The Rash is Better

I haven't written an update for over a week nor have I had anything much to do with doctors or health routines. Instead, I've celebrated my sixtieth birthday in high and fabulous style. Tomorrow I have an appointment with my primary care doctor, Dr. Wendy. I hope she will help me refocus and head into a renewed relationship with Fred.

In the meantime, there's the rash and some good news with that. I'm being able to wear the Duo Derm dressing/bandage on my leg rash for ten days or so at a time. It keeps me from scratching -- which is very good for my leg.

When I took off the last one a week ago, the area of rash had shrunk considerably, and the red bump spots were either gone or much smaller. In the past, the skin where the rash lives had become rough and thick, and it looked dry. Now, most of it was the same texture as the rest of my skin.

I wanted Iva, my acupuncturist, to see the improvement so I decided to leave the dressing off for a couple of days. Because it wasn't itching, I continued to leave it free after I saw Iva. Yesterday, after almost a week of no itching, the urge to scratch returned with a vengance and I put a new bandage on.

Iva says that there are many specialized bandages on the market; she gets many ads for them. But she doesn't get samples and hasn't been able to tell which ones might work in particular situations. The Duo Derm packets used to be available on ebay for pretty cheap but they don't seem cheap right now. Hopefully, I'll get the rash healed before I run out.

I'm excited because it seems the bandage is not only helping me control that horrible fingernail action. It also seems to be helping the skin heal so that it can resist whatever internal mechanism causes the itch in the first place.

Rash

About the leg rash that sent me to Iva Jones initially: I'm trying a "super bandage" called Duo Derm. It comes in a 3x4 inch sheet and is a skin dressing for the treatment of leg ulcers or areas of the skin which are healing slowly. It's very expensive although you can get it on E-Bay for much cheaper. My friend Ruthanne gave me a box.

I had used one for a week, last week. It kept me from scratching and the itch seemed to go away after the first few days.

Right now the rash is about 2 x 4 inches on my leg and extends into my ankle for another 1" x 2" patch. There's three bumps under the skin on the right side of the larger area.

The skin looked much better when I first took it off, but it doesn't look so great now, 24 hours later. I haven't scratched it. Maybe it healed because I wasn't scratching for a week but the underlying internal inflammation is still there. Maybe it just wants more time.

I'm going to put another one on.