BCA 2010 part 2

Before I get into what happened after the first couple of days, I'm gonna write about what happened after the whole trip.  I'm still suffering from it now. 

I drove home Saturday afternoon.  I stopped at an outlet mall once again (I went while in Vegas) to check out what they have out there.  The drive home was really scary because it was very windy.  My car kept being pushed to the side.  I once had a client whose mother wouldn't drive to come see him when it was windy.  I can really understand now.

I don't even remember what I did that night but I think I just ate something real quick and went to bed.  I was exhausted.  I went to bed around midnight, I believe.  Not early but not super late considering I had the day off the next day. 

My friend calls and wakes me up at 9 AM...actually she texted me asking, "Are you awake?"  I'm not sure if I was awake before or if she woke me up.  Given the fact that I kept waking up at 7 AM every morning for no reason makes me believe that I was probably half awake anyway.  She anted to go check out a new Korean Spa in my neighborhood.  I was thinking of lounging at a spa anyway so I agreed to meet her there.  She wanted to go really early for some reason but I didn't go till 1:30 or so. 

Apparently lots of Korean families spend weekends like this.  They go to the spa, eat, and relax all day.  I scheduled an appointment for a body scrub and a massage combo.  I had a little bit of time so I showered and got in the tub. 

My friend found me while I was showering.  She was walking around naked and finds me washing my hair.  Not a typical way to meet up with a friend.  Her massage appointment was before mine so we did our own thing and met up later for lunch.

The lady who did my body scrub barely spoke English but somehow found is crucial to find out if I'm Japanese.  Not sure if it's just in my head but I felt like she was a little rough scrubbing me down.  I really liked the massage, though. 

We went upstairs (this spa has 3 floors) and had cold noodles for lunch.  The food is kind of expensive there (or maybe that's normal?).  On that same floor, you can eat, use computers, read books, lie down and relax in the open lounge area, or go to different heated rooms (clay, salt, jade, etc.).  Most of those rooms were way too hot for me.  I don't know how other people could stand the heat...it felt like it was burning my feet!!!  so I went downstairs to the women's spa and slept there.

We didn't leave till 7 or so.  We spent way over 5 hours!!!!  it was kind of fun, but I didnt' feel completely relaxed.  I was still exhausted.

Next morning, I had a tough time getting up but woke up at 7 like usual.  Then I realized I was breaking out in hives once again.  It tends to happen when I'm extremely tired.  I didn't think I'll get it from playing pool but this whole trip took a lot out of me.  I was never able to sleep in no matter how hard I tried.  I called in sick for work and slept all day, all night.  The antihistamine med I had from last time helped me sleep I guess, but it didn't do squat for the hives.  The next morning was worse and it was itchy this time.

I tried many over the counter meds but nothing worked.  I went to see primary doctor but she couldn't tell what it was!?  It had to be hives but she thought it looks different.  By that day it was really red and was swollen.  She made an appointment with dermatologist for me but it was a bad time for me.  I kept calling to find cancellations and I managed to go in today.

The dermatologist confirmed that they were hives and gave me lots of medications.  Apparently this is pretty severe because it's more meds than last few times this happened.  There were times when I didnt' need meds and other times I had to take steroids.  Didn't realize hives could be so bad.

And if pool tournaments are going to cause so much problems for me...how am I supposed to keep playing?  I guess BCA is special because most other tournaments would last this long.  Believe it or not, it was worth it, but I don't want to go through this every time!!!