High drama in the Fox's den

The Farmer's Market on Thursday did indeed turn into wishful thinking. By the time we were going to set off to go, we both had to admit we were too drained & unsettled, to be bothered to go. Instead we withdrew to bed for a further lie down.

When we got up an hour or two later we both felt refreshed. We enjoyed our turkey quiche dinner. During the evening, the Fox's tum rumbled along while I just suffered some wind. Had we finally got the better of the food poisoning?

Friday I got up refreshed - the first good night sleep all week. I felt myself again for the first time in quite a while. The Fox reckoned his problems were minor. With this I set off to the fish shop & bought some trout for dinner. Come the afternoon all was still going well. We went to the butcher's for some pork for today's dinner, then the Pub. That's when the problem began.

At about 4.30pm the back of my neck started to feel itchy. I scratched. I couldn't help thinking the label on my blouse seemed very hard & irritating. Then I realised my neck felt very rough as though I'd got a lot of spots there.

I didn't think anything more until my wrist felt itchy. I scratched, looked down to see what looked like the sort of blister you get when you've been stung by a nettle. I couldn't understand it. There were no nettles in the Pub.

Still, when the Fox suggested leaving early, about 4.45, I was happy to go. On the way to the car, I asked him to have a look at the back of the neck as it felt as though I was getting a rash. He looked & was alarmed by what he saw.

We set off home. He questioned whether we shouldn't see someone about it, especially as I was feeling more and more uncomfortable. We pulled in on a quiet side road. I took off my coat, cardigan & blouse, leaving just a scooped neck T-shirt on. He looked at my back. I looked at my front & arms. All were blistering. We decided to go straight to the surgery as it was till open.

There we were told it was impossible to see a doctor as there was a shortage. (Another casualty of the volcanic dust stopping returning holidaymakers we wondered.) However, she did suggest she could contact the triage department at another surgery in the practice. They would ring us at home. We agreed.

We hot-paced it home. I once more stripped off & had a more thorough examination of the blistering. By this time, it extended from my hairline to my waist on my back, neck to waist on my front, extensive blotches on both arms, & a few spots on my tum & thighs.

We waited anxiously. The receptionist had said it might take a couple of hours for triage to ring. We made a cup of tea while we waited.

But should we get on with dinner or not? If it was going to be two hours then this would be the best chance to eat. We got the oven on. The Fox prepared the trout, adding some sun-dried tomatoes & pine-nuts, while I sat by the phone.

5.30 The phone went. The doctor at triage. He asked the symptoms. I'd got as far as my back, was moving on to describe my front, when we told me to stop now & get straight down to the triage surgery immediately. I clearly needed to see a doctor.

The oven was switched off. The trout was still waiting some oil before going in the oven. And off we charged.

I quickly got in to see the doctor. He took one look. He was amazed by the time sequence. He was anxious that I might begin to blister inside my mouth & throat or have breathing difficulties. I assured him no. He clearly expected me to go into anaphylactic shock any minute. He gave me a long prescription & assured me not to hesitate to ring if the symptoms got any worse, especially if the inside of my mouth or my breathing were affected. The out-of-hours team would be straight round.

By this time, a couple of minutes after 6pm most of the chemists were closed. The receptionist told us the only late opening one was at Asda. As we more or less had to pass home, we decided to drop me home. I could get on with the meal, while the Fox got the prescription. The meal was due to take about 45 mins to cook, & Asda is only a few minutes away, so we should then eat at a reasonable time.

I was surprised when the Fox still wasn't back after half an hour. Should I put the fish in oven? And saute the potatoes? I decided to put the fish in at a lower temperature for less of a time. I put the spuds on a gentle heat.

7pm. No sign of the Fox. I switched the food off. No point in it going up in smoke. And the mobile phone was in my handbag on the kitchen floor rather than the Fox's pocket.

In his panic had the Fox had an accident? I began to wonder. He had been driving fast before, but not recklessly so. Where was he? Was the pharmacy in Asda closed so he'd had to go on elsewhere.

There I sat. I looked at my hands. The palm of one was now one big blister. The nettle sting on my wrist now reached up to my elbow. My thighs were big blisters as were my stomach & lower back. Should I be ringing back to the surgery? I gagged a bit & told myself to calm down & take a few deep breaths. My only breathing problems were the result of an increasing sense of panic.

The relief when I saw the car turn the corner, is indescribable. I hastily put the dinner back on to warm through again.

The Fox stumbled in. He, too, was in a state. He was worried about what state I would be in when he got back & whether the dinner would be a burnt frazzle. We'd been looking forward to our first real cooking effort since the food poisoning.

I tore open the antihistamines, quickly checked it was okay to have them with food, swallowed one. The creams could wait.

I served up the meal. The fish was delicious though the tomatoes were rather blackened. We even enjoyed a very welcome bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with it - we needed something to steady our nerves.

Over the meal the Fox told me he'd been told at Asda that he's have to wait a little as there were a few customers ahead of him. 45 mins later, he was still there, waiting. He'd been increasingly frustrated seeing some people come in, drop & even collect prescriptions as he waited, and waited. Eventually his name was called. They apologised for the wait but that was little consolation for him as he's been worrying about what state I would be in, not to mention the dinner, with no way of contacting me. If he'd have known it would take so long he would have popped home to let me know what was happening & could still have been back in time for the prescription to be ready.

By the time we'd finished the meal, the blisters had eased considerably. They no longer felt hot & itchy. Some had retreated as quickly as they had come.

After the dinner I got changed for bed & we put the first layer of steroid cream. The Fox was amazed to discover how much better my back was in just the hour or so since I'd had the pill. Many blisters had disappeared. The early ones remained so we coated them with steroid cream.

An hour later, a little before 10, I went to bed We put on some of the second lot of cream that I'd been given. By this time the blisters had all but disappeared except for a few areas of what looked like blotchy suntan.

I switched the lights off, exhausted by all this late night rushing around & drama.

I'm glad to say this morning you would not believe I had ever been in the state I was last night.

Now what do I do with 5 tubes of aqueous cream, one of steroid cream & a month's supply of extra strong antihistamines? I think the doctor was in as much a panic as we were. I don't think he'd ever seen a rash spread so violently & speedily before.

Still, here's hoping for a nice, quiet, undisturbed, meal of roast pork tonight. We've had enough ill-health for a while.

It's been a long week!