You Want Me to Wear THESE? ME?

The last hurdle in my succession of six has been jumped! I completed the last doctor visit before my “medication randomization” next week. This last visit was with a dermatologist. That was my first consultation with a dermatologist, so I really didn't know what to expect.

With the possible exception of the chest x-ray, this was by far the least painful of any of the visits. Aside from the attire. I was given a hospital gown, and these lovely foot coverings:

As bad as these things are, the dermatologist was inversely fantastic. She talked about every mark on my body, telling me the scientific name for each one, and finished with “that's normal” or “that's nothing to worry about”. Once in a while she'd say, “Have you always had this?” I'd say yes, and then she would move on. "Sunspot" Sunspot? I don't tan, so how could there be a sunspot on my back? I got slightly alarmed. 

Apparently, your skin remembers every single time it's been in the sun. Wow. Well, at least my skin's memory is intact. She also asked me if I had any concerns, and I told her I didn't, except for this new symptom I've developed. Itching. Phantom itching, or sometimes breaking out in hives.

What I call the phantom itching is actually called pruritus, which is a fancy word for “itching”. Itchiness, or pruritus, can be a symptom of MS. Much like the “is it raining, or is it my MS”, now it's “am I allergic to something, or just experiencing an MS symptom”.

Anyway, back to her answer, she said if an antihistamine helps, go ahead and use it. I said that it's worse at night, so I take a Benadryl, and that puts me to sleep. I'm not sure if it's stopping the itching, or just knocking me out.

I have a very high tolerance to most medicine. I metabolize medicine very quickly. I build up a tolerance to medicine very quickly. Having said all that, after all these years, one Benadryl is usually all it takes to knock me out.

Back to the dermatologist. After my exam, she sat and chatted with me for a minute, asking me how long I've had MS, what I hope to get from this medicine, and what are the potential side effects from this medicine. I thought that was a nice touch, because it was totally unnecessary.

I realized as I was answering her, I really don't know what the possible side effects are. Well, I kind of do, because I had to read the owner's manual before entering into the study, but I tried hard not to remember them. I forgot most of them, so, yay! Maybe it's me being Pollyanna (shocker there), but I don't believe I'll be a statistical anomaly. Most of the side effects are normal; headache, body aches, stuff like that. I'm hoping I'll be able to take the medicine at night to minimize experiencing the side effects.

So, my friends, this was the last hoop, the last hurdle, the straightaway before the finish line, the finale before the encore. Next week will end this journey, but begin a new one.

Insert your favorite cliche, and we'll use that, too.

But don't worry (or celebrate); you're not rid of me yet. I'll keep writing as long as my fingers can travel a keyboard.