Troll Face

Sweater: Old Navy
Skirt: J Crew Factory
Scarf: Thirfted
Shoes: Naturalizer
Bracelet: J Crew Factory

I'm still here!

For  the last week and a half I've been dealing with a killer eczema outbreak which made me not want to leave the house, let alone post my picture on the internet.

I had eczema when I was a child but it went away for 25 years only to reappear last November. I had an outbreak then and in December too, on my arms and bottom.

This time, I had an outbreak everywhere; back, chest, arms, legs, in between my fingers, behind my ears and the worst place; my face. Yup, my face was covered with itchy red bumps for about a week. I looked like a troll. I actually used some sick time last week to hide out at home.

But at the end of last week, it was clear the bumps weren't going away and I'm too much a control freak to have a substitute teacher in my classroom for very long, so back to work I went.

I was really paranoid about what my students would say. They notice everything about me so I knew these red bumps would not escape notice. Teenagers can be cruel and even though I'm a teacher, I have a feelings too! But the kids have been super sweet. I simply told them it was an allergic reaction. One student offered me his Claritin and they chide me when they notice me scratching.

My family doctor hasn't been too helpful in figuring out why my eczema has decided to return so I have been visiting a naturpathic doctor. His theory is that I have a food sensitivity that for the most part, doesn't bother me. But take into account some recent stress (about RDog's job) and some funky things going on with my immune system (more on that later), and bam, I have red bumps.

So I've had my blood couriered to the United States for some food sensitivity testing that is not done around these parts and I'm on an hypo-allergenic diet (no eggs, dairy, wheat or soy). The eczema is dying down (if you look closely, you can still see an ugly patch on my arm but it's better than last week) but I really, really want a cookie and ice cream and a sandwich. Pretty much all the good food in the world has eggs, dairy or wheat.