Farch, the gods are howling

Jack Deatherage

(3/2020) I can't say hearing the gods howl with laughter as I wrote about finally having a fixed date with a tattooer was unexpected. Given my gods' odd sense of humor (not unlike my own) I knew as I composed the plan for public consumption circumstances would change almost instantly. And poof! The laughter began.

Two Octobers ago I had a small patch of some rash break out above an ankle where one of the dogs had licked me. (Yes, the DW had told me not to let the dog do that. And yes, I ignored her. So doom on me.) At first I thought I'd gotten ringworm and treated it as such with over-the-counter (OTC) meds. Eventually, I used the Internet to learn it was eczema and treated it with some generic lotion, though warming weather probably had more to do with the rash going away than anything I did.

Come last October, the eczema reappeared in the same place, but also cropped up on the backs of both hands, the back of my neck and partly across the tops of both shoulders. By the time I was entering panic mode I'd already done a number of things to make matters worse! The biggest mistake was clawing at the tiny blisters in vain attempts to relieve the insane itching!

Driven to search Google for some clue as to what was happening to me (my doctor's office was closed, not that I'd have gone there anyhow for something non-life threatening) I learned that dog slobber (the article used the word "saliva") is a trigger for the allergic reaction that can afflict those who dealt with hay fever and asthma in their childhoods. That would be me.

I also learned that the medical profession is fairly useless when it comes to treating the various types of eczema. Yes there are at least five types, each having different appearances and blah blah blah. One website explained how the body reacts to an allergen- dog slobber -and produces some irritant I've long since forgotten the name of. Scratching releases the irritant back into the skin causing the body to react with more blisters and itching. Basically, eczema becomes self-perpetuating!

Gods! The irritants I had released with the mad clawing of my hide! And the dogs were still getting in an occasional lick. Then I found that my favorite shower soap had also become a trigger- causing the red and swollen skin to feel as if hot pins were being pricked into it. And chocolate! Well, I can live without chocolate.

As I dove deeper into eczema support groups and medical websites I realized there was little the medical profession was going to do to help me so I went OTC and home remedies, which is my usual path when something ails me anyhow. My only real concern was the chance of infection, which cropped up almost immediately after reading about the possibility. (The laughing gods never seem to grow weary.)

To avoid scratching the blisters, one severely afflicted sufferer had found running the hottest water he could stand over his skin helped. I took to doing that and nearly collapsed from the painful relief of the godawful itch as hands and legs trembled until I switched off to cold water. Swollen and bright red, the skin would get a slathering of whatever ointment or lotion I was experimenting with that week. Then on went the white cotton gloves and over them nitrile gloves Tattoo Don- pillar of the community had given me so I could cook, build bread and wash dishes without worrying about the infected blisters.

Having identified several triggers, I avoided them where possible and where I couldn't I got ahead of the reaction to the point that by December the worst of the original outbreak was under control and even retreating. By Xmas I was just keeping the skin from drying out with regular skincare lotions. Come mid-January I hadn't had a new blister in weeks and rarely felt the need to scratch, though the original rash on my leg was turning a new phase that had me considering a steroid ointment.

Two things had kept that ointment out of my sight throughout the adventure to that point. (Yes, I consider all this an adventure. Hell, I'm 65 years old and generally napping to stave off boredom. Ain't nothing boring about a fresh outbreak of eczema!) So, first, the ointment is prescription. I don't do prescriptions short of saving my life and not often then. Second, the advice I was following- that was actually working for me- highly recommended not using steroids because over time they stop working and the rashes come back with a vengeance, and they will come back! They are then so much harder to deal with without the steroid! Wimp that I am, I'd rather deal with the devil I know than chance dealing with a bigger demon!

Then Journeyman Tattooer Rae presents me with the design she wants to work into my aging hide. Cool. I'm down with the image, and finally able to discharge my promise to let her practice on me. And then I get to playing with the Rott and eczema breaks out close to where Rae wants to place the tattoo. Of course the skin had been clear there through all the adventure.

I informed Don of the new outbreak and that I'd go to the steroid ointment to see if that works as well as I've heard it could. And it does! Scary how quickly the rash subsided and the itching went away. (Now I'm worrying about the blow-back, but at least I can sit for Rae's pricking!) But Don says I'm not getting tattooed until warmer weather and the rashes are gone.

With a sigh, I go back to the Google and do some more researching. What I find does not please me. The pricking of tattoo pins can trigger an outbreak, though it's unlikely if the rash isn't active. However, the inks are another story. They might be triggers for my particular eczema, or they might not. If I were tattooed when scheduled, I'd not worry about being triggered as I've been down that road so many times this winter I barely think about it now. A new outbreak is just a "meh" and life goes on. But to get clean skin and be months away from the insane desire to scratch?

Twas an honest offer of practice hide, but Rae is way beyond needing me to practice on. Once I've gotten clean skin, I don't know that I'll deliberately put myself at risk again. Unless Rae can convince me my sitting for her would be of actual benefit to her, I'll have to figure out some other way of supporting her along the path to whatever arete in tattooing she might be seeking.

In the meantime, I've the Emmitsburg Youth Garden to organize and an Emmitsburg Community Garden project to prepare for. Oh, and a March bread lecture at the library to work out before the presentation date - March 28th from 10:30 a.m. to noonish.

The warm season approaches! As usual, I'm far behind.