I am an office worker. I have pale white skin. This is something I have gotten used to. In fact, I think I have been pale all my life, with the exception of the year that I was 13 and worked on the Grounds crew and developed a most amazing farmer's tan. But being pale doesn't bother me, particularly as I have no desire to either just hang out in the sun for the purpose of being fried or the skin cancer that likely comes with such fried skin.
Since I am pale, I know that I will quickly fry, so I am of the habit of using the strongest sun protection available, usually SPF 50. So while in Spain on vacation, I slathered this stuff on. I even re-applied. And did a post-sun treatment with some aloe vera stuff afterwards to take the heat out, cool, etc. And while I may have forgotten the tops of my ears the first day of golf, everything else was fine.
Until Friday night. Suddenly, the skin on my arms and legs that had been exposed to the skin (and thank goodness not my face) started, well, going rogue. I won't describe this in detail for the faint of heart, but think bad, itchy eczema that was hot to the touch with swelling that had my knuckles looking like little dimples. Hmmm.... It got worse and worse with my skin just pulling tight and the heat radiating through me. So, nutshell, not such good times. So I knew that on Monday morning I had to go to the doctor's office.
There are, as I may have mentioned before, kind of open office hours each day so you can just show up without an appointment and they slot you in when they can. I was there bright and early at 8:00 AM. Turns out the open season doesn't start until 8:30. Fine. I had some books on my iPhone to read. Around 8:40, I was up. I went into the doctor's office and presented an arm.
Doctor: What's that?
SIP (to herself): Isn't that what you're supposed to tell me?
SIP (out loud): My skin is apparently have a negative reaction to something. This is the case only in areas touched by the sun, but note that the none of the affected skin is actually burned. And this is despite the application of SPF50 sun cream.
He was clearly confused on what to do. So he called in another doctor who also said, "What's that?" Hmmm. Two for two.... Not so good.
There was some fast and furious German back and forth between them during which they apparently agreed that they should give me a combination of some drugs, some cream (and at the highest level, which appeared to freak them out, but which I was thinking was probably something you could buy over-the-counter in the US) and an injection to immediately halt the inflammation. Fine. So the doctor wrote a prescription for all of this -- and some vitamins. He keeps trying to prescribe vitamins for me and I keep throwing out those prescriptions as I have my own US multivitamin stash (you can't buy a multivitamin over the counter here, which I think is nuts). I have to wonder if he's getting a kickback of some kind for this, but I digress.
So I went back out into the waiting area to wait for my name to be called again for my injection. About 40 minutes later I heard it, but it wasn't for the injection. Nope. It was for a THIRD doctor to look at my arms. I now officially felt like a circus freak. Which is saying a lot, because as Preuscher, one grows up feeling "special and unique" (aka strange). And then I was sent back to the waiting area for more good times waiting for my name to be called.
It wasn't until nearly 12:00 that my name was called. I was getting a bit peeved, because during all this time I could've gone to the Apotheke that was around the corner (or every corner, if you're in Frankfurt) and already had some drugs streaming through my blood. Anyway, it was my time. And I should've anticipated this by now, but I am a creature of habit - they first took blood and then gave me not an injection but an intravenous drip. Grrrr.....! Of course their plans only become clear after I have already been separated from both my BlackBerry and my iPhone, so I was alone with my thoughts, the IV and concerns that there was going to be an air bubbled in the IV when it was done and I was going to die. But, clearly, I survived.
I didn't see any different on Tuesday in any way. I was not pleased.
I saw a difference on Wednesday morning, though. I had, overnight, swollen to the point that my face was nearing Campbell Soup kid roundness and I nearly had cankles. I was not pleased. So I went back to the doctor's office. More waiting. When the doctor saw me, he asked what had happened. Um, again, I'm thinking this should be his call.... I indicated I suspected it might be because of whatever combination of drugs and "injections" he had given me. Hmmm.... "I didn't anticipate this. Okay, we'll give you another injection....."
Geez. But these were actual injections. Plural. Two of 'em. And I was told to just sit still and not move. Okay..... And then I was released. By which time, either through having been moving or whatever was injected, I looked a bit more presentable, but now felt like a truck had run over me. Nice....
Things were actually a bit better on Thursday. The swelling was going down and my hands now looked like they were a nicely cured leather rather than something from a horror movie. And then, of course, I was supposed to go in for a check-up on Friday where he pronounced me on the mend. I said that was all well and good, but what in the world had happened on Wednesday and how was I supposed to prevent this from happening again? Uhhh.... Wednesday wasn't anticipated and, um, going forward, you should stay out of the sun and not use the same sun cream. Would that be the same sun cream that was fine for 5 days and protected me from being burned? Grrrr..... So it remains a mystery. But this was the least satisfying of my visits to the doctor here so far. I miss my Chicago doc terribly. Though there's something to be said about the drama of temporarily being a circus attraction!
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