Eggzema

I was setting about making breakfast for myself this morning when I went to crack an egg and it felt unusually heavy. After a few good pounds against the cutting board I was finally able to remove a thin shard of shell and peered inside. The egg had congealed in the oddest way, looking as if it had turned to ice-like mush. Before I allowed the nausea to come to my throat I quickly slipped the odd egg into a clear plastic baggy. I was about to toss it in the garbage when I thought I'd try to get one more look at the inside. All I could see were darker flecks of yellow yolk suspended like the insect in amber in Jurassic Park. I threw it away and called down to Joe in the basement.

"Hey, I just saw the oddest thing," I said.

"What?" he yelled back.

"It looked like a half-fertilized egg," I said, expecting to hear the usual "grooooss" reply.

"That's good. That's a sign of a good omen."

"A nasty egg is a good omen?"

"Yeah, anytime you crack open an unusual egg it's a sign that something good is coming."

I picked up a different egg, checking it's weight in my hand and when I recognized the normal movement, cracked it on the cutting board and let it drop in the hot pan. As it sizzled I thought about what Joe had said. I tried to imagine what good thing could possibly come my way. A few extra bucks in my paycheck? Maybe a promotion? While the ideas were tempting I decided not to be too rash with an assumption. And that's exactly what I got...a nice, itchy, blotchy rash.

Now this may be a little TMI for some and if you are squeamish about skin issues, well, you may want to skip till tomorrow's post. But since this blog is about my life and what the current goings-on are (and because I do so enjoy remembering I'm not alone), I thought I'd share.

I think I started to notice it a few days ago. I was changing and noticed three mosquito-bite looking bumps on my upper thigh. They itched like crazy and after scratching for a while they seemed to get bigger and the redness spread, connecting them. I chalked it up to just another bad bug bite and waited for them to go away. They didn't. In fact, it appears they are bringing friends.

The other day I noticed a small itchy bump on the side of that same leg. Again, it itched like hell, but I remembered that scratching can spread a rash so I tried to not indulge in the urge (though I won't lie and say it didn't feel good to use the harsh side of my loofah sponge for an extended period of time in the shower or when Georgia would jump up on my leg and run her nails down my side...whoa, did I just get weird? Oh well, we've all been there, right?).

I finally thought I'd mention it to Joe, just in case he was suffering too and we could get to the bottom of it. He said he didn't have anything like that, but if it spread that maybe I should think about going to the doctor. Sure enough, I woke up this morning and noticed a few new blotches on my stomach and back. It's starting to get ridiculous and I don't even know what to stop/start doing because I don't know what's causing it! I do have some medical coverage now, so it wouldn't be a big deal. But still, I knew a visit would still cost me more money than I currently hold, so I thought I'd do the next best thing.

Instead, I went on good ol' WebMD this afternoon to see if I could self diagnose. The problem is that I couldn't seem to find any symptoms that match mine COMPLETELY. For instance, they did appear unexpectedly, but they are only on the right side of my body. It could be poison ivy, but it's not on my lower legs, just the upper part.

I'm still not 100% sure what it is or what to do. I figure if I keep icing it and refrain from scratching it'll clear up on it's own, saving me both a trip to (and bill from) the doctor's office. Hopefully that's what the odd egg this morning was trying to tell me. But then again, I did trip on the stairs at work this morning and got nearly beaned in the head by a cicada, so what does an egg REALLY know...