A Disastrous Weekend

This past weekend wasn't supposed to be a bad one...the weather was supposed to be nice, I was going to play a soccer and softball game, back to back....and then Sunday was going to be a day that I could work around the house, maybe frame some pictures, and just take it easy.

Everything up until Sunday stayed in the plan....but honestly, from Saturday afternoon through Monday, I was completely miserable.

I had started getting a rash on my thighs Friday night - I thought it might have been the heat, since I was sitting outside during dinner, yammering away with my friend. So by the time I got home, I had a nice little rash going on on my inner thighs that Band Aid's anti-itch gel seemed to take care of with no problems. I got up Saturday morning and decided that I wanted to cut some more hydrangea from my garden to put it into a vase indoors. I rushed outside to cut a few stems and was back in the house within five minutes. It was also within those five minutes that I seemed to have gotten bitten by some mosquito outside. Seeing how it is mosquito season, it wasn't surprising to me -I came in with about three bites on each elbow. More Band-Aid anti-itch gel was applied.

After soccer and softball and being out in the sun for far too long, without face protection, I had a nice burn going on with my face. I also started feel extremely sluggish and itchy when I got home. When I went to hop into the shower, I saw that the backs of my legs (upper thighs) were all red. I thought this was due to being out in the heat and that my skin was just swollen from being outside...but as the night wore on, my skin only got more swollen and even itchier. It got to the point where I couldn't even bend my leg back because the upper back thigh was so swollen and it hurt to climb stairs. So I applied some ice packs to the backs of my legs to no avail....I was beginning to develop a headache and I was becoming miserable. By this time, I had Cortizone 10, Calamine spray and the anti-itch gel...all of which were being applied on a regular basis.

Sunday came around and I just started swelling up in other spots - like around each hip. It was really quite gross but the affected areas were swollen, puffy and bumpy. When we went to Target, I had purchased Aveeno wash, Aveeno overnight anti-itch lotion and prayed that this would help calm down my skin. I had no appetite and when we got home in the afternoon, I didn't have the energy to go out and do any of the stuff I wanted to do - instead, opting for a nap on the couch. By the time I woke up, I had hives up and down my arms, all along my elbows, and on my neck. I thought that something was in the sofa - so my husband gave the couch a thorough vacuum. We both had thought that maybe it was the hydrangeas giving me the hives so he, very quickly, threw out my pretty flowers.

In thinking some more about why I would have this sudden skin ailment, I thought back to Friday afternoon, when it seemed to have started and realized that Friday afternoon was also the day that we had our quarterly bug inspection, where they come out to spray the garden and around the house. I was convinced that I had an allergic reaction to something that was sprayed because I didn't change anything in terms of my eating habits.

By Monday morning, I was in agony. I had gotten little sleep, my hips were even more swollen and bumpy and itchy and the hives were moving into the backs of my hands! I had to wait until 7:30 to call my dermatologist for help. They were able to fit me in for a 9:45 am appt and I was so disgusted to even show her what was going on - but I needed medical attention. She announced that it was indeed hives and not anything related to heat rash. She thought it might've been something I ate but as I said before, I didn't eat anything out of the ordinary. So I told her about the bug guy and she thought that was a real possibility and asked if I wanted to get a shot or take a pill. I promptly told her that I wanted whatever was going to stop the itching NOW!

So steroid injection it was - right there in her office. She also gave me two prescriptions - one that would make me drowsy - so she told me to take it when I got home and I would feel better when I woke up. She wasn't lying....after a nice 2-3 hour nap, I was better rested and most of the swelling had subsided. As the night wore on, I wasn't as itchy and found that I COULD sit in my kitchen and family room without scratching. I also took additional precautions by having my car detailed during lunch because I could feel little itches starting up when I was driving to work this morning.

The other car, even though I didn't sit in it all weekend, will also be getting a detailing - just because it's about that time. I'm also investing in an air purifier to help clean the air that is downstairs in case I did happen to bring in some bad stuff with me.

I cannot believe that my disastrous weekend turned into such an ordeal....but I guess better safe than sorry with all the precaution.