a journey (on my head): days 3 & 4

Sorry I didn't get to posting day 3 yesterday.  We have had a busy weekend with work on the house.

So here is day 3 and 4 all in one post!

Day 3:
I can tell it's really starting to break up and the scabs are breaking loose from my scalp.  I was able to comb quite a bit out of it however there is still quite a bit to go.

I've been wearing hats a lot lately because the meds are so oily so it looks as if I haven't washed my hair in weeks.. Kinda gross actually.
So here are the pics.

You can see all the little bits that are breaking up.

Still looks nasty and my hair is still mostly plastered to my scalp.  Because it is breaking up and not quite so attached to my scalp it has been harder to put a comb through it.  The pick/comb will end up under one of the scabs which is quite painful.  Still been loosing quite a bit of hair but I still have high hopes!

Below are the scabs that seem to be the hardest to break up.  I have large ones on each side of my head close to my temples.

Tonight we are going to make sure we soak them good with the overnight oil and hope that it helps break them up!


Day 4:
I let the overnight meds sit on my head a little bit longer than normal.  Mostly because I'm lazy and I stayed in bed really late because I was tired and sore from working on the house on Saturday.
I finally got up around 11am and took a shower using the T/Sal shampoo and after put the other oil on my head.  Gosh I hate that stuff..  again oily hair = gross.   I miss being able to do my hair and not feel like I need to wear a hat to cover it up!

But later in the day I was feeling around and i could tell that those scabs by my temples had loosened up and were no longer attached to my scalp!  Sweet!!

So early in the evening I took a fine tooth comb and starting removing the scabs that it would let me.
And you know what?....

I got almost every scab off my head!!  Holy Cow!  Check these pictures out!

You can still see flaking but that is just loose stuff in my hair that will wash out in the morning.  I got all but maybe a few tiny bits off my scalp!  I can comb my hair without it hurting or catching on something, and my hair is no longer plastered to my scalp from all the buildup!  I can see where I had lost hair early on and new hair had tried to grow in but I just couldn't see it under the scaling!  it's short but at least it there!

I'm super excited!

We will do another really light treatment of the oil tonight and I'll wash my hair with the medicated shampoo again in the morning.  I will assess then if I'm going to put the other oil in my hair as I hate to use it and I have to go to work.. and it would be nice not to have to have gross oily hair.

I am super happy I finally got this taken care of!  My Husband has been wonderful in helping me put all the meds on my scalp!  Many mucho thanks!

Now it's all about prevention and growing my dang hair back!

More updates later!

Day 2: Front Porch Project

So why is it that every time I want to start a "little" project.. where I think it I could get it done quickly it always ends up a "BIG" project and more time and money has to be spent? I blame Bob..

Bob is Eric's grandpa whose house we are living in now.

So this weekend we spent more time on the front porch project.
After looking at options for insulation and looking at the ceiling some more it was decided that the ceiling had to come down. So that was this weekends project. And whooboy it was a dirty one!

Remember the ceiling...  ?

So much dust, dirt, debris and other stuff fell on our heads. We went through 4 or 5 face masks so we didn't breath in too much of that crap.

Husband working on removing the last board from the ceiling

This is how it turned out!  Not too bad i suppose... 

Then we started to survey the damage.

Ugg.. well this will obviously need to be replaced..  The cross beam is completely rotted and we will be putting a new one in.

old water damage

We found somethings nest.....

A nest.. fortunately already vacated.

The bone? we found in the nest!  Looks like a rib bone.. of what I have no clue!

So things we will be working on next...

Replacing that rotted beam.  Adding more as the beams are like 3 feet apart!  So we will add more for the support of the new ceiling.   Jacking up the roof....  So I don't have a picture and I will try to take one before we start working on it.. but the roof is sagging at the peak by 4 or 5 inches so we are going to jack it back up so it's level and add more supports so it doesn't start to sag again.
Then install the insulation and hang the new ceiling!

not much.. not much at all...

Hopefully the temperatures don't drop to much too soon so that we can get this work done before it gets too cold and before I need to paint.. but there are always space heaters!

Till next time!

Total: still only $7 but that is going to change pretty quickly!

a journey (on my head): day 2

So today my head itched like crazy and it is flaking really bad.
So that is good news.. means it is working. I'm already seeing a lot of it breaking up! I am beginning to think that this WILL be cleared up by next Wednesday!
How awesome would that be to have all this cleared up by Thanksgiving. Now that is something I can be thankful for!

So I have some pictures. You can see that it is flaking quite a bit.


I won't bore you too much with this.. but here is a close up of my scalp today. Though it looks bad it is really breaking up and a lot of the scaling came out today. Though a lot of hair fell out today also.


I really hope in the next few days I have pictures that don't make me feel sick to my stomach.. cause these just look nasty. Aren't you happy I am so sharing!?...



Oh.. and here's Poe.. just can't stay out of anything.. even my blog.

Till tomorrow!

a journey (on my head)

So I want to take you on a journey. Perhaps you will join me?

This is not a journey that will show you pretty places or things to do. Does not involve driving or walking for that matter.. Actually this is a journey about healing.

