When living in foreign and less hygienic places, bugs and diseases become a normal part of life. This month has probably affected me physically more than any other month before. My skin has decided to rebel against my body, and the most polite and culturally sensitive way to say it is that I have been diagnosed scabies that live along side some random puss filled volcanoes. Yes, you read correctly scabies and volcanoes.
My skin rebellion began on New Year’s Day once we arrived back in Manila. It started small like a little snow ball that later rolled down a hill, and turned into a flowing avalanche. The initial snow ball was a cute little sty that decided to invade my left eye. Then I developed the two puss volcanoes on my left shoulder and back. They hung out on my body yelling at me for a week before they decided to explode. (The explosion was helped along by Katey the C Squad resident nurse. ) Then the left side of my body decided to continue growing natural disasters, so it grew a third volcano on my left leg and then it grew a Mama volcano on my left ear lobe. About this time the right side of my body was becoming jealous because the left side was doing all the attacking, so it forged ahead with a full blown scabies rash.
I had to consult the doctor twice, and then Katey had to drain the growth on my ear. It took a half hour, a needle, a few yelps, a few tears, a crushed Ebeth hand, and lots of tissue to remove the infectious goop that was residing under the surface of my skin.
Good news, despite the dramatic nature of this blog, I am well on my way to healing. I am not going to lie, it was frustrating to recover from one thing, and then get attacked by something else. For a while, I felt defeated because no matter what I did, my skin wasn’t getting better. Through this I have learned you can never bathe/exfoliate too often, and sometimes in the midst of so much nastiness you just have to laugh because this too shall pass.
So all I ask is that you not leave your computer to go throw up, and that you would please pray for my health. I would love to give this race everything I have, and that is hard when you have to take a morning off to have the doctor poke at your skin. Thank you for all your prayers, love, and support. I really do have the most amazing supporters in the world.
