What a Life!

Well, Ben’s eczema is almost gone. He doesn’t scratch anymore and I don’t see any flaking. There’s just some redness in that area and the skin feels a little more calloused when I rub the eczema oil on it. Steve’s eczema is much better as well.

My eczema, on the other hand, looks about the same. No, there aren’t all the little blisters all over all the time anymore. It always started with little blisters which would turn into dry, flaky skin. I did have a few blisters, but maybe 10% of what was occuring previously. I still have huge cracks in my skin which are red and inflamed and very itchy. The rest of it doesn’t generally itch – just where the cracks are which has to do with a mild infection. I can open my hand all of the way, which I couldn’t do last week without the cracks bleeding. Now the cracks are just there, though some seem to be healing. The flaking is down probably by 50%. But like I’ve said, it was much more severe on my hands than it was on Ben’s knees.

I’ve learned that the oil soaks in much more quickly if your hands have been wet for a few minutes before applying the oil (such as they would be after taking a shower or washing dishes). If I put it on my hands when they’re dry, it seems to just sit there, and even a half hour later I can’t use my hands because they are covered in oil.

The packaging says it takes two to four weeks to heal. Ben and Steve seem to be in the two week category while I will probably have to do four weeks of treatment to get the same results.

I got the EOB from the insurance company – they applied $70 to our deductible, so that is what we’ll be paying for the doctor’s visit. Then $30-something for the medication. We’re talking $100 to finally clear up this miserable eczema. At least it’s working, though.

I still would love to have one of those magnetic water softeners. They’re only about $200 or less. When I went to Sears last week, they had the water softener they recommended for us on sale for $499. Then it would be $200 for installation and $75 for each bypass. Based on how our house is plumbed, I think it would be more than that for the bypasses. Our basement is finished and so to get a double line – one softened, one hard – to the kitchen sink would not be a simple task. And yes, I would like to have soft water at my kitchen sink. So about $1000 for a traditional soft water system that would require salt all the time.

I asked the salesman the difference between their water softener and the magnetic softener and he didn’t know what a magnetic softener was, which is what I figured would be the case. People don’t know about that option and therefore they don’t buy that system. It is something that would be very easy to take with us to a new house, so it wouldn’t be a permanent investment in this house like a water softener might be (Steve doesn’t like having to move appliances).

But if our eczema is clearning up with this eczema oil, we probably won’t do anything about the hard water for now. We are going to get the water tested. I don’t know if the magnetic system would do anything about nitrates in the water, which is what the concern is around here due to all the agriculture. We’ll see…

No, I’m not dying. That’s the title of the book I was reading for Oprah’s book club. I finished it this morning. Isn’t that exciting? I actually read an entire book. Now I get to start The Sound and the Fury. Technically, we don’t start reading the next book until July 1 (which means I finished this book nine days early). Wow! This is just amazing. I actually read an entire book for pleasure. Maybe I really am getting my groove back…

Yesterday we went up to the farm to celebrate Father’s Day with Steve’s dad and grandfather.

The first fun thing Ben found was the rocking chair. I believe it belonged to Steve’s grandma when she was a kid.

When Steve was a kid, his Aunt LaRhea bought him one of those little toy record players. She had gotten it out again, her husband, Con, had fixed it so it worked, and they gave it to Ben as an early birthday present.

LaRhea and Ben with the record player

Ben loves to dance with music. The little record player didn’t quite last long enough for him to really get going, but he danced a little and everyone enjoyed watching him.

Con watching Ben dance.

Then someone brought out another gift – a book. Here is Ben reading his new book with Daddy and Grandpa Bill.

It was time to go see Pops who has cancer and is in the nursing home. Steve’s dad wanted to go water some cattle first, so we spent some time outside.

Ben loved walking in the gravel and shuffling his feet.

Steve got the little tractor out of the shed and tried to find a serial number on it so he could order parts. Schon spent hours riding on that tractor as a kid and went through a number of sets of wheels and pedals.

Then Ben came over and started looking at the tractor. He stood next to it and looked at it for a while and then decided to climb on. He wasn’t big enough to sit on the seat, but that didn’t matter.

At this point we were all starting to feel pretty hot (it was 90-some degrees outside) so we went over to wait for Grandpa Bill in the shade. Ben and Grandma sat on the steps.

