Day 18: Warning - TMI

About 2 months ago I noticed a small dry red patch on the inside of my thigh. Not thinking anything of it, I lathered it up with lotion and forgot about it. A couple weeks later I suddenly realized it had gotten huge. I immediately thought - ringworm. It was almost a perfect circle and the outside was more dry and scaly than the middle. So I did a little ringworm research. Apparently ringworm itches and is easily spread. This patch wasn't itchy or tender and Brad didn't have anything that looked like it. So I once again forgot about it and figured it would just go away. A couple more weeks went by and Brad pointed out a few more spots on my back. Huh, that's weird. In the next couple of days the spots on my back had doubled, and several more had broken out on my front torso. Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Every morning I counted the spots in the mirror and everyday there were more. So finally I made an appointment to visit the dermatologist. That visit was today. After explaining to Dr. Alexander what it looked like and before even showing him all my spots, he said, "You could be in a textbook." What to know what I have?

It's a skin virus called Pityriasis Rosea. PR for short. Pretty much the name just mean red scaly skin. Attractive, right? You get it after being exposed to a virus, something as simple as a cold. Your immune system, in the process of fighting this other virus that doesn't even present itself with any symptoms, gets a little over zealous and causes a "herald patch" to develop. The "herald patch" calls other patches and within a few weeks you've got one huge patch and lots of little baby ones. The doctor said it's nothing to worry about, and I shouldn't ever get it again. It usually goes away within 6-8 weeks, which is about how long I've had it. But he gave me a steroid cream to see if we can't push it along a bit. The sun also does wonders on getting rid of it. Thank goodness we're going on a cruise in 15 days, right?!

This is the "herald patch":

This picture makes it look a lot worse than it really is, but it's still nasty and unsightly.

These are the patches that have been heralded.

Not nearly as bad but still unsightly, especially when they're all over me.

So...for the next little while I'll be slabbing this stuff all over me to try and get rid of the PR.

Side note: Killer will be getting her claws clipped tomorrow. This was a complete accident.

Love, Courtney