See.. ever since I was 22 I have been battling psoriasis on my scalp. This is a hereditary disorder of the immune system. My scalp essentially creates new skin cells faster then it sloughs them off. My understanding is that my body is creating new skin cells in 6 to 8 days vs the normal aprox. 30 days. (now don't take my word on that.. this is just from what i remember reading.. thought i suppose i should look it up.. but naah). Oh.. and it's not contagious. phew..

Over the years I have had this psoriasis come and go. I had an instance in my early twenties where i lost a lot of hair on the crown of my head because of the scaling from the disorder. I have used a lot of creams, pills, ointments, oils and shampoos. That is really the only way you can treat this problem. There is no cure.

Well recently my scalp has exploded again. It's almost as if i have a wide headband of psoriasis scaling across my head. I had been avoiding going to the doctor. Not sure why.. money was an excuse, I guess i also just thought it might go away if I use some special shampoo.. I think some of the stress in my life just got the better of me and i just didn't take care of the problem as soon as i should have. But I went to the dermatologist on Wednesday this week. He seems to think with proper treatment that it will be cleared up in a week. 1 Week People! I have been suffering with this for months and he says it will take 1 WEEK!.. Yes, I may feel silly at the end if it does only take a week but it is what it is. So If you would like to join me and you don't have a super weak stomach.. lets go!

This is me:



HI Guys!!

Right now because of the problem I always wear my hair pulled back into a tiny ponytail and a little head band to hold some of the shorter hair and to hide some of the scaling.


Hair up & Hair down

You might already be able to see some of the damage. I've lost a lot of hair so it's really hard to hide now.

More pictures:
You can see the scaling a bit and some of the hair loss. This stuff itches and is pretty uncomfortable.


The right side of my scalp. The hair can clump in the scales.


Top view.. I have lost quite a bit of hair.


A view from the back.


Happy girl i am not.. I miss my hair.


You may have noticed a bit of flaking in my hair. That is because on Wednesday night I started my treatment that the doctor gave me to get this cleared up. So all these pictures are after one treatment. He said 1 week.. so I'm going to try and chronicle the healing process.
I had to take the pictures tonight by myself as the husband was out slaying dragons or something like that. So hopefully the pictures will be better since I won't be trying to contort my arms in weird ways to take pictures of my own head.

Aaanyway.. I will take pictures and post them everyday right before the next treatment. So tomorrow evening I will post pics after two days of the treatment and so on.. Lets see if this will actually clear up in a week.

My arsenal:


Left to right: Neutrogena T/Sal Shampoo: have to wash my hair every morning with this leaving it on for 3 to 5 minutes. Fluocinolone blah blah and something else (I have no idea how to pronounce that stuff): is a oil drop i have to put on my scalp after i get out of the shower in the morning. Derma-Smooth/FS: Another oil i have to use on my scalp at night. I have to dampen my hair and scalp, put this stuff on it then cover with a shower cap and leave on over night.

It's not fun but I'm already seeing flaking so that means it is breaking up already after only one treatment.

Wish me luck..

Day 1: Front Porch Project

I have been wanting to tackle the front porch for a long time and finally I decided it was time. I had been talking about it for the past week and this weekend it was decided to get it going. So I got myself and Eric out from in front of our computers and got us working.

We have a pretty decent front porch. The main draw back for me is that it is pink.. Yes you read that right, my front porch is painted PINK! ugg. I had bought some light gray paint last year and was planning on painting but that never happened so now that is the plan. Some clean up and some paint and viola! A pretty shiny area where we can have a sit and relax.....
Or so I thought.

Ever since we moved in the porch has been a catch all. For empty boxes from things we purchased, broken stuff, stuff we mean to get rid of, recycling and who knows what else. Essentially it was a disaster!




So first off I had to clear it all out. A few things were put away in the basement where they belonged in the first place but never made it but a few feet past the front door. A few more went to the attic. A lot was put out with the trash and I bundled up all the cardboard to take to recycling.. wherever that may be. (I'll look that up later) But we got it cleaned off.

Next was the ceiling. When we moved in a few years ago I had wanted to start working on the porch and we removed the gold shag carpet and the ceiling tiles. The ceiling titles are like the same material that is used in drop ceilings. They were all nailed to the ceiling and we pulled them down. But we never went back to remove all the nails. So that was next on the list.

After removing all the nails there was some crown molding that had to come down too because we are/maybe/who knows going to just put up some new stuff over the old since it is so damaged from when that roof leaked. (That leak was fortunately fixed before we moved in.. thank goodness). Once a new ceiling goes up we are just going to use the old crown molding.. least that is the idea. We'll see what happens.

While that doesn't seem like much for one day it was plenty for my back. Ugg..
However I think I will sleep well tonight.

The progress:

So much better!

Damaged ceiling:

Next: Eric wants to see about insulating above the ceiling. That means cutting a few areas out that are bad and some access holes and spraying insulation! Yay for warm porch! We will then be figuring out what we are going to put up over what remains of the old ragged ceiling and get it hung and painted! Likely some bead board or some kind of paneling.. Cheap is the motto here!

Can't wait!

So far: $7 for spray paint (I'll show you what that is for later!)
**I'm not including the cost of the paint that was purchased last year.

Total: $7 and a sore back!