We finally made it to the nursing home. Ben was getting pretty tired and short on patience since had hadn’t had his nap. I had to take about four pictures before I got one I was pleased with.

The four generations – Pops, Grandpa Bill, Steve, and Ben

You know how it feels when someone puts alcohol on a scrape on your knee? That’s how my eczema felt yesterday afternoon…except that the burning would not go away. It was raw and sore and there were really bad cracks. If I opened my hand too much (which I inadvertently did this morning), the cracks would bleed. Here’s a picture:

So with the burning and everything, I was almost in tears. I called our family doctor and asked if we could get an appointment. They managed to squeeze us in so I woke Ben from his nap and we went to see the doctor.

I showed him my hand. Ben was clinging to me so I couldn’t really show him is legs but he saw enough to know it was bad. I told him we all have it in different places. He asked what I was doing with my hand. I told him I try to keep my hands out of water and use as little soap as possible, and I named a few that I use that seem to be gentle and not bother. According to him, every soap is fine for some people and not fine for others, so he’s heard good and bad for eczema on the ones I’ve named.

I asked him about two of our theories that no one seems to talk about (they talk about things like dairy and dust mites most of the time, it seems):

Can eczema be aggervated by stress? Definitely.

Can it be aggervated by hard water? Definitely.

It’s no wonder, then, that we all have it.

He gave me a prescription for some Derma-Smoothe Eczema Oil. Its a mild steroid in a base of peanut oil that seems to be very effective and not something you build up a resistence to. The peanut oil is highly refined so even people who are allergic to peanuts can use it.

I went to Walgreens and the one I was at didn’t have it in stock. They called another one and I had to go over there to get it. This isn’t the first time our doctor has prescribed something off the beaten path, but such things have worked in the past for other ailments so I’m allowing myself to be optimistic here…

I put it on myself last nigth before I went to bed and again this morning when I got up. It seems to take about 15 minutes to soak in and it doesn’t burn even when I put it on dry skin (unlike just about everything else I’ve put on my hand). My hand doesn’t really itch either, though yesterday it was so sore, if it did itch, there was no way I would have known. Today it isn’t so sore but it’s still calloused enough that it bled a little this morning.

I called the company that makes it and asked if I should keep putting things like Eucerin on it. Their insert said not to use anything else with steroids. They said I shouldn’t do anything else – just this. I can wash my hands and do whatever I need to do once it absorbs into my skin.

So we shall see. The doctor said we could use it on everybody in the family. I may try it on Ben this morning. I’ll put it on him before we go on our walk so it has time to absorb. Since it is supposed to be used alone, I’ll have to tell my dear mother-in-law to not put anything on Ben’s legs when he’s over at her house this evening. I’m tempted to add that the doctor said no cortisone and that I’m not discussing it anymore with her because she thinks I’m stupid and that I don’t know what I’m talking about and then I’ll just leave and she can stand there with her mouth open. If it keeps Ben from itching, she won’t be tempted to put anything on it and then it wouldn’t be an issue anyway. We’ll see how it goes today.

I finally put together the wagon Mom and Dad bought for Ben when they were here [a month ago]. It was so nice out today, I tried to spend as much time as possible outside, and I decided that was something I could do.

It took me forever to find the hammer – Steve had it in a drawer in the utility room. Then the directions said to use some all-purpose oil. I had to call Dad and ask him what I should us. He said “Sewing machine oil,” because, of course, that is something I would have around.

The directions were kind of dumb. They had all these different sizes of screws, and in their key, instead of lining up all the parts and grouping similar pieces together, they had a drawing of the wagon unassembled. Nothing was numbered in order on the picture, and they used names for things that didn’t make any sense to me. They had tiny nuts, bolts, and washers, and then they had one small, one medium and one really long one. There were seven of the tiny ones, but the part numbers – one for the nut, one for the bolt, and one for the washer – were 12, 14 and 26.

But I did figure out how to put it together. And Ben did enjoy playing with it. Of course, this picture was taken right after I let him start playing with it and before he started doing what I expected him to do with it…that it, load up all his toys into it and then pull it around the patio (that’s what he does with the laundry basket inside all the time!).

I see you!