itchiness

Ever since I was a little kid, after I'd get a bad cold, I would end up with a case of hives. They'd drive me crazy for about a day and a half, eventually I'd take benadryl, fall asleep, and wake up fine. No one could ever figure out why I did it, but other than insane-itchiness, it never seemed to cause any other harm.

Well, I have been getting over a cold, and, true to form, the hives resurfaced. That was four days ago. Last night was the worst - I did everything, benadryl, oatmeal bath, creams and salves and ice, etc. I finally reacted to the antihistimines and fell asleep - but DREAMT that I had an allergic reaction to the Lion that was feeding me birds nest soup on Top Chef, and itched til I woke up, then I itched some more. It was so bad that I went to Urgent Care - except MY urgent care was closed with no sign of life, so I went to the one I used to go to in Long Beach. Well, as luck would have it, I am in between insurances (literally in between - we had open enrollment last week, so I am done with one, enrolled in another, but just don't have the CARD or the NUMBER yet) so they wouldn't see me at that urgent care. I went down the street to another, where they'd take cash. A few hours and a pushy doctor later, they gave me a cortison shot (biggest shot I've ever seen, it was like a cartoon. ouch) and a prescription.
I stopped and got pho on the way home, and am still itching, waiting, waiting for that horribly painful shot to be worth something.

I am too distracted to cross stitch, too itchy to knit, my hands and fingers are swollen, and I don't know what to do!
So this has been my life the past few days - rotating from couch to bed to bathtub to towel to robe to towel to pajama pants. I've read the Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, and watched countless episodes of Friends. I am going out of my mind with the itchiness!
So where are you folks when I need you, eh? Distract me!!!