As I begin today’s post at 11:00 am, it is currently 102F, 39C, scorching for this early in the day. Oddly, at noon the temperature will begin to drop rapidly, as much as 30 degrees by dinnertime. Whew! That’s good news. Usually, the temperature drops like this result in severe weather. But, according to the weather report, which is reasonably accurate for South Africa, the chance of precipitation will be at a maximum of 30%, with a minimum of 10% throughout the remainder of the day.
This morning we headed to Komati (short for Komatipoort) to grocery shop. However, while we’re there, we thought I’d pop in and see Dr. Theo about the rash on my left leg that now has become very painful, although the blisters are healing. I want to make sure there’s no infection attributed to the pain.
The only time I’ve had a rash with pain was over three years ago when we first arrived, and I had shingles which Dr. Theo treated with particular medications. I had already had a vaccination for shingles but got it anyway. Sound familiar these days?
When I tried to get an appointment this morning to coordinate it with our grocery shopping trip, the calls wouldn’t go through to his office. I contacted Louise and asked her to try calling his office, but she couldn’t get through either. I decided it would be best if we showed up at his office to see if they could squeeze me in. He was the only doctor in the office this morning (out of their usual three), and the only time he could see me was at 12:30 pm. That was at 9:30.
We decided to go the Spar to shop, load up the car, drive the 25-minute drive back to Marloth Park, unload the groceries, and then head back at noon in time for the 12:30 appointment. That’s in 26 minutes from now, so I’ll keep banging away on the keyboard, knowing I’d never be finished by the time we have to leave.
We unloaded everything and put it away, sweating like pigs, in the high temperature in the kitchen while we attempted to put everything in its place, leaving us time for a few tasks before we headed out again. I managed to make a lovely salad for tonight’s dinner and only got this far until it was time to head out again.
I have the weather channel app on my phone, looking at it from time to time to see when the temps start dropping. In less than two hours, it’s supposed to drop down by 20 degrees. That certainly will make the rest of our day a breeze, no pun intended.
“Everything can change on a dime” as “they.” Part of the charm for us is that unpredictability, although this flows into the running of the government, the bureaucracy, and political issues. (No, I won’t get that here.) That’s what we like about Africa…nothing is predictable.
Yesterday, the drive to Nelspruit to take Kathy and Don to the airport went quickly, with the four of us chatting on the way. We hugged our biggest hugs and said goodbye, not knowing for sure when we’d see them again. Such close friends for both of us. We will miss them terribly. But then, there’s always Hawaii where they live, and it wouldn’t be that unusual for us to head there to see them at some point in the future.
They’ve even offered us to stay in one of their rental properties near them in Oahu. Of course, we love Hawaii, and we love them, all the more reason to visit before too long.
Oops, time to go. Be back to finish later on.
We’re back. I am not surprised by Dr. Theo’s diagnosis. I have a combination of hives from allergy to dust mites, and on the back of my left leg only, I have shingles for the second time in three years. Apparently, as it heats up and chickenpox becomes prevalent, many people get shingles this time of year. I thought this is what I had, as mentioned above.
He gave me a prescription for a drug that should help in a few days, said to continue using calamine lotion, and of course to use the encasement mattress cover I ordered from Takealot yesterday. Within a week or two, I should be free of all the itching and pain. It’s helpful to know what is going on, freeing me from any worry or concern.
That’s all I have today. We’ve been too busy for me to take many photos. But, we got the above main photo yesterday at the Nelspruit/Mpumalanga/Kruger Airport entrance, a dark-colored impala. We had seen this anomaly when we went to the airport to fly to the US in July, when it was much smaller. It was fun to see it again.
Be well.
Photo from one year ago today, November 18, 2020:
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