For the past week or so, I’ve been using Johnson and Johnsons Clean & Clear Acne Clearing Facial Cleanser with benzoyl peroxide.  It’s been great, no complaints.

Tonight, I was scrubbing my face, as usual, when I poked myself in the eye (accidentally!!!), with a finger-full of benzoyl peroxide.

It wasn’t too horribly painful, but of course I held my eye open and held my eye under the faucet for a few uncomfortable minutes.

Now, a couple of hours later, I still have a kind of achy feeling behind my eye.

So I’m wondering… is it possible to pull a muscle in your eye??

Yesterday I started using Johnson & Johnson’s Clean and Clear acne cleanser.  So far I’m not super impressed.  My neck, in particular, has begun to itch incessantly (not a surprise, since I use the cleanser in the shower and it rinses down my neck).  I’m not yet seeing a dramatic improvement in my acne, and if this itch continues, the cleanser will have to go.

I’ve talked about this before, but I’m toying the idea of picking up a journal again.  I’ve journaled a lot over the years, but put down my journal when I returned from Africa and haven’t picked it up since.  Tonight, though, I have a crazy urge to write about a dream I had.  Now, here’s the complicated part: I haven’t decided yet if I am comfortable with writing about this dream on my blog.  I want to remember it - though in fact, I suspect it won’t be difficult to remember.  It was an unbelievably vivid and personal dream.  I can’t decide if I want to share it online - or, for that matter, if you’ll be comfortable hearing about it.  What do you think?

We don’t have one of those home gyms that you see on infomercials.  In fact, the closest we have is a rarely-used treadmill.  We used to have an exercise bike, which we sold - again, because we did not use it much!  I can sort of see the value of home gyms, but only if they are used.  Otherwise they’re just kinda pointless… so you might as well get a good pair of shoes and do some walking every day.  Same with exercise videos, which I personally find kinda pointless - they are only worthwhile if you use them.

My skin has been breaking out so much lately.  When I was a teenager, my mom took me to a dermatologist, who prescribed various medicines and lotions and potions that I used religiously.  But I can’t afford to go to a dermatologist, and I’m totally out of habit with applying creams daily.  I need to find a good OTC medicine that will control acne - something that doesn’t cost much, isn’t too difficult to use, and will help keep my skin clear.  Unfortunately I guess I’m demanding a bit much.  Maybe I should try an herbal acne treatment.  What are your experiences?  What do you recommend?

My bedroom is small (about 10′x10′) and crowded (bed, nightstand, desk, dresser, mirror, 2 sets of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, 13″ television, DVD player, two printers, a scanner, and a large and comfy papasan chair, plus all my clothes and shoes), but I love it.  It’s cozy and a comfy place to relax.  Last Wednesday afternoon, the phone rang, requiring me to extricate myself from my bedroom.  When I hung up the phone, I returned to my bedroom and sort of “fell” back into my papasan chair.  In the process, I whacked my right elbow against the sharp corner of the desk.  I didn’t know it was possible to bruise the elbow, but my elbow is still periodically reminding me of that moment.

A few minutes ago, I discovered that the outer portion of my left palm is kind of sensitive.  It is painful to the touch, and it’s even a little sensitive just to type on my computer.

Tonight I am watching “Hopkins” on ABC.  It’s a new - and fairly interesting - documentary, based on the events at Johns Hopkins Hospital.  I’ve always been interested in Johns Hopkins - they have such a wide range of fantastic doctors.  One of my favorite doctors works there.  He’s not “my” doctor or a doctor who I’ve even visited, but he is a doctor with an incredible story.  His name is Dr. Benjamin Carson.  He was born into poverty in Detroit, but his illiterate mother took him to the library regularly.  After going to college on scholarships, he graduated with honors and is now the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins.

This documentary mentioned another doctor at Johns Hopkins with a similar story.  This doctor’s name is Dr. Quinones-Hinjosa.  He entered the US illegally and worked his way up to legal citizenship, med school, and Johns Hopkins.

