This rash is going to drive me over the edge. (Did I mention that it’s a rash with acne? Yup, I won the daily double.) Late Wednesday night, my face was so itchy and sore that I couldn’t sleep. I had an itchy face and jumpy legs, and I was miserable. My legs were tingly and I wanted to walk around just to relieve the tingly feeling. I had to do something. Anything. My rationale was that if I could fix either one of those problems, then I could sleep, and since I had no idea of what to do for the tingly legs, I had to work on the itchy rash. So I tried a frozen soft gel pack. It was too cold and too heavy. A wet washcloth was just wet and scratchy. I finally just gave up and put some anti-itch crème on my face, something my doctor advised me not to do. (Something about hydrocortisone / steroids being too harsh on the skin on the face.) It worked well enough. Like I said, I was miserable and it was the middle of the night.
On Thursday I called the doctor to let him know that I’d put some hydrocortisone on the rash, and that it helped some. Turns out that I can use that sparingly and can also use Benadryl crème on the rash, too, in addition to the antibiotic gel. The gel is NOT for the relief of the itch, it’s to keep infection away, since the acne is so bad. Yup, I have gray hair, wrinkles, and acne. I just know y’all are jealous.
(It has dawned on me that it may appear that I’m ungrateful about having the good rash. I’m not; I feel very fortunate to have some indication that this medicine may work for me. But my face is very uncomfortable, and looks like *&%#. I had no idea that I was so vain! With topical treatments that I can use, maybe I can get the acne and the rash to more tolerable levels, and then I won’t whine so much. Well, it could happen.)
Otherwise, I feel pretty good. I don’t cough much, I don’t gasp for breath too often, I don’t wheeze much, I don’t have a sore throat (why not? I still have the tumor), my breathing is much better, haven’t had Motrin in a couple of weeks, my endurance is slowly returning—I cooked dinner Wednesday night and ate it, too. Compared to how I felt a year ago, this is a drastic improvement. If I didn’t know that I have cancer, I’d have no reason to think so-- there’s nothing to indicate it. Maybe this new, daily medicine will be the one that heals me. We shall see.
Thanks for being here!
Try a little vinegar water like an astringent for the face rash. As I recall its what my mom used when I had the measles as a kid. And for the tingly legs try a hot water bottle. No seriously. I get restless leg syndrome and it helps.
I've been going back and trying to catch up. I don't know if you've tried this, but when I get an allergic cough, if I sleep upright, with my head tilted forward - no, not at all comfortable - it almost stops the cough. And ENT doc told me that. There's something about the cough reflex that's triggered once you move from that held leaning forward position.
I used to sit back against the headboard, put a stack of pillow on my lap, and flop over them to sleep. Once you can get that cough reflex calmed down, it's not so active usually. Worth a try, anyway.
Hang in there. You now have the skin of a teenager.
Glad you're feeling better!
I know that having an itchy, acne face must make you want to break all the mirrors and start scratching madly, but if the medication will do some good, then it's worth putting up with the side effects. The good news is the side effects will go away when you stop taking the medication, and hopefully the cancer will go away with them - go away straight to hell where all bad side effects and cancer should go!
Hang in there - we're rooting for you!
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