curse of the hives

I've been in a Harry Potter induced seclusion for the last several days.

Thanks to all who have offered sympathies for my mono scare. Fortunately, it was a false alarm. If you are wondering why I even jumped to that assumption, I must take you back to February 2004. I went in to InstaCare for a bad sore throat and was put on amoxicillin, the standard 3 pills a day for 10 days. On the ninth day of treatment I broke out in head to toe hives. I'm not exagerating either, they were EVERYWHERE. If it wasn't so miserable it would have been funny. I went back in to InstaCare and although I had never had problems in the past, it was decided that I was allergic to amoxicillin. I stopped taking it, went home with 2 new prescriptions to help with the hives and itching, and after several days began to feel better. I had a couple days where things seemed good, then I felt like I was getting an ear infection. I assumed that because I had stopped the treatment early that the bacteria has survived to fight another day. So, I went back in. My ears were not infected, but they were killing me, I even had them flushed out to be sure that we were getting a clear look inside. Nothing. After several trips in and out of my room, the doctor returned to inform me that she thought I didn't have strep or an ear infection, but mono instead. It was the last thing I expected. Apparently if you have an active case of mono while you are taking amoxicillin, the combined result is a horrible, itchy rash! After performing blood tests, her suspicions were confirmed. Fast forward to last Thursday night, when I start to feel itchy on my ninth day of amoxicillin and you can see why I got nervous. So, I finally get in to the doctor around 4:00 on Friday, they do a test and I'm cleared of mono, so they decided that I must be allergic to amoxicillin. They sent me home and I started taking Benadryl, which helped a TON but made me really sleepy. Funny thing is that I'm pretty sure I had several hefty doses of pennicillin in the hospital while in labor with Grace because of Group B Strep, and nothing happened. Supposedly I would be allergic to both. Then, on Saturday Derrick had a couple bouts with hives on his arms so I have NO idea what is really going on at this point. At least Derrick gave us a good laugh during Sacrament meeting on Sunday when we heard him snoring while sleeping sitting up. I had given him some Benadryl that morning!

On to Harry Potter. Jon went out and got it on Saturday morning for us. I finished reading around 5:00 PM today. My house has been neglected for the last couple of days, but I decided that I just needed to push through and finish the book so I wouldn't be distracted any longer! For those who haven't yet joined in the craze, you really should. I'm proud to say that I'm one of those who was in it pretty much from the start. Some of those who made fun of me back then are now more obsessed than I! No spoilers here, though. Some surprises, and some suspicions confirmed is all I can say. What I haven't decided is when I'll let my kids start reading them. They're definitely too young now, and probably for several years to come.

For those who have curiosity about my digital scrapbooking layouts, I've made a link list on the right now that will take you to some of the sites that I have found useful as I've started this new adventure. My software of choice is Adobe Photoshop Elements, although I have yet to purchase it because I have been checking out trial versions of several programs first. Photoshop Elements seems to be one of the more widely used programs, although I also liked ACDSee Photo Editor. I'm going with Elements mainly because Photo Editor has a glitch with changing text colors if you happen to have a dual core processor, which I do. Plus, Elements seems to have a lot of tutorials out there to help you learn how to use it. Anyways, I'm linking my favorite sites for info and supplies, both to buy and for free. I'm by no means an expert, but am happy to answer any questions on what I've learned!