the skin i'm in

Skin is a soft outer covering of an animal, in particular a vertebrate. It performs the following functions:

1.Protection: an anatomical barrier from pathogens and damage between the internal and external environment in bodily defense; Langerhans cells in the skin are part of the adaptive immune system.[3][4]


2.Sensation: contains a variety of nerve endings that jump to heat and cold, touch, pressure, vibration, and tissue injury; see somatosensory system and haptic perception.

3.Heat regulation: increase perfusion and heatloss, while constricted vessels greatly reduce cutaneous blood flow and conserve heat. Erector pili muscles are significant in animals.

4.Control of evaporation: the skin provides a relatively dry and semi-impermeable barrier to fluid loss.[4]

5.Storage and synthesis: acts as a storage center for lipids and water

6.Absorption: Oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide can diffuse into the epidermis in small amounts, some animals uses their skin for their sole respiration organ (contrary to popular belief, however, humans do not absorb oxygen through the skin).[5]

7.Water resistance: The skin acts as a water resistant barrier so essential nutrients aren't washed out of the body.

Or at least, that's what wikipedia has to say on the matter. I'm writing this blog to complain about skin, more specifically, my skin.
 
I have what you dermatologists term sensitive skin. This doesn't mean that it's sensitive to the touch or something like that, but rather that it is sensitive to the environment. This is mostly due to the fact that I have a skin condition called eczema. For anyone who doesn't know what eczema is, allow me to enlighten you: eczema, also know as topical dermatitis,is an itchy rash which forms on the skin in red patches. It can be brought on by changes in environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity. It can also be triggered by allergies (food and seasonal) or periods of stress. all sufferers are born with this condition and it can be passed down hereditarily.
 
i've had eczema my whole life. as a child, there wasn't a winter that went by without me suffering some kind of flare up. the areas affected were usually around my wrists, ankles, behind my knees and the crooks of my arms. as i got older, my eczema became more like dry patchs on my torso, legs and arms. by the time i reached college, i was experiencing full blown bouts that lasted the entire winter months. i particularly remember one winter before coming to taiwan where my upper lip and right eye had eczema around them while i'll patiently waited for a dermatologist appointment. i went a whole winter with a badly chapped upper lip and darkened eye...you have no idea how tired i was of being asked if i was either growing a mustache or had gotten into a fight.

there isn't any cure for eczema. it is something i had to deal with and will continue to deal with for the remainder of my life. of course, this isn't a debilitating disease like many others, but it is something i have to deal with almost every day of my life. i've tried a range of treatments, from naturopathic to strong medical treatments. the naturopathic treatments tend to be tedious and expensive, as well as gradually ineffective. the medical treatments provide tremendous results, but can have some serious side effects, such as skin cancer.

since coming to taiwan, i haven't really had any episodes. this is due to the the humid climate and moderate amounts of sunshine that encourage vitamin d and folic acid. no matter what tho, i have chapped lips about 40% of the time and still feel itchy most days. i've pretty much given up on any kind of chapstick as eventually, it either irritates the skin or my lips become so dependent on the moisture that they stop producing moisture on their own. on average, i pretty much have about 7-10 days a month where my lips are normal, not peeling, inflamed, split or itchy and red.

during my last trip to canada, i experienced a full on attack. it started out being itchy and dry (which i expected given the cold, dry weather) but by new year's eve day escalated to a point where i had no choice but to visit the emergency room and get a prescription for cream that would help things. (at a cost of $94 a tube) within a day of using the cream, the eczema pretty much went away.

sometimes, all i really want is to completely change the skin i'm in. if a skin transplant were possible, i think i would spend just about any amount of money to have it done.

in the meantime, i just have to make do with what i have and get things under control.

holidays

finally found some time to update my blog...just got back on monday from a 10-day christmas vacation in canada, and this first week back has been hectic and didn't really go as smoothly as i had hoped for. i'll elaborate more on that later, but here's a timeline of our awesome holiday.

dec.23rd we boarded the plane at 7:30 p.m. for our 13-hour, direct flight to toronto. everything was smooth as silk in terms of boarding, immigration, and all the usual pre-flight routines. the flight was comfortable as it wasn't fully booked, and we were one of the lucky ones who had an empty seat beside ours. what a world of difference those extra 15 inches of seat space can make to cramped up limbs. landed safely, got a text from justin (who was chilling with a $12 heineken at the pearsons terminal 3 bar...ouch!) to say he was waiting for us, then on our way to london to spend the night. arrived kind of late but was feeling wired from the trip.to remedy this, melissa poured caesars and ordered domino's just the way i like it. all that gusto within such a few short hours was enough to put us to sleep.

