Five People We Should All Know

So, I have this strange rash. Yes, it's true. Who wants to hear about an adult having a rash. really, who wants to hear about anyone having a rash?!? I hear that word and cringe. But, I do. It's weird and I don't have any other symptoms to go with it. I have had Shingles before and know how painful that is. While the spots look like Shingles, they don't feel like'em.

Plus, Shingles are often in one area. I have spots, or more like patches, on my torso, legs, and arms. My question is do I call the doctor or not. Seems to be nothing, then I start thinking about the flesh-eating bacteria that can kill you in an instant, starts out innocent enough and then--it's over. Really, it happened to a board member of an organization my mom worked for a few years ago.

I need someone who is a doctor to just look at it or listen to me describe it--not to diagnose is, but to tell me if it is worth the hassle of going to the doctor over. With my kids, usually I ignore rashes for a few days, unless they have other symptoms. If they persist, I will call. Well, while I don't have other symptoms, it is being a bit persistent.

Who can I call? Who do I know that is a doctor or a nurse? That got me thinking. There are five people I think we all need to seek out and have in our lives--for moments just like this.

1) A doctor or nurse. Just to ask things like, do you think I should make an appointment for this? Ever heard of anyone having symptoms like...whatever? Who would you recommend I see for ....whatever? I play tennis today with an infectious disease doc. Let's see if I get the nerve up to say, "Hey Katie, can you take a look at this?" If I chicken out, I play with a nurse on Thursday night.

2) A tech guru. You know, for those weird error messages or a stubborn program that you install, uninstall and reinstall like six times and it still won't work but it is no doubt due to some stupid thing I am, I mean you are doing and I would be too embarrassed to have my professional tech guy out and pay $65 per hour for him to tell me I forgot to click on an icon or accept the user agreement.

3) A psychiatrist or counselor. Really, not for full therapy, but for a good reality check every once in a while or to help me, there I go again, I mean you, analyze a situation or someone's behavior in a non-objective way. Yes, regular old friends can sometimes do this too, but the opinion of a pro would certainly resonate louder with me.

4) A lawyer. Just to clarify those, "that's not legal--is it?" moments where you feel like you are really getting screwed or want to really put the pressure on someone, but are quite sure how to do it. Just someone to say, "hey, what does the law say about this...or that?"

5) A do-it-yourself-er. Got this one covered. My dad is the greatest at this. He cannot walk past something that is awaiting repair or adjustment in my house without getting out tools. And, he is so good at it, we never have to worry. The guy has saved us no doubt, tens of thousands of dollars in home repair/improvement costs. If he can't do it, we have someone out to give us an estimate, I tell him what they say, and he deciphers whether it sounds right or not.

Thoughts on who else is important to have in your life? No mushy stuff here, please. For this post, only self-serving responses that have little, if any value in the real world.

***UPDATE***

When I arrived at tennis yesterday, I told the infectious disease doc I had something I wondered if she could look at for me, just to let me know if I needed to go to the doctor. Her eyes lit up like a child on Christmas morning, "Is it a rash?!" Katie recently relocated here from Denver for her husband's job. She has not been working for a few months, but starts a new job at the med center in January. Needless to say, she was totally excited by the opportunity to look at a rash. She asked lots of doctor-like questions and shared some ideas of what it might be. She even took me in the locker room after tennis to further examine my torso. The good news, she said it appears to be a rash related to a virus and asked me if I had had any fevers or sick kids lately. I had a fever one day, when Andrew was first sick, with the horrible cold is is just getting over. So, yes and yes. That's it! I guess I had something and this is the result. The rash itself isn't contagious---phew!