Quick Update

It's late, and I should be going to bed. Tomorrow I have to go to town and buy the food for our Branch Christmas dinner. Last year they had about 40 people attend. Tonight I called around and got RSVPs from seventy-five with another twenty in the "maybe" category. I should also note that our branch has shrunk in size lately, so this is very good news. However, I'm stressed since I've never cooked for a hundred people before, but interestingly enough, I've always had it in my head that we should plan for a hundred.

So, I will blog on Thursday to let you know how the dinner goes, but I wanted to tell you all that the rash is fading. I'm looking less like a red and white Dalmatian. It is gone from my neck and face. I think I was blessed for going to church and bearing my testimony, because I left wearing a turtleneck with the rash all the way up my cheeks, and when I got home, it had faded down to my chest. My torso is considerably better. It was the most inflamed. My legs still have the rash pretty badly, but it's snowing, so no one is seeing my legs anyway. Last night I was able to fall asleep without scratching. The night before I was up until one simply because every time I laid down, I started itching so badly that I couldn't stand it. I have one more day on the medication. If the rash isn't gone, I'll have to call the doctor for a refill, so I'm really hoping that it will all clear up by tomorrow night.

Valine, about the "Spencer remedies"-- I had strep throat last year three times, and one nurse who saw me told me that one of the best natural remedies for strep was "mother" vinegar. I drank nearly an entire bottle over the course of the week, and still nothing cleared it. Nathan has had a chest cough for weeks, and he's started the vinegar method. It's working for him. I think homeopathic remedies work for some people and not for others. I'm one that they never seem to work on. This is the first antibiotic that I've ever had a reaction to, and when I lived in Mattawa I had a sinus infection that had to be treated with two consecutive courses of antibiotics because it was so bad that the normal stuff wouldn't work, so they had to break out the really powerful prescription. Mostly I think the doctor who gave me this was a moron, because the second doctor I saw said this reaction is common to that particular drug. Now I'll know to tell them I'm not taking that kind of drug EVER again.

Amy C- If you're reading, here's your answer about us living "out" of town. Actually, we don't live out of town. I live on one of the busiest streets in my little town. (About fifty cars pass my house everyday-- all going to the high school.) :) But our town is about 1100 strong, with one grocery store and one very small drug store. You can go to the doctor, fill a prescription and buy milk around here, but if I want to go to Costco and Target (my two essential stores) I have to drive either 50 miles over the mountains in one direction or 80 miles in the other direction. We shop both places depending on the weather, etc. We go to the dentist, the plastic surgeon, my OB, and any other specialist in the 80-mile town. Josie was born there, and there's a temple there, too. Generally speaking, I drive to the 50 mile town because Costco and Target are on the same exit right next to the highway. And, that's where I'm going tomorrow, even though it snowed today. (The freeway should be clear by morning.)