My first AWESOME skin day since starting TSW!!

By far without a doubt, today was my first awesome skin day since stopping the topical steroids!!!  5 months of a near continuous flare with only a few days of a mild break have worn me down!  Yesterday I noticed the redness and swelling were down - still itchy though.  It was similar to the few days of a mild break I get after each period.  Then today I woke to my skin feeling slightly tight and very dry, but great overall!  Behind my knees were still painful, and so were my wrists (inside of my left wrist is still bad as I only put the emu oil on the top of the hand/wrist, not the inside).  My skin felt so amazing I even took a shower!!  It was refreshing and wonderful!  Only problem is I cannot seem to wake up!  I slept til 11 am and forced myself to get up.  Ran a few errands (the kids need to eat on a daily basis so going to the store twice a week is a requirement!).  Came home and fell asleep for 2 hours!  I woke up at 7pm and barely had the energy to make pasta for dinner (another cheat meal).  If there was a pizza place that delivered here out in the country, it would have been a pizza night!  Now I just have to find the energy to do the dishes!  But for now I will take the fatigue if it means better skin!  Another great thing - over 24 hours with no ice pack!!!  I slept my first night with no ice around my neck!!  I have to prepare mentally for my flare to resume in a day or so - it would be nice if I got a nice long break from this, but I have learned to expect the worst and hope for the best.  It helps keep me sane.  So for now I am enjoying this reprieve and am anticipating my flare to return tomorrow.

Left arm is feeling great!!!

Right arm still agitated in the elbow area, but not bad at all.

Right wrist/hand still painful

The inside of my left wrist is pretty painful still - can't spray the emu oil on such broken skin or it burns really bad - top of the hand still looks much better and still using the emu oil there.  

Behind right knee is so much better - still painful and agitated, but able to move with some vaseline.  Swelling is way down. 

Face and neck much better - no more oozing on chin or upper lip.  Still dry and have some weird dimpled red spot there on my cheek - but otherwise much better!

Right side of neck has a few problems, but nothing that a little vaseline doesn't fix!  A little upset about the recent hair loss - tons and tons of hair all of a sudden coming out the past week - washed my hair today in the shower (and not the sink like I typically have to do) and the hair clogged the drain.  It's also more dry than normal.  Just going through stages I guess.  I lost a severe amount of hair during my first TSW - my hairline was significantly more bare than in this picture.  Hopefully it does not get that bad again!