It's gonna be a long week

I have been dealing with dermatitis ( kinda like excema) on my hands since Fall of 2009. All of a sudden one day I noticed a small itchy red patch of skin on my left hand right above my thumb nuckle.  It would come and go and some days it would be really itchy. Then a few weeks after that spot appeared, I got a strange spot on my left index finger. Fast forward to over a year later, my left hand/fingers are sore and cracked and raw in spots. It's really dry and flakey and my hands hurt alot of the time. It's so annoying and frustrating because hand washing actually makes it worse. I have 2 babies and a toddler so I feel like I'm washing my hands all the time.  Any time I clean or know I'm going to have to wash up a few dishes I have to put on gloves.  It's just something that I hate having to deal with.

I managed to go a whole year with it just on my left hand. Then out of the blue this past November, right before I had the girls, I noticed a small itchy patch on my right hand and I knew immediately what it was. 

I've been to the dermatologist many times in last year and per her instructions, I've switched all my soaps and detergents, I can only use Dove soap and Cetaphil lotions.  Nothing seems to make a bit of difference. I am having some type of allergic reaction to something but I can't figure out what it is.  I was prescribed a steriod cream to use and in the beginning it worked pretty well. But...it's losing it's affect. My body is not responding to the cream as well as it used to. So, this week I'm taking the next step in trying to figure out what's causing this. I'm doing skin testing.

This morning I went in and they put 3 sticky strips on my back that contain 29 of the most common household chemicals.  The hope is I will show some type of reaction and then we'll have some answers. The bad part of all this is that I'm not allowed to get the strips wet, which means no showers! That wouldn't be so terrible if I didn't have to wait till FRIDAY!!!  Yep, a whole week without a real shower. I'm going to feel so gross by the end of the week. I'm allowed to sponge bathe and I can wash my hair in the sink, but it's not going to be the same.

I go back in on Wednesday and they'll take the patches off and see if there's a reaction. But, I still have to wait unitl Friday to see if there's a delayed reaction.  I just pray there's an answer because I dread having to deal with this the rest of my life.