Sympathy Shopping

Since the "devil's fire" cream didn't work, I tried some of Mark's Gold Bond, and boy, by this time, it was Heaven sent. So Mark ran to the store to get more and strawberry syrup. However, this is what he came back with. Each of these items has a unique story behind it. Fun Stuff. Gotta love him. Wanna love him. Forever!

Chili Pepper Apothecary

Bite into a chili pepper and you are likely to feel an intense burning sensation - as if your mouth is on fire. So it would make perfect sense to apply a compound cream consisting of cortisone, lidocaine, and capsaicin to very sensitive, extremely irritated skin, right?

Well, that is just what the doctor ordered. I thought the whole battle with shingles was over and I escaped with mild neuropathy and only one spot. Ha Ha Ha! I woke up last Thursday with another "spot" on my neck, this one twice the size as the one on my abdomen. And, like an outbreak, by Monday I was covered from earlobe to knee cap. And with the pox came the pain! I followed up with the doctor on Tuesday, only to be told "yep, still shingles." He prescribed a higher dose of pain medication and a cream made at the compound pharmacy down the street. I adore the science behind holistic apothecary, but user discretion be advised. I picked up the cream, and then had a few errands to run while I was out. I used a dab of the cream in a small spot just to see how beneficial it was. And It. was. great! The lidocaine numbed the pain, and about 15 minutes later, the heat from the capsaicin soothed the chaos beneath my skin. I was so excited when I arrived home because it was time for the next application. I lathered every affected area, keeping in mind "a little goes a long way." And then it happened. I WAS ON FIRE! Crazy fire! Errupting from the tissues beneath my skin. A shower was the logical solution, right? Oh no, no, no. The warm water made the "fire" worse, and cold water made me shiver and my skin pucker.

I guess I will chalk this one up to "one of those things I am meant to experience in life." And I dare ask, "What's next?"

Droppin' the L.B.'s

We can tease all we want, but seriously the numbers do not lie. As of tonight, Mark is officially weighing in at T-minus 21 pounds and I have lost a whopping 26 pounds (unfortunately, it shows more on him.) Lets be clear, I do not. Absolutely, DO NOT! encourage weight loss to be achieved in such a manner, however, it is one fan-freakin'-tastic consolation to being this sick. Especially when I have been toting around about twenty stubborn pounds left from my last pregnancy over. a. year. ago. Mark has been dragging the same amount of sympathy pounds around, too, might I add. At this rate, I am one stomach flu away from my goal weight. Really, I don't actually weigh myself for the sake of day to day tallying or diet control - that would be torture! - and I never even kept a scale in our house until I was pregnant with Jillian and was forced to weigh myself twice a day and then call my home health care nurse with the digits. But how great would the one above be - at least it would show me some love before the bad news was magnified to the world!