Congratulations to the winners of this week’s drawing for the CD He Came – The Gospel of Christmas by the Boggs Family Ministries. The five lucky winners are Candace Rivero, Steven Malcolm, Joyce Space, Bob Jae, and Sally Daniels. Stay tuned, a brand new drawing starts Wednesday!
If you are squeamish, I apologize in advance for this photograph. It’s not a pretty sight or a pleasant way to start the day. But I think showing it serves a purpose. In my younger days I spent a lot of time in the outdoors running rifle ranges in the Army, hunting, fishing, doing wildlife photography, hiking and such, and I never bothered to use sunscreen or to wear a wide brimmed hat. At best I usually wore a baseball cap.
The result has been a number of precancerous spots on my face and ears, and now I am undergoing treatment with Fluorouracil cream to prevent them from getting worse. The stuff has to be applied every night for 21 days, and today is day 10. Basically, it’s a chemical peel that takes away the old skin and (hopefully) the problem areas with it. As bad as it looks, it feels much worse, with terrible burning and itching. Right now I pretty much want to just rip my skin off. The good news is that they tell me I’ll be really pretty once it’s all over and since I’ve never been pretty before, I’m looking forward to it.
By its very nature our RV lifestyle involves a lot of time spent outdoors. Please, friends, protect yourself so you don’t find yourself where I am right now. Whenever you’re going to be outside, even if it’s just to hook up or unhook your campground utilities, or to throw some burgers on the grill, wear sunscreen and a hat that protects your skin from those harmful rays. Trust me, you don’t want to go through this if you can avoid it.
When we have not been at the hospital with Jim and Sharleen, I’ve been reviewing auditions from narrators for the audiobook version of Dog’s Run
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Thought For The Day – I’m still working on my 2013 goal of losing 30 pounds. As of today, I only have 40 more to go!
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Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Oh Nick, please be very careful visiting your sick friend when you are dealing with this. As a registered nurse (RN), I think you are running a very real risk of contracting MRSA. In fact, I am surprised they even let you past the lobby. The bacteria is out of control in many hospitals, which is a dirty little secret they don’t want the public to know about. Open lesions like you have or will soon have from the Fluorouracil treatment are prime entryways for the bacteria to enter your body. I know that you have had heart problems in the past and this could cause you very serious problems and even death. I don’t want to alarm you, but YES I do want to alarm you. It’s nothing to take lightly! I know you want to be with your friend and her husband and I salute you for that, but putting your health at risk is not going to help anybody. Please talk to your doctor about this.
Thanks for the warning about the picture. That beard was hideous.
Just kidding.
Nick
If its ,s any consolation thank god your not nudist
Thank you Nick for the warning. Although I really avoid being out in the sun now, I live in California which means it is pretty difficult. Also when I am out in my RV I am in the sun. In my teen years I swam a lot in the summer and early adult years spent a lot of weekends at Oklahoma lakes in the sun. I will do a better job of wearing sunscreen, sunglasses and a bigger hat.
Thank you Christine for warning Nick. I too worked in hospitals in two states and know about the seriousness of the MRSA bacteria. I will add another warning – be sure that you wash your hands frequently and keep them away from your face as much as you can. Bacteria on ATM pads, stair railings, counters, shopping carts and many other things are present at high levels.
Also, Nick, one of my younger cousins and an employer both had to undergo this treatment several years ago and I remember the look and the fact that they were both really uncomfortable during the treatment. Hopefully, the fact that the weather may be a bit on the cooler side lessens the irritation that might be caused by normal perspiration although I know it is really difficult to ignore the itching and pain.
At least you will be pretty for Miss Terry who I know loves you now too.
Nick, please take Ms Fowler warning very seriously MRSA is a very nasty bug and hospital will never admit it exists, please take even more precaution as long as you are doing the treatment and until all lesions are healed. The picture looks bad,but at least they caught it early and to me you still look handsome,
Hubby went through a similar situation. He looked blotchy all over his face. But it works by killing the precancerous cells and latter your facial skin will be as soft as a baby’s bottom. And we won’t go any farther than that.
[…] good friend and fellow author, Nick Russell, went through this a few years back so I had a rough idea what I might look like. I then made the […]