which is what you get when you spend the first two days wandering up hills and sitting in cars I guess :).
Wednesday Very tired indeed I did sleep through from Tuesday night but woke very itchy, puffy and flaky yet again. I went to work but the concerned peering at my face from all my colleagues pressing me to go back to the doctors convinced me I was still looking far from great. I was having a real come-down from the weekend too and just feeling generally low, ugly and ailing. Ady took Davies and Scarlett out with him for the morning and met me back at home when I arrived. I got an emergency appointment for the afternoon and we spent the rest of the day hanging out at home while Ady went into the office.
Scarlett spent loads of time with the ducklings who are now quacking. We decided they are big enough to move outside so Wednesday was their first night out in their run sleeping in their hutch. The plan is for them to move in with the chickens eventually but we’re having some side-by-side either side of the fence time first before moving the fence away sometime next week.
Davies did some Xboxing and some geomagging, they both opted to stay home while I nipped to the doctors so I left them to it. It’s very nice to have old enough children to confidently do that every so often :). I saw yet another doctor and he was excellent. My neck and chest was very swollen and red, my eyes have huge bags of excess skin on both upper and lower lids and my facial skin is coming off in huge flakes. I said I wasn’t sleeping, was scared the effects on my eyes were permanent and just wanted it all to stop. He took me really seriously, agreed it was an extreme reaction in terms of length and severity and assured me my skin would be okay and my eyes would recover. He said he felt the steroids had not been for long enough at a 3 day course so although they had started to alleviate the problems once I’d stopped taking them it had carried on. He feels it is still the same initial allergic reaction carrying on rather than a series of reactions and gave me just the right level of professional sympathy to make me feel much better :). I came away with another £14.40 worth of prescription (bringing the total to £36 now, not to mention the additional £20 or so in recommended creams, eye gel packs etc.) for a ten day course of steroids which should hopefully knock it on the head once and for all and a tube of really good moisturiser for my face.
I managed to get washing done, dinner for the kids and bedtime stories and have them actually in bed by 8pm which was a welcome return to some sort of normality for me if not them ;). Junior Apprentice and dinner for us.
Thursday I awoke after another decent nights sleep to a far less ravaged looking face and no itching. I still look pretty rough and was told about four times today I looked tired, but tired I can live with. It was session three of the Book Club display crafts so we headed over to Bognor to Clare’s house for that. A fab time was had by all with plenty of bouncing on trampolines, sitting in the sunshine drinking tea and chatting, crafting to make yet more planets for the display and generally enjoying becomming part of that rather lovely group of people. Davies and Scarlett seem to have fitted in really well and there are some fab kids there including a huge group of teenage girls who are all really nice kids I am very happy to observe and see my children in the company of :).
We could have happily stayed longer but we’d had a plan to call in at the PYO on the way home so left at about 345pm in order to have half an hour strawberry picking before they closed. We filled 3 huge trugs and spent £19 on strawberries which I am planning on making jam with a large amount of tomorrow. We also called into the farm shop for some fruit and veg stocks.
We arrived home at the same time as Ady who was wanting to nip into town to get some roof bars he’d reserved at Argos. We have acquired a roof box for £30 second hand which is HUGE and looks perfect but the roof bars are proving something of a challenge. We whizzed into town and collected fish and chips for the kids’ tea on the way home which they ate in the garden with the ducklings while Ady and I wrestled with the roof bars unsuccessfully. Ady took them back while I bathed, dried, hairbrushed and read stories to Davies and Scarlett.
After some agonising I rang into work to say I wouldn’t be in tomorrow. I need to apply this face cream at least every couple of hours which means wearing make up is impossible, the steroids are giving me stomach cramps which are tolerable but an unpleasant side effect and I found standing on the counter / manning the desk really tough yesterday feeling so obviously physically not right. I was told in no uncertain terms that I was right not to go in, they were all feeling so sorry for me and that recovering properly was the most important thing. I feel both a bit fraudulent and quite relieved not to be going in but I think it is the right decision.
It all sounds really ghastly and I do hope you feel much better soon. Glad you got a nice doctor, makes all the difference.
Comment by Joyce — 04 June 2010 @ 8:59 am
EBay for roofbars? We sold our old ones on there. Also I know C has spent hours reading about roofbars etc so if his brains could be picked helpfully, you know where he is!
Comment by Alison — 05 June 2010 @ 10:47 am
roofbox.co.uk gave us loads of helpful free advice over the phone.
Comment by Jan — 05 June 2010 @ 5:01 pm