8.21.2010

Call me Dr. Cassel

It is hot! Stinking hot! And, to prove the point, my body decided to react to the heat in a way or manner which it has never done before. I have a heat rash - similar, in my opinion at least, to poison ivy although perhaps not quite as itchy. I bet you are wondering where my heat rash is on my body. Well, it happens to occur mostly in the folds of skin due to the friction. Also, anywhere clothing constantly rubs on your skin when it is hot and humid out. So, I have a large rash on both my arms, from my forearms, down past my elbow, up my triceps, stopping before my armpit. I have a patch down around my waist, from where my shorts were rubbing as well as in my groin area.

I consider myself a doctor thanks to the wonderful world of the internet. Popular sights such as WebMD make me feel as though I am a doctor and can diagnose my own symptoms. I could be completely wrong with my diagnosis, nevertheless, I still feel like a doctor and living in Korea, who knows how any meeting with a doctor would go. I did have my medical assistant check my diagnosis and do a bit of research on her own. She came to the same conclusion. As a result, I am sitting in the AC today with cotton clothes on and Aloe Vera spread on the rash. I learned this on a similar website under the "Treatment of Heat Rash" section.

Yesterday, I went to Itaewon, hopefully for the last time in at least a month, while Katrina was working. Yes, working for CDI, she had a Saturday workshop from 1 to 3:30 pm in Seoul. I went to Istanbul, our favorite place in Korea to get falafel. Unfortunately, we found out from the shop owner last week that this weekend would be his last weekend in business, after 6 years. Thankfully, last weekend, after I asked him, he divulged his falafel recipe and told us where we could get some chick peas. I made the trek up yesterday one last time to enjoy his delicious Middle-Eastern dish. We ended up chatting for about half an hour and he started off as an English teacher and has been traveling the world ever since - my type of guy. He also owns an Italian restaurant right across the street so Katrina and I might try that place at some point.

However, my trip ended in disaster as I came home to find this rash slowly growing on my arms and other parts of my body. Fortunately, thanks to the internet, Dr. Cassel and Dr. Heinz-Query were able to come up with a proper diagnosis and I took a tepid shower. Not as itchy today and I'm hoping it goes away shortly, preferably by tomorrow. No new news on the computer, I will let you know something by the middle of next week.

I started reading "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand. I read "Atlas Shrugged" by her and loved it. So far, so good. I have 6 days off for Chuseok, the Korean equivalent to Thanksgiving (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuseok). Not sure what I am going to do since Katrina will only get the Wednesday of that week off. I might go on vacation with my co-workers or relax for 6 straight days. That's all for now.

1 comment:

>96 said...

Was your rash heatrash? I just got home from Korea on 8/20 after spending close to three weeks there. I still have the rash that I developed on the third day there, which I thought was heatrash, but now home, in 70 degree temps, I am still as itchy as ever. No one can figure out what it is.