Failure.

Sadly, I'm out of the challenge.

I don't know which hurts worse; the failure or the burns.

On Monday afternoon I was stupid enough to stand outside in the parking lot for five hours and am now suffering through the serious burns that resulted. I'm not sure what condition(s) was (were) so different that day than all those other days I've been outside, but... sometimes things like this just happen.

How bad could this sun burn be, you ask?

Well, first let me say that I'm a natural blond and my skin tends to soak up sun like a sponge. Sometimes slower, sometimes faster. I rarely ever put any sort of sun block on (often opting instead for "tanning" products) and almost never have to pamper a burn after exposure to the sun. Normally, when I spend several hours out in the sun, I get red, the next day I'm pink, and the day after I'm whatever shade of tan my skin has settled on. Very rarely does any portion of the "red" stage hurt.

So how bad am I? Today, right now, I'm about 5 hours away from three full days since the moment when I finally came in out of the sun on Monday, and the aloe gel with lidocaine that K. has been slathering all over my outer shoulders and upper arms both day and night still doesn't do squat for me. The cold wet rags being put on my skin? If you remove them 5-7 minutes later, they're quite warm (K. pointed that out with a shocked gasp yesterday evening), and well on their way to being dried onto my skin a hour later. My skin glows red and is showing almost no fading in color, even around the edges. At least I didn't blister.

A. (who finally made it home last night) has told me to "sit and rest", and that's pretty much what I do. With minimal pain I can surf the 'net (which has led to some great finds in the financial field) but I get twitchy after too long and want to get up and walk around. Typing is slightly painful, and I find that not only am I slower, but I'm also missing keys more than usual with the limited range of motion. Reading is on the agenda, but with some difficulty; holding the book up is slightly painful and turning the pages is pretty painful, but I'm working on it. Eating is out of the question unless someone has the foresight enough to leave something prepared for me where I can reach it without moving my arms too much; I'm finding biscotti and water to be a quite satisfying these past few days. Cleaning myself in any manner is excruciatingly painful, and today is the first day I've not managed a shower (yet. That may change later. I'm waiting for the acete... aceta... generic Tylenol to kick in). I doze a lot, sitting here in my chair in the mostly darkened apartment, and have "comfort movies" playing (GoldenEye [James Bond... umm... 1995? 1996? I don't feel like looking it up] has been playing since late last night, partly because it hurts too much to reach up to the vcr and change it out for something else).

But cleaning? Moving around and... moving? Not a chance. Such activities are forbidden to me right now, and oddly, I'm not too inclined to fight against such restrictions. While I'm not happy about the lack of activity and the failure with the challenge, and watching my family do MY JOB is agonizing to my soul, I'm content to sit in the dark and doze my way through this pain. When I can put a shirt again without sobbing frantically because the shirt touches my skin, I'll reclaim my activities. Until then... I rest, I read, I heal.