A Small Price to Pay: An Update on My Illness and Other Things You Probably Don't Care to Know

I am a vain person. Just ask my mom and sisters. I have had several surgeries because of my vanity. Some I will own up to, some I won't. The boobs ~ Nope they are real! I tan for hours every summer because heaven forbid I be pale. My vanity includes having 2 moles removed from my face, just because I didn't like them (ok my mom was nagging me to get them off too. There is a reason this vanity was created!) along with going to the spa and even a plastic surgeon to have the little red lines removed from under my eyes. (I went through laser treatments to remove them. I looked like I had been beat up for a few days but after the scabs were gone, no more little broken blood vessels. They also removed other red spots from my arms and torso. I had a really bad one on my forehead that I had zapped 7 times before going to the plastic surgeon who was able to remove it in one blast!)

Here we are 3 weeks after I developed a rash on my legs, which eventually spread to every part of my body except my face. Some places it was worse than others such as my left arm and my legs. They were covered completely. The rash is mostly gone now but I am still splotchy and very dry. And to be honest, I think it might stay this way. Normally I would freak out. It is like having age spots at the age of 33. (Trust me I have wondered if I could go and have them sand blasted off.) But no, I have finally come to realize that having something like this on my body is not the end of the world. It is ok to not have perfect skin...not that I ever had it but still you get my point.

So that brings me to the update on my illness. I had a virus. What virus it was, no one knows. It was one that did not like me and my body did not like it. My body did not like it enough that it caused me to have an auto immune reaction which hit very heavily in my legs. I can walk again with out pain. My knees and ankles are still very tender and probably will be for some time. I spoke with my doctor on Tuesday this week. The rheumatoid arthritis and lupus tests did come back negative but the test that measures swelling was still very high. My blood was drawn on the previous Tuesday though and I have improved greatly since that doctor's visit. My doctor sounded very relived to hear I was doing better. (I have been going to him since I was 16 so we have a good relationship.) I am to call him once a week for the next 2-3 weeks to give him am update on my progress but as for right now, no appointment with any specialists is needed. YAY! Other than the tenderness and my cankles and feet still get swollen during the day, I really feel back to normal and I am going to try and play tennis next Monday.

For those I haven't told, I went to a Jazz game and to dinner 5 days before I became sick. Everyone is pretty sure I picked something up along the way because that incubation period is just right for a virus. No one else I know has become sick either. One thing I never had though was a sore throat or a runny nose.

I am so happy to be feeling better now. I know that Rick is so happy to have me feeling better and back to normal. And I have learned, I don't need to be quite so vain!