Another Update

Happy Belated New Year!!
Shame on me for not posting sooner. Sorry but I got side tracked with Christmas, New Year, the boys and life in general.

I must remember to take photos of my skin to share with you again. You wont believe the difference that a month as made. I have loads of 'normal' skin! I mean it looks kind of normal to me at least. There are 'shadows' for want of a better description as to where my psoriasis was on various parts of my body & in other parts it just looks like I have a nice suntan.

I had a review with the dermatologist last week. He is impressed with how I am going and doesn't want to see me for another month. Which is good because it was a bit of a struggle to see him every fortnight and having to pay so much to see him for less than a 5 minute consultation. It not that easy when you are on a Carer's Allowance.
The derm still brags at how good this stuff is. He's a bit cocky if you ask me. He is definitely old school though and OLD is the word I use to describe him.

Our free scripts that we had since June of last year has now finished. It finishes at the end of the calendar year. So we start paying for all of our scripts again. I don't mind but when I have to buy anywhere up to 5 scripts some weeks it certainly adds up. Thank goodness I have organised it so that we don't all run out at once and I've staggered things so I get maybe 2 scripts a week.

Speaking of scripts. The Chemist has a very hard time making up the preparation that I use. I know the derm said that this stuff works and it has but the stress/waiting that I have to do to get it is horrendous to say the least. Last week I put the script in on a Thursday before lunch & said I would pick it up on Friday afternoon. I went in around 3:30pm hooping that it would be ready. No more like thinking it would be ready. Well guess what! It wasn't! I don't know if you can imagine how upset I was. Being let down yet again by the same people. It happened to me about 10 days before when I put the previous script in. I know they got busy before the new year so I let it go. This time I swear it was because it was a NEW worker (chemist) in the shop. I bet she saw that it was to be made up and left it for the boss to do when he came in the next day or something like that. I know it happens as it happened to me years ago when I lived in Whyalla. A family run chemist that I went to. The Dad ALWAYS left it for the daughter to make up. Which I thought was kind of miserable of him.

Back to this time though. The Chemist said that it takes about an hour to make up. I thought giving them a day and a half to prepare it was a good thing. I am guessing I have to give them around 48 hours instead for the next one. I swear that they hate it when I walk in the door now just in case I have the script for this stuff to be made. I am sure that they want to run in the opposite direction!

All in all though I suppose I shouldn't complain. There are plenty of bonuses going on where my skin is concerned. The fact that I am beginning to look 'normal' is great! Someone from Church commented on how good my skin is looking. She said it was the best she has ever seen it. It felt good to hear someone say that.
And even better .. I don't have to get the vacuum cleaner out every day to clean up after myself! It's wonderful!!

Hospital Booking

I'm stressing out a bit here. I don't think I mentioned that the gynaecologist said I needed to go into theatre to have a couple of procedures done. I know I mentioned that I had been having problems with my menstrual cycle and how the bleeding was so erratic and sometimes extremely heavy & that is why I was put on the Primolut tablets.

Well the gynaecologist mentioned on Wednesday when I saw him that I needed to go to theatre and that I may possibly have a wait of up to three months before I get in. Imagine my surprise (well SHOCK is more like it) when I was phoned up yesterday afternoon and told that I have been booked in for Monday August 3rd! I mean that is less than two weeks away! In fact its Monday week!

I was hoping that I would have time to begin UVB treatment again. To hopefully get my skin under a bit more control, at least my legs anyway, before I would have to bare all. Well not all but you get the gist of it. I am feeling awful right now. I don't know whether is because I am really covered with P or not. Or whether its the fact that I don't want anyone to see all of my skin apart from Mark or the boys. I know they don't care what my skin looks like. In fact I don't think that they see the psoriasis when they look at me. But at the hospital?! That is a whole different ball game.
I wish I didn't have this blasted stuff right now. And most of all I wish my Mum was here! I could use a hug from her right now.

Gynaecologist Appointment

I finally had my appointment with the gynaecologist this morning. I don't know why but I was feeling a little nervous about seeing him. He was so nice & polite. In fact he was very reassuring. I wont going into all of what we discussed today but the main thing I wanted to share right now was the fact that he saw no reason as to why I shouldn't be able to use Primolut as long as it is helping my skin.

He too stated that he had never seen nor heard of anyone's skin being affected by hormones. Well, he isn't a dermatologist so I wouldn't imagine that he would've come across as many psoriasis sufferers now would he? So I didn't expect him to know all that much about psoriasis and hormones & how they can be affected by changes in the body.

Mark came along with me. I am glad that he did. I like having him about for moral support. Plus it helped that he remembered to ask questions about what was going on. He did remember to ask what were the long time side effects, if any, for being on this type of medication. He said that he was not aware of any long term side effects other than the possibility of a slight increase in breast cancer. I mean there are pros and cons of all types of treatments isn't there? So to me at least its worth taking the hormone tablet since I get a better quality of life as far as my sin is concerned. I get to talk it over with Dr F when I see him next I suppose.

On The Improve!