I am always amazed by individuals who do these amazing things.  I was born into the middle class and have never had to struggle (too much) for basic stuff.  These individuals born into poverty are hard workers who demand so much of themselves.  They go into service professions, like medicine, to help people.  Another common profession for them is education.  Today I read about a gentleman named Norberto Diaz, who is a principal and a leader in the New Jersey School District.  Like these others, he worked his way from poverty to success.  I don’t know what makes these people different, but unlike the people who surround them as children, they demand more of life than the struggles of poverty.  If only we could teach this desire to other children trapped in poverty!

I have had dry skin on my hands since I was 17.  It’s odd but I can remember exactly when it started - right after my car accident at age 17.  I’ve read that some doctors call this “hand dermatitis” or “hand eczema”.  Personally I call this annoying!

When I was in college, I didn’t take very good care of myself, and as a result my hands would constantly be red and cracked.  It was extremely painful!  Often my hands would be so irritated that it looked almost as though I was wearing gloves.

As I started to take better care of myself, my hands improved, but it’s never gone away entirely.  Luckily all the painful cracked skin is (mostly) gone.  Now I just have annoyingly dry hands.  I use lotion on them almost every night, and it’s quite tolerable.  If I’m really lucky, they’ll improve so much that the problems will go away entirely!

It won’t be long before my current plan expires and I will need to sign up for health insurance again.  It can be such a pain choosing health insurance, especially for people like me who are self employed.  It’s hard work.  Even though it’s not “physically” difficult, it can be very exhausting and frustrating to spend hours and hours on the phone.  And I mean literally hours!

Usually I call every major insurance company - Aetna, Cigna, United, and so on.  I wonder if they are getting tired of hearing from me!  I’m sure they all have files on me, but that may not be a good thing!  Then I get as much information as I can - premiums, benefits, deductibles, and so forth.  There is a LOT to learn.  There are many types of insurance plans, even with just one individual company.  Plus I have to decide what is important to me.  Do I want vision coverage or prescription coverage?  A high deductible with a low premium, or a higher premium with a lower deductible?  When I compare premiums, deductibles, and benefits, how valuable is each plan?

I’ve heard good things about Coventry Health Care lately.  I have a friend who has that coverage and really likes it.  Naturally I’ll look into that.  I’ll let you know how it goes!

Here’s an interesting question: Is Lasik cheating?

I’ve written about vision several times before, because it’s kind of a personal issue with me.  I am very very nearsighted (or “myopic”), and have already considered several options in terms of vision correction.  When I was a kid I wore glasses, which is kind of the “gold standard” of vision correction.  On and off since I was 15, I’ve worn contact lenses.  When I first got contacts, I wore Focus Monthlies.  Then after several years, that brand began to dry out my eyes and became uncomfortable.  So I switched to CooperVision’s Proclear lenses.  Again I wore those for a couple of years, then they began to dry my eyes out and became uncomfortable.

Right now, I wear Focus Dailies.  I love the Focus Dailies lenses and I hope those don’t eventually grow uncomfortable.  However, if history is any indication, they will.  I’ll continue moving on to different lenses, but eventually I’ll be forced back to my eyeglasses.  I don’t look forward to that.  I’m quite spoiled and don’t like the feeling of eyeglasses much.  At that point I’ll only one other option: laser surgery.

Is Lasik cheating?  I don’t think so, but maybe you have to live with poor vision to understand how important is is.  Lasik is no more cheating than heart surgery for an athlete with a heart problem.  So wherever I am, I will get Lasik - whether it’s Lasik in San Francisco or Kansas City, or Lasik in Thailand or India.

When I had my car accident at age 17, I very nearly got to ride in an air ambulance. I wound up going to the hospital in a standard ambulance, because the roads were coated in ice and the air ambulance was unable to land.

However, I’m very thankful for the very existence of air ambulances. When time is of the essence, air ambulances can mean the difference between life and death. We live close to the “home base” and helipad for one of our local air ambulance companies, and every now and then I’ll see one fly above our house. Whenever I see that ambulance, I always try to say a prayer for the injuredto go a t person.

Air ambulance crews do not have an easy job. Even more so than standard ambulance crew, they have to be ready go at a moment’s notice - or less! Companies like Aerocare work hard to ensure our safety. Their crews do an incredible job to protect our health in the worst of circumstances.