A dieting obstacle of an interesting kind

 

Life is sometimes like an Oberlin shop window that presents you with one strange thing after another.

As our home continued to battle sickness that began a few weeks ago, things were just starting to look better.

Max's congestion went down and his cough was fairly minimal.  Julia's sore throat was still present, but it seemed to be a little more bearable.  And my sinus infection had gone away, thanks to a generic form of Bactrim that I was taking.

The diet was still going well, getting my weight down to 165 (23 pounds, baby) and I was giving in to a little decadence...

 ...with pan-fried pork chops, brussel sprouts with balsamic glaze and dried cranberries, and some kale with cranberry beans.

I even had a fantastic lamb shank and leek bread pudding dish at the Black River Cafe in Oberlin.

But this past Monday, during my second to last day of the antibiotic, I woke up cold and tired with a headache, swollen eyes and swollen neck glands.  Around 10 am, I noticed a rash on my lower neck and shoulders.

I tried to schedule a doctor's appointment, but the best I could get was the next morning, so I waited it out a bit, starting to believe that maybe it wasn't an allergy since it didn't itch...

 ...and then the rash spread by 5 o'clock that evening.

With a slight shortness of breath and growing rash, Julia, Max and I went to the Drug Mart pharmacy and the pharmacist agreed that it was an allergy, to NOT continue my antibiotic and to go to the hospital if it got worse or my breathing got restricted.  He told me to take some Benadryl, which I did, and I hung out to the next morn.

The doctor's appointment involved a throat culture (she said it looked bad back there), chest X-rays (lung) and general exam.

I was given a Z-pack for the antibiotic and prednisone (steroid) for the rash and he told me to continue taking the Benadryl.

Hopefully, this takes care of things.

Unfortunately, I keep hearing nasty things about Prednisone, especially in terms of weight gain.  Will a 10 day's supply of the medicine sabotage 3 months' worth of careful eating?  

Or will I make it through unscathed...

...with with better looking skin?

 

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