What a day

I got up this morning intending to run, but I noticed that a skin condition I have developed had worsened overnight. I called to get an appointment with my doctor. After the shower I went in the living room, trying to figure out what the smell was. Someone (canine) had taken a rather large and not so solid poop in the living room. On the carpet, not even a foot away from the tile. Yuck. That took quite a bit of time to clean up and it wasn't fun. I'm not sure who was responsible, but I can't (and didn't) yell at them. It looked like something didn't agree with them; it's not their fault. However, it was still pretty nasty and I gag at the memory.

Anyway, here's what's going on. In New Zealand a few days after the hike I saw a couple of bites on my fingers that looked different from the sandfly bites in that they were raised and not flat. I remember pointing them out to Bill saying that I thought I had gotten bitten by something else. Well, that was that until a few days ago. I started being itchy on my upper arms and when I went to scratch it, I felt bumps. They looked just like the non-sandfly bites. Then more appeared on my lower arms. This morning they were at the hairline and in my scalp and on my neck.

So I am a little freaked out. The doctor says they are not bites (I certainly would have remembered getting bitten that many times), but something called "folliculitis". According to the all-knowing Internet and Wikipedia, "Folliculitis starts when hair follicles are damaged by friction from clothing, an insect bite,^{[citation needed]} blockage of the follicle, shaving, or braids too tight and too close to the scalp. In most cases of folliculitis, the damaged follicles are then infected with the bacterium Staphylococcus (staph)." Yikes! I don't want a staph infection! Those can be deadly. I guess it is possible that one of the sandfly bites started this chain of events, but I don't know why it took so long to kick in after it started. Weird.

Anyway, so I have some antibiotics and some topical cream. The cream eases the itch for about five minutes. Oh well, I hope it will clear up quickly.

I did some stuff around the shop and then met Liz and Michelle and the girls for lunch at Hub Stacy's. The food was good. We finalized our plans for the big trip to Stitches on Thursday. After lunch I went back to the shop and took two truckloads of stuff back to the house. I think I have one more truckload and then I can clean. Tomorrow I turn in the keys!

This evening I did the McGuire's run and had a good time. Dinner was really good. However, I have to stop eating so well. I think I've gained back three or four pounds since I left for New Zealand!