Am I healing?????? (cautiously optimistic update)

I'm very hesitant to blog about taking a turn for the better. 

Why you ask? Well, the pessimist in me (and that's most of me) thinks I'll just take a turn for the worst the next day. 

But since I've given it a couple days and I seem to be in one trajectory, seems like a good time for an update.

Everything is better! (*applause*)

Sleep: getting 6-8 hours of continuous sleep(!!! time to throw a parade!!!). With the help of Vicodin and Advil every night, I'm able to stay asleep once I've fallen asleep. Though I still feel fatigued by late afternoon, my mental state has been much better since I've been able to catch my sleep. This is a huge coup since at the beginning I could barely even stay asleep for 2-3 hours. I'm able to go to work on time! Amazing.

Skin color/texture: In general, only pink at max! The swelling and elephant skin has thinned out a lot. Right now, I wake up with skin-colored skin. After my shower, I'm pink again because I do the majority of my scratching and skin shedding there which leads me to....

Flakes: A LOT finer. In the midst of my flare, I was shedding a ton of skin each shower and every time I took my shirt off, I could make a substantial pile more. The flakes were also quite large and visible. Now, I am shedding less and the flakes are much smaller. It seems like my skin is staying on for longer which seems like a good sign. 

Itching: Still gets pretty intense on my chest and elbow creases, especially if I start scratching. It's still a struggle recovering from an "itch trance" but amazingly, my skin doesn't rip open. Well, maybe after 30 minutes it does but I definitely have way less gashes all over. 

General notes about localization: None of the spots seem to be shrinking. Still have it all over my torso to face, inner thighs and behind the knees. Right now, my knees seem the most behind but they also started the latest. 

Ok, maybe not everything is better. My eye did swell up and was sore starting Friday, looked pretty freaky over the weekend but today it is almost gone. I feel a bit like the hunchback of Notre Dame with my busted eye and hunched over posture. I wonder if my body is just weaker against infection and so a small eye infection can catch on quick. 

I did change a few things in my routine just before my turn around but I don't know if they are what helped this improvement. I'm pretty happy with my current routine as my skin stays relatively comfortable throughout the day. I will do a blog post on this next because I think it deserves a separate one. 

It's definitely a good day and though another flare may be around the corner, I will celebrate today as a good day and a step toward healthier skin!