The Mystery Revealed

As soon as I begin to taper from the steroids that my primary doctor prescribed, the condition seems to get worse. At this point my face is still in bad shape, my arms are extremely red and raw and the skin on my palms continues to thicken and crack making doing any task with my hands painful. The affected areas of my body is still primarily above the waist, although I am seeing some spots on my upper legs. I am finding it difficult to make it through any day without a rest period. I am however still going to work every day and when I get home my energy is completely zapped. The second week of June I finally have my appointment with a local dermatology clinic, Spring Dermatology, and the thought is that this is still potentially a bad reaction to something. I receive shots of steroids this time and another dose pack of steroids to take over the next week and some topical steroids to use. The dermatologist tells me that if I feel feverish or it begins to spread more to go to the emergency room. Over the weekend it does continue to spread more to my torso and legs and now on my feet. I follow the doctor's instructions and go to the ER because of this and I just don't feel "right". I get to the ER and the intake folks are like "whoa let's get you in here ASAP. Just as a note as to how different and rare this condition is, the ER doc said that in 25 years he has never seen anything like this, especially the way that this was creeping from the soles of my feet up towards my ankles. I was given I.V. steroids and sent home. Because I ended up in the ER the dermatologist wants to see me in the office the next day and take a biopsy of the skin in the forearm that this first started. The biopsy is taken and sent to the lab for analysis, by this point she has not mentioned PRP to me but she did specifically request a PRP analysis be done. I anxiously await the results of the biopsy for a week. I have bowed out of going to work and I am taking sick time because I am too tired to make it through a day, and I am freezing constantly. The biopsy results come back and she gives me the news that this is PRP, what it is and how it is treated, that the type I have does go into remission. And that she can not treat me because of the drugs that are used to treat the condition. I must either go to UT or Baylor down in Houston. I go home saddened by the news but grateful that this will likely get better. I am posting shots of how my hands and feet look at this stage of the progression.