Today, today

what a novelty!

I woke at 4am and my face felt on fire. Ady was snoring, I was lying there awake itching and getting crosser and crosser so I got up, had a drink of water, examined my eyes in the bathroom mirror to see my eyes were so swollen I could barely see out of them – honestly my nose was looking like cleavage they were that puffy! I decided to take an anti-h despite it not being 24 hours since the last on the basis that admission to hospital for A/H overdose would at least get the face thing sorted too (see I really shouldn’t be allowed drugs, I am *so* not responsible with them. Did I tell you about nearly missing my Maths GCSE exam by taking too many painkillers for period pain and failing to wake up despite alarm clocks and ringing phones and my Mum getting called and having to come home from work to shake me awake? I was all dark and Winnona Ryder-in Heathers-ish in school after that day, shame it coincided with leaving!). Then I decided it must be something in the bedroom making me allergic so tried to sleep on the sofa. And then the cockerels woke up.

I did get to sleep though because the next thing I remember was Scarlett touching me on the nose and telling me it was morning.

Feeling slightly scared now by it being day four of The Face and wondering if this was the new shape of my life – Ady laughing at me and saying ‘that’s what you’re going to look like when you’re old!’, the children finding their sole reason to be glad about having been Home Educated missing the teasing of peers in the playground about their donut faced mother and a lifetime of being able to see my own cheeks without needing a mirror. I made another doctors appointment, was told it would be the ‘duty doctor’ and spent the next hour with my fingers crossed it wouldn’t be the same doctor I saw yesterday.

The upside of living across the road from the surgery was not needing to take Davies and Scarlett with me so I nipped across, sat in the waiting room for half an hour and was finally called to the doctor, a different one to yesterday and a woman, with whom I was really able to play the ‘look at me, I’m hideous!’ card. I tend to be too airy with doctors (and possibly life generally) indeed when I had a really bad ear infection when pregnant with Scarlett Ady and my parents got really cross with me for downplaying how shite I felt when I talked to the doctors. I just don’t like whinging and feel bad about taking up their time. But I explained I was feeling scared, wasn’t sleeping, was supposed to be at work tomorrow standing behind the counter in the public library, was having to sit on my hands to stop myself from clawing at my own face and could barely see out of my puffed up peepy-hole eyes.

She was very understanding, described several possibilities (from one off allergic reaction to potentially the first episode of something that could flare up again and possibly lead to long term use of antihistimines once under control) but agreed the main goal right now was to calm down the symptoms. So I was prescribed yet more anti/h and a 3 day course of steriods. Neither available over the counter (so nearly £15 at the chemist – ouch!). She told me to take the a/h for a couple more days after the rest of the symptoms fade too. She reckoned I’d see results in 24-48 hours so I have every intention of getting another appointment on Friday if I’m no better as I don’t want to leave it til Tuesday if this doesn’t work.

Back home I had some toast to take the seven (yes seven!) tablets with as they were to be taken with food and sat snuggled up with Tarly watching Davies on the X Box. Tarly and I then nipped out to get some bits for lunch and I finally found a gel eye mask (that you can put in the fridge to cool your eye area down) in a little chemists. Ady searched all the big supermarkets, Boots and Superdrug for me yesterday and came home with cucumber instead!

Back home for lunch and then we watched Where the Wild Things Are on dvd and the kids played with the geomags. They have been utter stars today, really responding well to me apologising in advance for a potentially boring day with a bad tempered mother to contend with. I rang work to say I wouldn’t be in tomorrow and Badgers to say I wouldn’t be there tonight and my Dad to say I didn’t need him for childcare tomorrow.

I dropped Davies and Scarlett off at the door at Badgers and came home to a blissfully quiet house for an hour. I had a bath, read my book and used my gel eyepack, getting out halfway through to drippily stick some dinner in the oven for the kids and stick the front door key in the door so everyone could get in before getting back in the bath.

Ady collected the kids from Badgers, served up their tea and watched the end of Avatar with them. I then spent an hour and a half on the phone, first to Julie and then to my Mum so the kids got a bedtime reprieve :).

Dinner and Junior Apprentice and I’m hoping to wake tomorrow to a much improved reflection in the mirror.