Pages

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The rest of Easter

Firstly, may I just say how DISGUSTED I am about the BBC's decision to press the ABC to axe The Chaser's coverage of the impending royal wedding. Since Channel 7 is still allowed to air its wedding drivel and Dame Edna isn't being stopped, obviously the Palace is targetting this edict at REAL satire. Bugger, that was the only thing to look forward to about the event. I won't be watching any of it now, out of protest; actually not a hard task. I'm sure there will be much rehashing in print and other media.

I've been sulking today. My skin complaint is turning out to be much harder to treat than my doctor predicted... I've got scabies, you see. Horrible flesh-eating mites that have been burrowing under my skin for weeks without my knowing about it, and over the last week, since a proper diagnosis, have been itching like billy-o and have NOT been succumbing to the supposedly easy treatment prescribed to me.

All of you who have been in contact with me, don't panic. They're not as easy to catch as popular tales tell. We'd have to have been rubbing up & down each other nakedly at length to really transmit the buggers. Luckily Best Beloved and I have been so tired & cranky while moving house that he's going to have to be very unlucky to get them from me (although I am going to treat him tonight just in case).

And how did I get them? Best bet is from the possum that broke into the house just before we moved in, and I was unlucky enough to pick up a fresh mite in the move. It takes a few weeks for everything to reach an itching frenzy.

So EEEEERRRGGGGGGGGG. I was misdiagnosed for a while: told it was Athlete's Foot, then Dermatitis. The creams prescribed for both of those made my skin tough and brown, and then the scabies oil that I had to paint ALL OVER me (twice) just made everything go wild. So now I'm utterly miserable and about to try a new cream, as well as taking strong antihistamines to help with the itching. The soles of my feet are ragged and bloody. My hands are flaky slabs of ouch. It's not too publicly ugly, most of the yuck is under my clothes, but it's really painful.

Sorry, that was probably too much detail.

When I went to the Folk Festival I rugged up and wore gloves and didn't touch anyone. I got a few odd looks for picking up cups and plates with latex gloves on, but it was better than having things spilled on the ouchies.

I'm hoping this next treatment works tonight. If it does work, I'll be a happy duckie tomorrow. Tonight I'm grumpy. I've just reached the end of my capacity to be philosophical about it. All day I've been teary. I cried on the phone to the doctor, who was amazed that the first treatment didn't work. I almost lost it in the chemist when the girl behind the counter looked at what I was buying and said sympathetically, 'oh, they're really hard to get rid of'. And I tried not to cry when I ran into byrd and his little boys, but he could see I was trying really hard to hold it together. It's the itching, you see. Even when I've killed the greeblies, the itching will continue for a few weeks until everything sloughs off. It's driving me crazy and it's very hard to stay positive.

Sigh.

Anyhoo, I hear you say, shut up about the itchy shit and tell us what happened at the rest of the Folk Festival.

Well... I went back only for the evenings of the next two days, because I discovered that when I was moving around the studio fully occupied and happily making, I didn't itch. So I did lots of printing and playing with paper.

When I did get there, I watched these people play:



They were fantastic. They did a cover of 'Sweet Transvestite' from the Rocky Horror Picture Show that was FABULOUS, all slide guitar and sexiness. Noriko was in fishnets and a mini-kimono and moved like one of the women in Robert Palmer's 'Addicted to Love' video. Combined with George's accent, I haven't enjoyed Japanese-flavoured music so much since Shonen Knife.


I also, as you may see over on the right in my Twitter stream (I only twitter about five times a year, most of those during music concerts), went to see Don Walker's late show. He was doing one at a morning session, but I knew he'd do a better night show than day. He was introduced as 'Don Walker and the SF', and he started the gig all Jimmy Webb-ish, singing Khe Sanh accompanied only by his organ keyboard.

That was a clever move, getting the Cold Chisel fans off his back before launching into 45 minutes of NickCavesque grungy delta blues with a kick-ass band that he declared to be named, 'now that it's late and we're all adults', Don Walker and the Suave Fucks. Yee haw! It was a very male, very wry, very Aussie session.

That, and the divine mulled wine that is made by Troubadour Bar, and a group called the Sweet Lowdown that I only caught the last ten minutes of, and the company of Mummy Crit and her lovely little boy Eric who was so utterly obsessed with a 'Big Monster Raaaabbbbiit' that it's now firmly entered the lexicon of my extended family, was all for the Festival for 2011. I rode my bike home (past, bizarrely, a big dead rabbit on the road) and moodily sat in front of the telly with a huge chocolate rabbit to eat and itched.

I hope to report back tomorrow or the next day much more happily. Hopefully Bumblebee will get back after ten days with his father and will have missed all the boring itchiness.

I hope you all had a lovely Easter in your own beautiful ways.

Oh! And a big hello to Roslyn, who is too shy to delurk online, but had the courage to approach me in the bike lock-up of the festival and say lovely, lovely things to me. It was such a buzz, thank you.

10 comments:

ronnie said...

corr poor thing! our doggie brimmier has had mange caught from consorting with wombats...it didn't look like fun.... I suspect possum scabies is worse.... sending get well vibes...

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Oh, you poor thing! Hydrocortisone cream? Ego DermAid? B
est thing I've ever had for itchies, but even if you tried it you should probably check first that it wouldn't react badly with the other goop.

tc said...

oh, sorry about the itchies...I'm allergic to anything that bites me, and lots of things bite me, and it is absolutely misery-making. I hope you get some sleep, and I hope the day that you get to 2 in the afternoon and think, 'hey, I haven't itched for ages' is only around the corner. Lots of antihistamines...the ones that work do make your brain slow, but it's a fair trade off for a day or two

xx

wv sallow

Elephant's Child said...

Awful, awful, awful. One of my friends while teaching in Moree used to catch scabies several times each term and said it was living hell. I hope it clears v. v. fast.

Mindy said...

((((hugs)))) Hope you find something that works. If not, I suggest hugging your Dr until they come up with something else to try.

Ampersand Duck said...

TC: you poor thing, I feel for you from the bottom of my heart. I always know when I dare to complain, that there are people worse off than me, but sometimes venting helps more than suffering... I hope you have your ways of stopping the itch.

EC: Poor friend, I would change careers, or even towns if this were a regular occurrence. I've heard of teachers getting regular nits, but scabies! AAAAAAHHHHHHHH....

Mindy: you always have the BEST suggestions. I'm feeling hopeful this morning, no new sites after the cream.

Everyone else, thanks for the sympathy. It really helps.

GS said...

Glad the end is in sight for the itchies. Am with you with the disgust about the Palace muzzling the Chaser boys. That was the only coverage I was going to watch. Anyone else want to ban all things royal from now in protest?

Paper Chipmunk (aka Ellen) said...

I feel so bad for you! Personally, nothing makes me crazier than severe itching. Nothing.* If you are only breaking down in tears once in a while, I'd say you're being remarkably stoic. At least now they're treating you for the right thing! Agh! Relief will have to be coming soon. I will be beaming soothing dermatological thoughts for you from California. And hoping the possums keep away.

*Well...except maybe the royal wedding.

M-H said...

Poor Duckie! I had scabies once, as a young woman, probably from a sleepover at a friend's flat on an old mattress. It was caught fairly quickly, and I got over it in a week or so. It wasn't very widespread. It's so rare now, thank goodness, but I'm sorry it had to happen to you.

Cat Drawings said...

Poor Duckie.

I'm glad you got to do the Folk Festival thing nonetheless.

Hope it all clears up much faster than predicted.