come on. You can admit it.

Well, I'm not. (Dying, that is. The thought did momentarily cross my mind to fake it, but not in a serious way.) Although I had a scary moment when I read that a persistent rash very much like the one I have can be a symptom of leukemia.

However, the dermatologist looked me over...and apparently I have had a widespread and reasonably massive allergic reaction to "?"

"?" being something of a mystery. Her guess was maybe a spider bite, which is possible; we do have spiders in the back yard, after all.

Why is the rash spreading everywhere? Apparently my body has decided to go totally crazy with the allergic reaction, and areas that were not exposed are now flaring up just to join in the fun.

I'm also enjoying edema, which means that my SKIN is retaining water and therefore swelling like a bastard. It feels hot and weird, like my stomach is turning into microwaved alligator suede.

Yes, it's all very itchy and uncomfortable.

Oh, and just in case - although she said it was VERY unlikely - the dermatologist had me get a Lyme titrate, i.e. a test for Lyme disease. So once again I had the joy of unexpectedly being pierced by metal at the doctor's office. But once again, it bothered me much less than I would have expected.

And somehow, I feel a little cheated by that.

So how are you?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"So how are you?"

Well, my wife was in and out of the ER last week, but was given a clean bill of health and is spending the week with her sister and new nephew in TX.

My hand is all better. The pinky has some restricted movement, but nothing to be concerned about. Not for what I do.

This week has been very restful for me, after the hecticity of last week.

...

You asked. :-)

I did.

Why does your pinky have restricted movement? Is that a temporary thing? Didn't the bone heal more-or-less straight?

I was going to say that I hope your wife is feeling better (you too), but that sounds kind of stupid. So I'll just say that I hope that you both are taking it as easy as you can, okay?

How am I?

Off and on in pain that drives me to tears.... and off to see the dentist on Thursday to make sure it isn't an abcess or other dental problem. I can't tell anymore if its allergies, a sinus infection, a dental infection, aggrivated TMJ or something new and evil plaguing me.

Allergy pills. Pain Pills. Occasional Alcohol to numb things when the rest fails. Soft food with limited chewing.

Oh, yeah, headache from the jackhammers in the basement.

Other than, I'm ok :-)

Good luck with the allergy reaction - does sound like an insect related problem (they can be NASTY.... I had a spider bite once that threw me off my feet for 3 days when I was a kid as my system reacted about as badly). You have my sympathy.

I'm sorry to hear about all the pain. Should I ask what sort of medical insurance you have? Because it really seems that TMJ should be covered.

Perhaps you could write a letter of appeal to get some of the cost covered. You'd probably need a letter from your PCP or dentist, testifying to the amount of pain you're experiencing, though.

Incidentally, if you're still having trouble with your primary care provider, you might want to take note of the treatment I've been getting from my doctor, which has been simply outstanding. She's based in the big Harvard Vanguard building in the Fenway, by the way. I don't know if every doctor there is as good, but I suspect that the followup phone calls were due to their policy. So every doctor there might do that sort of thing.

Just a thought...

My dentist said he would write a letter to the insurance company about the situation, which may get us some coverage (depending if it sways them in to perceiving it as non-cosmetic). TMJ treatment is covered to some extent, in that they would cover prescriptions for pain killers/muscle relaxing drugs etc. as much as they do any drug. They don't really have a 'connection' between the plate and the TMJ in their thinking is the problem... hopefully my dentist will be able to get the concept across to the beancounters that make the decisions.

Insurance is ALWAYS annoying in my mind... goes back to my days as a 3rd party billing insurance clerk for St. Elizabeth's Hospital, when my job was to convince the insurance companies to pay the bills the hospitals sent out.

Hmm, how've I been. Lots of odd pain; the sort of thing I just up and get every so often. I've thought on more than one occasion that I might have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as the symptoms mostly fit, but then again that's one of those not totally accepted disease-y things.

But in any event it's nothing new, really, and nothing likely to be remotely serious.

Sometimes I wonder if I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome too. Is there a test for it?

At least now I know that I don't have Lyme disease.

So, maybe we should start talking about getting together again to finish off that scenario?

Hmmm.. The closest I've been was a post whilst in Timor about how I thought I might have dengue fever. Turned out that I did have dengue fever and as such, I was compeletely out of contact to the rest of the (non-Timor world) for four or so days. People were worried, but if things got real bad, I would have spent the several hundred dollars required and flown to Darwin.

Dengue!?! Holy cow. Doesn't that have unpleasant and long-lasting effects, sort of like malaria?

I remember reading quite a bit about dengue fever, probably in some novel, but I can't remember which one.

But I suspect that it was by James Clavell. Ever read any of his stuff?

It can have long term effects and apparently it gets worse each time you get it. But I seem to have recovered just fine. I was on anti-malarials all the time whilst I was there, there was a lot of it about.

Dengue feels like your bones are being crushed by a great weight. Spots come out over your entire body. All very strange.

Haven't read anything by James Clavell. I take it he likes "jungle-adventures"?

Clavell is most famous for having written "Shogun" - perhaps you've heard of it? Don't let its status as a best-seller fool you. It's a very good book, compulsively readable. He had the gift of storytelling, like Kipling and Heinlein.

Clavell was a prisoner of war in Japan during World War II, and was fascinated by Asia. He wrote quite a few huge novels, most of them set there. In my opinion, Shogun is far and away the best of them.

I was pretty surprised to discover that the book was partly based on real events; there actually was an English pilot who ended up stranded in Japan around 1600, who went on to became a samurai and friend of the Shogun. Although Clavell made quite a few changes to the story, enough so that it should really only be considered fiction.

Ahh, yes. I know Shogun, although I haven't read it.

Another western author that speaks of such things is JG Ballard, who normally does some very creepy psychoanalytic science fiction stories. However as a child he was raised in a Japanese POW camp in China, which formed the basis of his novel "Empire of the Sun".

The whole edeme things sounds awful.

I'm pretty much OK physically... a little bit of an allergic reaction, but not enough to take anything for. A little stressed from being unemployed, but not more than expected.

Kiralee

I have to admit that edema is pretty freaky. Did you know that edema is what they used to call "dropsy"?

I'd heard of pulmonary edema, but didn't know that skin could have edema, too. Fortunately that's much less serious.

And it's pretty much all over, now.

So have you been very busy? Are you thinking of doing another journal entry, maybe? :D

Yes, I've been busy... I have some other posts, but haven't had time to get them up. Just silly meme stuff.

Kiralee

Massive allergic reaction

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

James Clavell

Re: James Clavell

no subject

no subject

no subject