My husband is freakin' cool!

Dan has had this wicked rash for over a week.

He broke out last Friday in all the areas where he'd put sunscreen (arms, legs, ears, neck.) The funny thing is that he's been using that sunscreen all spring. But the rash was only where the sunscreen was, so it seemed that could be the only cause. After a weekend of overdosing on Benadryl and itching like crazy, he went to the doctor.

Let me digress a moment and say how utterly useless the University of Utah Student Health Clinic is. Because of our insurance, we are required to always go to the Student Clinic first and then get a referral to go anywhere else. 9 times out of 10, it ends up being a complete waste of time and the $10 copay because the nurse practitioner you see just isn't experienced enough. We learned with Lily and all of her health problems that it was worth it to pay the higher cost and take her straight to an experienced pediatrician. Now with Amelia, if she's sick, we just automatically take her to Dr. Schlichter even though it costs more. We've never been sorry.

Anyhoo, the trip to the Student Clinic was a waste as the lady would not give him a steroid shot or even prescribe oral steroids to fight off the rash. She gave him some random drug and when Dan got home he searched it on the internet only to find out that it was an anti-depressant and had no anti-inflammatory or steroidal properties at all. Nice. He wasn't going to take it, but he got so itchy at night that he took one in the desperate hope that it might help. All it did was cause an irregular heartbeat. So on Wednesday he went to see a dermatologist. This doc said that he thought it was more likely an auto-immune response to sun exposure rather than an allergic reaction to sunscreen. He prescribed some oral steroids, a topical steroid cream, and recommended some different sunscreen. He said that if it was the skin reacting to too much sun exposure, it would heal itself and in the process build up immunity so it shouldn't happen again. But if the rash persists, they'll do a biopsy in a couple of weeks to see if it is some kind of allergic response.

Why the lengthy description (other than to show off some gnarly photos?) The blasted rash has thwarted Dan's goal of riding the Kokopelli Trail, something he has wanted to do for 6 or 8 years. The Kokopelli Trail is a 142 mile mountain bike ride from Grand Junction, Colorado to Moab, Utah. Most people spread the ride out over a few days and it usually requires some sort of support vehicle to accompany you with food and water. After making several good biking friends last year, Dan finally had someone he could ride with. A bunch of the guys decided to do the Kokopelli Trail Ride, an unofficial one day, self-supported bike race. Yes, that means you carry all your own supplies, food, and water and you ride the full 142 miles in one stretch, about 18 hours of ride time. It's an epic ride, one for the books, and as far as I'm concerned, it's reserved for only those with some sort of mental impairment that makes them long for punishment.

All who know Dan realize that he falls firmly into that category (thus the 106 mile Ride Around White Rim in One Day on a single speed!) Unfortunately, the prednisone Dan is taking for his rash causes muscle fatigue and just a general case of "I feel lousy." Dan wisely decided that this wasn't the best time for an endurance ride. He did, however, still accompany his friends Elden (Fatty) and Kenny (of the Jack Mormon Militia fame) down to Grand Junction and volunteered to be the shuttle guy, driving the truck to Moab to pick them up at the end of the race. Dan called awhile ago and had just finished riding Slick Rock and despite his impaired physical state, he completed the ride in 1 1/2 hours on his single speed. That's his fastest time ever, and on a single speed no less!

What's my point? My husband is freakin' cool! And I've got the photos to prove it!