Pityriasis Rosea

Last Friday I woke up with small, faint bumps on my stomach. I thought they were hives brought on by stress from a big argument with my boyfriend the night before. Or maybe it was because I slept in my onesie polyester pjs without a shirt underneath as usual. Either way I wasn't very worried or too concerned about them until...Saturday evening.

By then the bumps were red, itchy and spreading. I was getting concerned, so much so that when my boyfriend tried to "make up" with me Sunday morning I told him don't touch me because my skin was nasty. Monday I made an appointment for the earliest appointment, Tuesday morning. I get in the room describe my symptoms and lift my shirt. At which point my doctor exclaims in a sing-song voice "I know what you have. Let me see your back".
I comply as I wonder is this a secret or is she going to share? After looking at my back she says "Oh yeah, you're a classic case". Now I'm starting to get a little annoyed because I would like to know too. I typically like my doctor, her being someone I only see once a year unless I'm sick, but on this occasion she was not getting my recommendation.

It turned out that I had Pityriasis Rosea. No know cause, no know treatment other than stop the itch and no known prevention. The good news she said is it's not contagious even though she's seen married couples develop symptoms within weeks of each other. Also, it should only last a few weeks. When I read the fact sheet she handed me it said it could last up to four months. When I brought this up in a nonchalant way she said "Oh yeah that's the worst case scenario but if it doesn't clear up in a few weeks come back".

This experience just furthered my opinion that medical professionals don't truly know what's going on and they sometimes are a little too positive and optimistic. I believe when you come in with a problem they go in the back put all the possible aliments you could have on a dart board and shoot. Which ever one they hit is what you have.

Fortunately I have no major aliments, at least they haven't been discovered and my rash is clearing up nicely so my contact with them is limited for the moment. :-)

New Year's Resolutions

I'm not very big on New Year's Resolutions. For the last few years come New Year's I look back on the year prior and think what I did and did not like about it. Then I think about the years ahead and what I would like to see. After doing those two things I think of ways to improve me and my life. I guess that is setting a resolution of sorts. I like to believe that that is better than saying this year I'm going to lose 10 pounds. Instead I say this year I am going to have a healthier lifestyle. This way come April when I haven't lost a pound I don't feel bad and I still move towards my goal of being healthier, whatever that means. Some of my evaluations lead me to more concrete decisions, none that come to mind at the moment.

So far this year I have made the decision to continue in having a closer walk with God and relying on my faith in Him to guide my life because relying on me hasn't gotten me too many great places. I've also decided to try harder in school, be nicer and more open to people I come across in life and of course treat others how I want to be treated, in the best way possible regardless of how they treat me and lastly to write more. I've wanted to write a book for longer than I can remember, not sure what about because I can't think of anything to write that people would want to read but I figure the first step is to get more comfortable writing. So here it goes...