The Grup Dysease

For the past 48 hours, the skin over much of my body has looked something like Kirk's arms here, except not blue:I hobbled to the doctor (the soles of my feet had swollen up!) who said it was most likely an allergic reaction to the penicillin I'd taken for my tooth.
Great.
I've never been allergic to anything. I've hardly ever been sick.
But in the past 14 months I've had a run of decidedly unglamorous medical conditions. The sort of things that one doctor actually proclaimed to be "dime-a-dozen" (gallbladder stones, vertigo, hot flashes, dry socket, ...and now hives).

Kirk and Co. get these blue skin sores in the episode "Miri". The disease only attacks children who are turning into grown-ups ("grups"), and it kills them. Luckily none of my conditions is serious, as in "deadly"--though some of them are unpleasant enough to feel plenty serious.

But they do seem to be associated with aging. My body's defense/healing/regulating systems are starting to go all wobbly, I guess.
I've never paid much attention to my health--never had to. Seems I might should start now, eh? Not just physical/medical stuff, like diet and exercise, but mental/spiritual stuff that might come in handy when one is lying in bed at 3 a.m. with a plate-sized itch at the base of the spine.

I especially want to learn to handle the scary bits. You know, not like when you have a cold, even a really bad one--it's not scary, usually, because you know what the deal is. But most of these body-glitches have frightened me because I had no idea what they were. And I figured I would have to do the almost-most dreaded thing:
make a phone call to a stranger.
This is one of my neuroses: a dread that extends to calling doctors' offices, banks and credit card companies, and distant relatives with hearing loss.

So, as they say in 12 Steps, this seems to be AFLE = "Another Fucking Learning Experience."
If you've got any tips, I'd be glad to hear them.

And, not in the spirit of 12 Steps, when I'm finally off all these meds, I'm going to treat myself to a James Bond: a sort of champagne martini:

James Bond

1 sugar cube
Bitters
Champagne
Vodka

Put 2-3 drops of bitters on the sugar cube. Put the sugar cube in the bottom of a glass. Fill glass about 2/3 full with champagne. Add 1/2 shot of vodka.
Drink and enjoy.

(What would Kirk drink?)

Btw, I'm much better now, though the back of my ears are itching like crazy as I write this. The doc put me on prednisone, which started to clear up the hives in 8 hours---sort of like Dr. McCoy's serum saves the grups.(This is one of those rare times Spock shows concern for the meanie McCoy. I think we'd all be kinder to the people who bug us if they were unconscious.)

Btw2, Mayo Clinic reports that a penicillin allergy is the most common drug allergy. Which makes sense to me---that stuff is in your body boldly killing all life forms it meets, sort of like V'ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Mayo also reports that "the simplest way to prevent penicillin allergy is to avoid penicillin and related antibiotics."
Imagine that.