Day 26

Well last night never really ended up with a good night's rest, and I pretty much was up all night long. About an hour or so after going to bed my arms became very itchy and I couldn't help but want to scratch them. Then my neck, ears and scalp became itchy....then my legs....then my back and core. It was horrendous. I was unbelievably itchy and uncomfortable and could not sleep through it. I thought there were bugs or something crawling in my bed that just gave me more anxiety. I got up and tried brushing off and cleaning my bed but nothing was on the sheets. Then I tried applying lotion all over my body to help soothe my skin and stop the itching. No such luck. So I went into the bathroom and started washing my arms first before going crazy and dumping water all over myself to stop the itching. I didn't even see anything on my skin. It was driving me crazy, and after I would scratch the area the itching sensation would turn into a burning sensation. That didn't last long before it started all over again and I was unbearably itchy. So I spent the entire sleepless night freaking out that I now had scabies or something, and checking to see if I had any track marks or burrowing in the web space of my fingers. I didn't. I couldn't wait until morning. I wanted to ask Dr. Schuster or Sean or someone what they thought it was and what I should do, but I didn't want to wake anyone up, so I waited. Around 5:45-6am I had enough. My body was covered in non-erthematous wheal and flare rash and luckily when I went out my door I saw that Dr. Schuster was sitting outside on the porch. I came up to him and showed him my issue, nervous as hell as to what this may be. He said it was classic urticaria (hives) that must have come from a food allergy. I've never had an allergy like this in my life, but now I suppose I really do need to get allergy tested when I go back to the states. There are far to many things that I have reactions too. None quite as bad as this one though. The rash proceeded to get redder and redder, as the mountainous welt-like presentation began to flatten out and just look blanching, patchy and erythematous all over my body sparing my face. I immediately took Benadryl which I got from Celine (luckily she was awake) and Sean gave me another dose once he saw my freakish state. The irony of all this is how I actually brought Benadryl with me but donated it to the clinic because I never really use it or thought I would need it for myself. FOOLED AGAIN!

I really couldn't deal with the itching, and sitting around thinking about it as making it worse so I decided to go for a run to keep my mind off of it which it did. The run felt great, and it was much needed. When I got back to clinic around 7:30 I joined everyone else in the dining room and hesitantly ate a 1/4 piece of toast and a banana for breakfast. Now I'm just scared to eat a lot of things, because I really have no idea where this came from. We haven't had any different foods in the last few days, nothing out of the ordinary from what we have been eating all along. Sometimes however your body can develop an immune response againt a food you have had multiple times out of the blue, and I'm afraid this may have happened. Oh lord please don't let it be mangos or any other fruit. Clearly this has been one eventful last week in the Philippines. Other then my health issues, everything else has been great.

The Benadryl started to kick in. I am very hypersensitive to the drug and get incredibly drowsy and loopy feeling when I take it. But I managed to take a shower, throw on my scrubs and go to clinic for our last day seeing patients. Dr. Schuster was surprised that I even came, but as you can see I am not one to give into an illness or problem. Daniella and I ran a student room. There weren't many patients today, just more follow ups and wound care. We saw two children that came in for cough and cold symptoms. The older child, a girl, also had GERD-like symptoms and the young boy was getting frequent headaches. They were good cases to end with. We also had a young teenage boy come in with a gun shot to the back at the upper to mid-thoracic level. We sent him for an x-ray that showed the bullet going straight into his chest, just barely missing his heart and aorta. I want to say that he dodged a bullet with that one, but the phrasing isn't quite appropriate here. He was very lucky. However we couldn't go in and do surgery to take it out with the means we had, and it would be better left then have us dig around in there. He'll need further treatment if not surgery at the hospital.

My rash that covered most of my body was quite a hot topic for everyone to ask me about. I hate attention but it was understandable. I look like a leper. On top of all this I couldn't believe I even managed to get through work today. The Benadryll was giving me such a high on top of making me incredibly tired. My last day at clinic was an out of body experience. It was bittersweet ending today. It has been such an incredible experience, and I would love to come back one day.

When I got back from clinic to the dorms, the children were around and bombarded me with hugs. I wish I had energy, instead of just wanting to pass out. I played with them for a little while before going in my room to change and lie on my bed. That lying on my bed turned into passing out and missing lunch. I was ok with that and I think everyone knew that I really needed to rest so it was nice of them not to wake me up. I woke up 90 minutes later when everyone was getting ready to go to Sorsogon. We went into the city to pick up a few items at the store, check email, pay bills and get some errands done. I bought some crackers because I need to just stick to a bland diet and that sounded perfect to me.

When we got back home I managed to make myself do insanity. All the little girls came and joined in on my workout which was absolutely adorable. Before working out we played with one of the Filipina's baby who was just the cutest little thing. All the girls were in love. on another note my rash on my arms looks better but my legs are still a mess and swollen. At dinner there was a star fruit that I've never had but had to pass up as I watched everyone enjoy it. No food is worth this allergy....except maybe pinkberry. We discussed what could have been the problem that caused my allergy and I think we figured it out! The cipro I started taking Wednesday for my travelers diarrhea and horrendous sickness I have never had before. So we're all thinking this is most likely a drug induced allergic reaction. No more cipro for me. Kinda funny that the medicine I used to cure one thing started a whole new problem. And this is why I love medicine ladies and gentleman, because nothing is clear cut and no two people are the same. It's a black hole of mystery Ill spend he rest of my life trying to learn and understand. 

Tonight is a girl's night (with Sean and Dan of course). We all went through our love lives yesterday with one another so continuing down that genre of conversation is a must...with wine, and videoke in the mix.

My sweet allergic reaction

Last clinic day

Bicol family 

Sean and I kicking back 

My Princess

Standing in the door to the OR

The welcoming from the kids

My girl Alana

Kids doing insanity 

The baby