I've Got Spots on the Brain

Given my current shingled condition, I suppose it's only natural that I'd start thinking about spots in general. And that thinking leads me to a more northernly part of my body - my face.

As a teenager, my skin was pretty flawless. I think I can count on one hand the number of blemishes I had before I turned 24. But then came the ravages of adult acne! ::insert appropriate horror movie scream here::

Since I hit my mid-twenties, I've been plagued by cystic acne on my chin and along my jawline, clogged pores in my T-zone, and a TON of whiteheads on my forehead (not to mention the lovely lines popping up around my eyes and the deep furrows I'm noticing above them).

Those OTC treatments haven't seemed to do anything (except maybe exacerbate the condition); I've heard great stories (and HORROR stories) about things like ProActiv so I'm really wary to try them; and the solutions offered by my general practitioner haven't really done anything to clear my visage. So what's a bride (or groom - 42.5% of men between 20 and 29 report experiencing acne) to do to make herself picture perfect on her wedding day, especially given the prevalence of unforgiving HD videography?

With only six months to go until the big day, I've decided that some professional help is in order. I have an appointment with a dermatologist set for Wednesday, and hopefully he'll be able to offer some solutions to get my skin in tip-top shape by March - although anytime before then would be great for me, too. ;)

But I thought these were just mosquito bites....

Hello loyal readers, and welcome to Day 2 of my medical misery.

*grumble*

So, as I'm sure you've read below, I was pretty productive during my bar trip, cutting out all of my pocketfolds, and gluing more than half of them. FI and I and the FILS (hurray for acronyms!) took a week and went down to Holden Beach in North Carolina. Overall the trip was great - sun, sand, ocean, jellyfish (okay, so the jellyfish weren't all that great), but it was nice to get away from the city for awhile. I spent the week building drip castles, frollicking in the ocean, working on the invites, and watching our soon-to-be awesome President and my fellow dems speak at the DNC.

But..... I've been feeling pretty under the weather since we got back on Saturday afternoon. Just generally pretty achy, stiff neck, headaches, etc. And the bug bites were driving me insane!

And then three days ago my side started to get really tender to the touch. I had a couple of "stabbing pain in my side episodes" while we were at the beach, so yesterday I finally gave in and went to the doc expecting her to tell me that "yay, once again you have pyelonephritis."

But nooooo. That's not it at all. After waiting for TWO HOURS in the waiting room (because the receptionist wasn't back from lunch and no one else could check me in ::eyeroll::), she ran some tests and told me that nothing was wrong with my kidneys. I mentioned the stupid side pain, and she asked to see. I show her the bug bites on my abdomen, and then she asks to see the ones on my back. I turn around, and she gasps. I roll my eyes and say:

Me: no, no that's just my birthmark (I have a HUGE birthmark that covers my entire back and docs always freak out the first time they see it)

Her: no, I know that's your birthmark. I'm talking about these ::points to what I thought were bug bites on my back::

Me: Yeah, those bug bites suck.

Her: Those aren't bug bites.

Me: Well then what are they?

Her: Let me get the doctor (she's was a CNP)

Me: (internal monologue: what could those be? Am I dying? Dude, she's wrong, those are totally just bug bites)

In walks the doctor.

Doctor: Yep, that's shingles all right.

WTH? Seriously? I have shingles? ::insert stream of curse words here::

So now the right side of my abdomen and back are covered in an itching, burning version of adult chickenpox. *sigh*

The bright side? Apparently once the chickenpox virus reactivates and you get shingles, it's really rare to get it again. So I guess I'm just getting it out of the way early (most people don't get it until their 50s or 60s). And at least I didn't get it the week of my wedding, like one unlucky groom I heard about on the Nest....

Now I'm off to apply some more Benadryl and down some more Advil. Till tomorrow,

~ Heather