A Dry Summer
This past weekend marked a turning point for me. I could drink alcohol again, but I didn’t.
I devoted this summer to fixing some body parts that were no longer working as well as they used to. I guess this is what women do when they can’t afford to buy new models.
Let’s go through this from head to toe, shall we?
What a headache.
I’ve suffered for several years now from migraines and gone through a battery of tests and slew of prescriptions to find out the root cause and best cure. The headaches were worst in the winter, when it rains here in San Diego, and I was convinced the wet soils produced some plant that made me sick.
It turns out that the trigger is a change in the barometric pressure. And it also turns out that after many $$$ later, a bottle of Excedrin Migraine works just as well as those fancy drugs – and without the potent side effects.
I can see clearly now....
Some people hate the dentist; I tense up at the optometrist’s office. I was overdue for an eye exam, so it was no surprise that my prescription had changed when I finally made it into the doctor’s chair, body literally shaking. It took 10 tries to get a successful glaucoma test in each eye. I am sure I shocked patients in the waiting room when I left teary-eyed and soaked in sweat.
Open up, please.
In June, I cracked a tooth and needed a root canal and crown. I’m still going through the multi-part procedure but I think the porcelain upgrade is worth it. Or will be when I can start chewing on the left side of my mouth again. I’m allergic to an ingredient in many anesthesia treatments, so I was happy to learn that they now make something to numb me because drilling for cavities without novocaine is one thing, but drilling a tooth down to a bit is quite another.
Feel the burn.
I’ve written before about my foolish sunbathing days. Well, as a result I have a rare skin disease called DSAP that is near-impossible to cure. That’s because the lesions on my arms and legs are not healthy nor cancerous, so no medications to date work. Only two people at my hospital currently have DSAP, and we’re both part of a study to see if a prescription for psoriasis helps reduce at least the appearance of these ugly sores. So far, I’d say no.
Toeing the line.
This brings me to the alcohol-less summer.
Like 50% of adults, I contracted a toenail fungus. For several years I thought I could treat it topically, but no. Like a lot of longtime runners, I traumatized my toes regularly while producing the proper environment for the fungi to grow rampantly. It got really, really gross and now it’s going to take a really, really long time to get rid of these pests.
Part of the treatment was taking Lamasil for three months, and since a side effect is potential liver damage, I swore off alcohol for the summer and underwent blood tests every 30 days. I cheated once, with a glass of wine on my 25th wedding anniversary, and was sick hours later. Now, the thought of a drink makes my stomach churn, though I think it’ll take one happy hour invitation to bring me around.
I devoted this summer to fixing some body parts that were no longer working as well as they used to. I guess this is what women do when they can’t afford to buy new models.
Let’s go through this from head to toe, shall we?
What a headache.
I’ve suffered for several years now from migraines and gone through a battery of tests and slew of prescriptions to find out the root cause and best cure. The headaches were worst in the winter, when it rains here in San Diego, and I was convinced the wet soils produced some plant that made me sick.
It turns out that the trigger is a change in the barometric pressure. And it also turns out that after many $$$ later, a bottle of Excedrin Migraine works just as well as those fancy drugs – and without the potent side effects.
I can see clearly now....
Some people hate the dentist; I tense up at the optometrist’s office. I was overdue for an eye exam, so it was no surprise that my prescription had changed when I finally made it into the doctor’s chair, body literally shaking. It took 10 tries to get a successful glaucoma test in each eye. I am sure I shocked patients in the waiting room when I left teary-eyed and soaked in sweat.
Open up, please.
In June, I cracked a tooth and needed a root canal and crown. I’m still going through the multi-part procedure but I think the porcelain upgrade is worth it. Or will be when I can start chewing on the left side of my mouth again. I’m allergic to an ingredient in many anesthesia treatments, so I was happy to learn that they now make something to numb me because drilling for cavities without novocaine is one thing, but drilling a tooth down to a bit is quite another.
Feel the burn.
I’ve written before about my foolish sunbathing days. Well, as a result I have a rare skin disease called DSAP that is near-impossible to cure. That’s because the lesions on my arms and legs are not healthy nor cancerous, so no medications to date work. Only two people at my hospital currently have DSAP, and we’re both part of a study to see if a prescription for psoriasis helps reduce at least the appearance of these ugly sores. So far, I’d say no.
Toeing the line.
This brings me to the alcohol-less summer.
Like 50% of adults, I contracted a toenail fungus. For several years I thought I could treat it topically, but no. Like a lot of longtime runners, I traumatized my toes regularly while producing the proper environment for the fungi to grow rampantly. It got really, really gross and now it’s going to take a really, really long time to get rid of these pests.
Part of the treatment was taking Lamasil for three months, and since a side effect is potential liver damage, I swore off alcohol for the summer and underwent blood tests every 30 days. I cheated once, with a glass of wine on my 25th wedding anniversary, and was sick hours later. Now, the thought of a drink makes my stomach churn, though I think it’ll take one happy hour invitation to bring me around.
