Oy.

It's been a hell of a month. A coworker, who I had known for 11 years died. I am sick about it. She battled breast cancer for 10 years and then it spread to her brain. She left behind two beautiful daughters; one in high school and the other in college. I am so sick of breast cancer taking away my friends. There seems to be no end in sight.

In terms of the gluten free diet. Well, ummm, hmmmm.... I haven't been as vigilant as I started out. And I feel like crap. My hands are swollen. My face has broken out and I have rosacea. A couple of weeks ago my skin was clear and really nice. I had a lot of gluten, sugar and dairy this weekend and it feels like I swallowed razor blades. I got the message loud and clear. Time to go nuts with unprocessed foods. This week is a tough schedule, but I think I can do it.

Tonight Trinks came into the room and showed me her belly. She has erythema multiforme. LOVELY. I've had it at least 4 times and only learned the last time what works. I gave her coconut oil to rub on the hives and some benadryl. I know vitamin C worked for me, as well as a few other supplements. We'll try more things tomorrow. I made her put on a tank top, put her hair up and drop her comforter. Hopefully keeping cool will help contain the rash. Tomorrow morning we'll evaluate and see where we need to go with it. The dr. can't do anything for it - steroids don't work and there's really nothing else to do for it. I just need to monitor the symptoms to make sure it doesn't turn into Stevens Johnson syndrome. It's a very rare possibility, but I am prepped with the symptoms. I am itching as well, so I really think this is food related. Trinks and I will discuss possible delayed food reactions. Wiki points to benzoates - yes - go check your cabinet. See how many boxes have a benzoate as a preservative. It can also be caused by fungus, and since I am on the FUPO wagon (Fungus Until Proven Otherwise), I tend to believe this one. We'll see what tomorrow brings.