I cannot believe the changes in my skin. After the flare up of last week when I was only on one Primolut tablet I didn't think my skin would look 'better' for another week or more. However after only a few days (five days) of taking two tablets again my skin is looking fabulous.

I have noticed that since my skin is improving I am needing to use less lotions and potions than before. I still use them constantly but I am not needing anywhere near the same volume as I normally would. It's great! It's a shame that we are heading for winter and I am having to cover up due to the cold weather but I would just love to 'show off' my improved skin.

A bit better today

The skin is feeling a bit better today. Although I do get tired of it feeling awfully tight and extra dry after a wash. Yeah I know I should use more moisturiser :P
At least the shower didn't hurt my skin this time.

Argh .. horrid skin

I hate my skin today .. even the water from the shower hurt this morning. When will this ever stop?

Looking In The Mirror

Have you ever looked in the mirror while you're buck naked? I mean really looked? Did you like what you saw? I bet you found something that you didn't like!! I know I do if I ever catch a glimpse of myself when I've hopped out of the shower.

A good friend, and fellow P sufferer, Debi, mentioned once in chat about using a red light globe in the bathroom so that we didn't have to see our red spots or that we should cover up the mirror with a towel. I'm seriously thinking about getting a towel to cover the mirror. Not only so I don't see the spots, which at times I could care less about, but to prevent me from seeing what I think are unsightly body parts staring back at me. The love handles that look like a spare tyre, the pear shaped body that shouldn't look like so much like a pear. Oh I know I probably wont place a towel over the mirror and I am so thankful that the mirror isn't full length. In fact I am just glad that the only mirror we have in the house is in the bathroom. To me a mirror is just as bad as a camera .. you just don't need them around you to remind you of what you really look like.
Silly I know but that is just my thinking!

It truly makes me grateful that Mark doesn't worry about how my body looks. He's never said anything about it and I don't know what he thinks of it. All I know is that he loves me and for now that is all I need to know. To feel loved is a wonderful thing.

Slowly Improving

We arrived home at around 6 am last Thursday. It's good to be home. It was nice seeing family and all but there truly is no place like home. You can do what you want without having to worry about annoying anyone or interrupting their plans.

Since being home my skin has settled down a bit too. I've been able to use my lotions and potions more because it's much cooler here (except for this coming Thursday and Friday when it's meant to be 40 - 41C). My skin is looking calmer than what it was while we were away. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the water. The water at Dad's place had a real horrible taste to it and we certainly don't have that taste here. It's much nicer.

I'm wondering if my skin will flare some more before the school holidays are over. The boys are certainly beginning to drive me nuts with their constant bickering and there have been times when they have gotten into a fist fight. Well Brodie has the fists out on his brother .. poor Angus just cops it all. I'm getting so tired of them being together. They wont even go out to play!!! I wish the holidays will hurry up and end. Only 22 days until school goes back .. .. ..

Been Sick

I know I haven't written much of late but I haven't been feeling 100% this past week. Both Angus and I have had tonsillitis this week and we've been chillin' in front of the tv mostly. I've not had the energy to do much else.

I think my body has been through a bit this week. I don't know if I mentioned that last year I had a shot of depo provera and ever since then I have not had a normal period. In fact I have gone for months without having them. Truthfully I haven't minded at all because when I don't have them my skin 'behaves' a little better. Now I'm not sure if my skin is flaring due to the tonsillitis or the fact that I have had my period this week. All I know is that its sorer than usual and it feels awfully tight. If it wasn't so cold today I would've had a soak in a nice warm bath with some Skin So Soft Oil from Avon. I love that stuff and it makes my skin feel so smooth and soft.
Maybe I'll have that soak in the tub tomorrow depending on how I feel and how cool the weather is. It's no use going in the tub if I'm still not feeling the best.

The First Taste Of Spring

Today is the first real taste of Spring and it's been so lovely and sunny. I think that the weather has forgotten that it's August and it's meant to be the coldest month of the year for us. It's just absolutely glorious outside, just beautiful. I've even been outside over the past few days preparing the garden in the backyard for the new vegetables plants that we bought this afternoon and planted.

Now with all that said I think of my skin ... It's not looking the best at the moment. I'm not wearing a jumper at the moment and I am NOT liking what I see on my arms. Now if I don't like the look of it can you imagine how others will look or what they will think when they see my skin? I know I don't normally let things like this worry me but for some reason it's on my mind today.
Time to bite the bullet and see the GP again and ask either for something new to try or just gather up the usual supplies of things and start using them more often. *sigh* sometimes I just hate this stuff!

I have NO right to complain .. .. ..

OMGosh I watched this documentary last night called Medical Miracles & it was about a skin disease called Harlequin type ichthyosis. It truly opened my eyes as to how there are people out there, in this case children, who are worse off than I am. These children were just so sweet and coped with so much!

It made me realise that I shouldn't complain as much as I do and that I should be grateful that my condition is more easily managed than theirs & that there is every chance that I can go into remission. These children are not as fortunate as I am.

I really do have NO right to complain.