Couldn't I Just Sparkle or Something?
Back home again. We flew in last night, but I got up early today to go to the doctor. See, every year in Cincinnati I have trouble with my skin. After a couple days in the heat and sun, I develop this inflamed, ichy, painful rash on my arms, feet, and sometimes my chest. Several years ago, one of the on-site medics told me it was prickly heat, probably caused by layers of sunscreen combined with the high heat, and everything I found in my own research supported that. Since then I've found ways to minimize it, but never completely avoid it.
This year it was really bad. It spread to my hands, and two of my fingers on one hand and my thumb on the other swelled up. That was when I started to think maybe it wasn't prickly heat after all. Because clean skin shouldn't be affected, and I wash my hands a lot while I'm there. (So much so that there have been years I've come back pale except for my mummified hands, because I repeatedly washed all the sunscreen off them.) So while I was still in Cincinnati, I called and made an appointment.
My skin had calmed down quite a lot by this morning, but I'd only been talking to my doctor for about five minutes before she left and brought back a photo. It looked exactly like my arms a few days ago. Only it wasn't prickly heat. It was Polymorphus Light Eruption, or PMLE. Basically, some compound in the skin is altered by ultraviolet radiation and immune system kicks in unnecessarily to fight it, causing an inflamed, ichy, painful rash.
So, I am allergic to the sun. Also, there is no proven preventative treatment aside from simply staying out of the sun. Sunscreens do nothing to prevent PMLE, which I already knew, because I've been slathering myself in them for years with no affect.
Why couldn't I have fallen in love with a nice indoor sport, like hockey, or basketball? Why did it have to be tennis, played largely outdoors in warm climates? Thankfully, my doctor knew better than to suggest that I stop going to the tournament. She just suggested that I get in touch with her a few months in advance next year so we can strategize.
Sometimes, the universe thinks it's funnier than it actually is.