When my face is this sore I find it hard to look in the mirror

I am at home sick today.

Not throwing up or coughing or suffering from period pain.

When I am sick, it usually means my skin hurts. Most of the times my skin hurts, I go to work or uni, and if it's sore on the weekend, I stay rested. I'd say my skin is sore 70% of the time, and for most of it, I've just got to keep going, because I don't really want to stop.

But today my face is sore. It probably doesn't look that different, but I can feel it is.

The right side of my face has become infected. It is a bit wet, a bit hot, very tingly, and I don't much like looking in the mirror or looking at people as it's probably yellowish.

Sometimes I wish my illness was more predictable. I've been feeling a bit sore in the body since Saturday, but have been taking antibiotics to alleviate the pain. My face has not been sore at all.

But today when I woke up, it was weepy and stuck to the pillow and very sore to wash.

Last night I was pretty tired, and my face was a bit too...smooth I guess is the word, probably signs that my skin may be on its way to being sore. Even though there were these small signs, there's nothing I can do to control it - it would either be sore or not sore today.

Sometimes I really hate it that when my skin is sore, my mind still functions 100% and I can still think, write (hence this blog), read, and I actually want to do things.

This is probably a bit too much information. But as I've said before, I'm going to be honest with you. And it's so hard to explain to people how it feels, or why I can be well one day and not well the next.

I should be and want to be alright tomorrow. I've had a massive sleep in the middle of the day today, changed my bedding, and taken panadol for pain, antibiotics for infection and zyrtec for allergies. That's all I can do really.

A little over a year ago, I had a really serious bout of infection on my face. It started at the Bob Evans concert at the Toff in Town. I could feel it burning and the infection spreading while the heat from the stage lights shone down on me. I was in lots of pain when I got home. I tried my best to sleep but it was too tingly and burning to sleep. I went to work in the morning, and went home in tears about 30 minutes later. It was the sorest it had been in ages (it's not often my face is sore, usually my legs get sore, then the rest of my body). I was due to go to see Bob Evans at the Northcote Social Club that night but I had to forfeit. The first time I've ever missed out on a band due to my skin. It took another day to heal and for the next few weeks it was sore on and off, eventually leading to a week long hospital trip just before Christmas.

In hospital I had my face bandaged like a mummy. Chux cloths soaked in saline and placed on my face four times a day.

It helped get my face better, but being in hospital takes so much out of me that it took the whole 10 - 12 day Christmas break to recover. A trip to hospital can certainly rid the initial infection, but lying in that plastic bed, having a drip attached to my wrist (or where ever they can find a vein - just typing this makes me squirm) and not being in my regular routine can make my whole body/skin weak and I may end up sicker than when went in.

Here I am last hospital trip looking like a mummy. As the nurse was doing the dressings, I made it more 'fun' by taking photos of the process with my phone.





These photos make me smile and a bit sad at the same time. I guess the reality of it is hard for me and others to take in.

Fortunately today's sore face will probably (I just can't predict) won't make me end up in hospital. I will continue to rest up and tonight I will have a bleach bath.

Tomorrow should be less painful and I'll be back to looking in the mirror and at other people :)