dec.24th - up early thanks to the effects of jet lag, but we took our time with a leisurely breakfast of peameal bacon BLT's (my favourite!) followed by a long overdue shower, starbucks run, and then home to hanover. i have to say, for the first time in a very, very long time, i was excited to go to hanover. we arrived at my mom and dad's to lots of hugs, a few tears, and a very home for the holidays atmosphere. we spent a few hours just talking and catching up, wrapping a few last minute presents, before heading out to elisha's house to spend the night. it was great to see everyone and together we ate, drank and were merry.

dec.25th - woke up at 8:30, hung out with the weishar clan for a bit of brekkie, then i went back into town, got showered up and went to durham to see my grandma campbell. she unfortunately had a stroke about two weeks prior, so she couldn't have a long visit, but she seemed happy that we were there and it felt good to see her again. after that, we headed back to my parents place and awaited elisha so we could open our presents. now, how things used to go in the campbell household was me waking everyone up at a ridiculous time to open presents....this year we didn't open presents up until 1:30! unreal, but it certainly made christmas last a lot longer than it normally does. everyone was spoiled rotten with loot.

around 3:00 p.m., the rest of the family started to arrive and dinner followed suit. we were not disappointed by the table laid before us. i know i keep talking about the food, but man, it had been a while since i had eaten so well and so much. a great day.

dec.26th - boxing day - decided to hit up some of the sales down in london. got some awesome deals and came away with a full work wardrobe. managed to get home around 6:00 p.m., had a quick nap and then had the weishars and a few friends come over for some christmas drinks and snacks. ended up being another late one, but finally called it a night around 3:00.

dec.27th - finally, after 3 full days of feasting and festing, it was time to relax and hopefully eat some salad or something instead of the rich repast i had been gorging myself. didn't do much else but lie around and start to make some plans for NYE. went back out to the weishars and spent the night as the sib-in-laws were planning on leaving the next day for home.

dec.28th - our admin day; time to do some banking, drivers' licenses, etc. not my favourite day by any stretch of the imagination, but always necessary when you're at home.

dec.29th - another glorious day to do nothing...just relax in the afterglow of christmas

dec.30th - see above

dec.31st - our final day in hanover. we started to say our farewells early as elisha's mom had to work...after that, it was elisha's father as he dropped us off at my parent's place. we hung out for the afternoon, drove to london and said our goodbye's as they drove back to hanover. we decided to spend NYE with justin and melissa and their friends and it turned out to be a lot of fun. got to bed around 4:30 a.m. which was a little scary considering we had to be in toronto later that same day, but fun nonetheless.

jan.1st - spent the day lounging and attempting to relax, but in fact becoming increasingly anxious about the long day ahead. eventually, it was time to go and catch the robert q airbus to pearson int'l. said our final goodbye's of the trip and then a few more hours wait before boarding the plane for a grueling, 15-hour flight back to taipei. add the trip time + the fact that we technically left on jan.2nd + losing 12 hours to int'l date line means we got back on jan3rd. painful, but worth it.

that was the trip. great time visit with fam+friends. the first week was a little rough. we were meant to head back to work the day we arrived but decided upon touchdown that wouldn't be happening. returned to work on tuesday and wednesday, but then i got sick on thursday and ended up having to take off at lunch and also friday. not really the productive work week i had in mind, but my body just had enough.

it is good to be back, but i have to be honest when i say that for one reason or another, it was a lot harder to leave this time than previous visits home. i'm not sure why, but it has spurred me to reevaluate my 'indefinite' timeline here in taiwan. in short, it's time to get focused up and set out what i came here to do. this by no way means that i'm done with taiwan, but that it's time to stop messing around and get serious about crossing a few goals off the list.

speaking of goals, i guess i did make some new year's resolutions for this year, or rather, a new year's mission statement. my theme for last year was 'grow', so this year it's going to be 'improve.' while this might seem pretty generic, it has two advantages; 1) i can apply this principle to everything i do currently in my life ex. diet - improve eating habits by eating organic and 2) it's simple and easy to use without having to come up with elaborate plans as to either keep or implement lofty resolutions. this idea of the mission statement really worked for me last year....i managed to improve my working situation, financial situation, health and eating habits, met some new people and even achieved a few other things unlooked for. this year, i just want to enjoy what i have but improve upon them; professionally+personally.