the skinny on skin (health)
i had to go to the emergency room the other day. i don't just hang out in brazil most of the time but spend a lot of time traveling because of my "homelessness". for example, every year i spend about a month with my best friend in connecticut, and her two young children and husband. we always take a road trip down to washington d.c. as well, to see some of the rest of her family, whom i have know for years, and friends of mine from when i had lived there.
i had to go to the emergency room because i didn't want to try to wait until i got back to san francisco (my home base in the u.s.) to see my regular doctor. my skin is always doing weird things. the second to the last time i went to rio, for example, within days i had an itchy rash all over my penis. i was watching a movie with my boyfriend and remember feeling a little bit of an itch. well, the next day my penis was covered with red bumps that looked like bug bites or something. i hadn't done anything sexually that might have caused them. they just appeared out of nowhere.
the last time i went down there, shortly after i arrived i discovered a patch of what looked like fungus (ringworm, athlete's foot, jock itch kind of thing) on my back close to my shoulder. i used an anti-fungal creme and it cleared up over time. again, i hadn't done anything differently and there was no explanation for why it suddenly appeared.
this time i'm back in the states, and within a week of my arrival - i came straight to the east coast this time - i had a slight rash appear on the insides of my forearms. then i saw it on the outsides of both of my hips. could it be the weather, which is a drastic change from rio, of course? then a few bumps appeared in the middle of my chest, much more pronounced and this time itching (the rash on my arms and hips wasn't itchy at all). a few days later i was feeling an itch on my side and looked in the mirror to see the same kind of bumps there. on my chest it slowly was getting worse, too, and then i developed a sore throat but with hardly any congestion, just a very dry, scratchy feeling in my throat and swollen lymph nodes. i decided i had better not take a chance and try to wait until i got to san fran, and the only option was the urgent care clinic or emergency room at a local hospital.
yale-new haven hospital wouldn't see me in the urgent care clinic without a referral from a physician. how ridiculous is that? i mean, what's the point of an urgent care clinic if you need an referral? you could just call your physician in that case; they usually can get someone in at the last minute, or find a way to get them treated without sending them to some urgent care clinic. i ended up having to go to rhode island hospital in providence, where i was seen with no problem.
as usual, they didn't really have any idea what it is - just another hiv-related (or not) medical mystery. so they take a stab in the dark and give me some medications to take in the meantime. the first couple of days it didn't seem to be clearing up, but thankfully, today the rash is finally diminishing even though my throat is worse today than yesterday. we'll see how it is in a few more days. maybe i'll have to go to the hospital while we're in d.c. this coming week. i could do a travel column on the state of our hospitals and emergency medical services around the country, couldn't i? maybe that would be a way to put some more money in my pocket!
i had to go to the emergency room because i didn't want to try to wait until i got back to san francisco (my home base in the u.s.) to see my regular doctor. my skin is always doing weird things. the second to the last time i went to rio, for example, within days i had an itchy rash all over my penis. i was watching a movie with my boyfriend and remember feeling a little bit of an itch. well, the next day my penis was covered with red bumps that looked like bug bites or something. i hadn't done anything sexually that might have caused them. they just appeared out of nowhere.
the last time i went down there, shortly after i arrived i discovered a patch of what looked like fungus (ringworm, athlete's foot, jock itch kind of thing) on my back close to my shoulder. i used an anti-fungal creme and it cleared up over time. again, i hadn't done anything differently and there was no explanation for why it suddenly appeared.
this time i'm back in the states, and within a week of my arrival - i came straight to the east coast this time - i had a slight rash appear on the insides of my forearms. then i saw it on the outsides of both of my hips. could it be the weather, which is a drastic change from rio, of course? then a few bumps appeared in the middle of my chest, much more pronounced and this time itching (the rash on my arms and hips wasn't itchy at all). a few days later i was feeling an itch on my side and looked in the mirror to see the same kind of bumps there. on my chest it slowly was getting worse, too, and then i developed a sore throat but with hardly any congestion, just a very dry, scratchy feeling in my throat and swollen lymph nodes. i decided i had better not take a chance and try to wait until i got to san fran, and the only option was the urgent care clinic or emergency room at a local hospital.
yale-new haven hospital wouldn't see me in the urgent care clinic without a referral from a physician. how ridiculous is that? i mean, what's the point of an urgent care clinic if you need an referral? you could just call your physician in that case; they usually can get someone in at the last minute, or find a way to get them treated without sending them to some urgent care clinic. i ended up having to go to rhode island hospital in providence, where i was seen with no problem.
as usual, they didn't really have any idea what it is - just another hiv-related (or not) medical mystery. so they take a stab in the dark and give me some medications to take in the meantime. the first couple of days it didn't seem to be clearing up, but thankfully, today the rash is finally diminishing even though my throat is worse today than yesterday. we'll see how it is in a few more days. maybe i'll have to go to the hospital while we're in d.c. this coming week. i could do a travel column on the state of our hospitals and emergency medical services around the country, couldn't i? maybe that would be a way to put some more money in my pocket!
