Hungry Jack’s Bacon Double Cheeseburger with mushrooms …and the truth about my hands
I had lunch with Jac today at Hungry Jack’s in Mount Lawley. We were in Mt Lawley because I had to go to the doctor (more on that later). We’ve both been absolutely dying to try the new Bacon Double Cheeseburger with Mushrooms, and so that’s exactly what we each had.
The first thing I did when I had unwrapped my burger was lift up the crown and look inside (since we ordered the same burger for once, Jac was thrilled that I didn’t need to photograph her food! She didn’t waste any time stuffing her face while I examined, rotated and photographed my burger). As you can see, the double beef patties are almost hidden by oozey melted yellow cheese. On top of the bacon is lots of gooey mayonaise and the ‘mushroom sauce’. The mayo content bordered on the edge of “too much!”. If you weren’t a saucy sort of person (heh) you would definitely think there was too much mayo. Luckily Jac and I are both saucy people. Heheheheh.
Sitting at the table next to us was the HJ’s store manager, working on her rosters. I wonder what she thought of the customer posing her burger and taking photographs. She didn’t say anything, so I guess she wasn’t too fazed (probably she was thinking “Geez, tourists are getting weirder and weirder!”)
More burger shots (left, with escaping mushroom; right, after the first bite )
And of course, fries.
I really enjoyed the burger – Jac said she thought the McDonald’s Double Beef and Bacon Cheeseburger (posted recently) was nicer, mainly because the McDonald’s burger has barbecue sauce rather than mayonaise in it. If the Bacon Double Cheeseburger with Mushrooms sounds like something you’d like I highly recommend you go try it!
Okay, the next bit is not about food, and if you’re easily grossed out don’t read any further. If you’re a bit of a sticky beak and like reading about people’s personal stuff, keep reading!
On Tuesdays I don’t have to teach class. Usually, I work on my thesis the whole day. But today, Jac drove me to our doctor in Mount Lawley. Even though we don’t live out that way anymore, he’s just such a good doctor that we go to him for important stuff. Generic-fever-I-need-a-medical-certificate-for-work type things we go to one of the local docs for. But for the more personal stuff we go to Mount Lawley. So before we had our lunch date, we went to see the doctor.
For the past 6-8 months I’ve had really bad eczema on my hands. It’s gotten so bad lately I’ve been scratching it in my sleep (Jac has had to stop me, in the middle of the night). It’s just so horrible. I wake up, realising I must’ve scratched in my sleep because my hands are all painful, red and bleeding. It itches like crazy (OHMYGOD it itches!), I scratch it, it bleeds, it hurts like hell, just as it looks like it might actually be healing it still itches, I scratch it, it bleeds again (repeat cycle). I think our doctor was a little shocked at the sight of my hands today. They look so terrible. I know, I know, I should’ve done something about it sooner. But it’s so easy to let things slip when you’re busy and struggling to keep up with the crap that’s keeping you busy in the first place. I had a bit of a crisis recently when I was in bed trying to sleep; my hands were really hurting and I felt upset because I was in pain and I kept thinking about how self-conscious I feel on the train every morning because I know people are looking at my unsightly hands. I know my students look at my hands in class (though they’ve been very polite and haven’t asked me what’s wrong with them -yet). I got a little weepy and pathetic thinking about all of this. Poor Jac, she was really great. The next day she rang and made me an appointment to see our doctor.
I’m constantly itching or in pain (or both at the same time, which is a strange feeling to have. I think the itch overpowers the pain, which is so very bad). I’ve been trying out various moisturising creams (which of course stings like hell when my hands are all raw and scratched up), avoiding washing my hands too much, wearing gloves when cooking to avoid having to wash hands afterwards etc etc. For me, the tricky thing with creams and ointments is not using something too greasy, as I need to be able to use my laptop computer all day and the last thing I need is greasy stuff all over the laptop. I tried this honey-based ointment which was really good, but way way too greasy (Pixel was sad I stopped using it. She used to lick my fingers when I had it on. I guess she has a sweet tooth). I’ve switched from soap to non-soap body wash specifically designed for people with skin problems. Well, as of today I’ve got a new supply of prescription ointments and a new strategy to try and get my hands healed and moisturised. I’ve also got a tube of the delightfully named Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream, which I’ve begun to use today – it really is good. It’s not too greasy, odourless and seems to work really well. Apparently it’s recommended by dermatologists. Speaking of which, I’ve got a letter of referral to a dermatologist too, if I decide to go see one. But our doctor is confident we can get this sorted out. It really is dependent on two things.
First, I have to keep my hands moisturised and keep putting back the oils in my skin. I can’t let them get dry because then they will itch and peel and continue to give me grief. Second, most important and where I have been REALLY going wrong, I must not scratch. Our doctor said my hands are pretty much what you’d call infected right now, and they will not heal if I scratch them and keep putting germs back into the infected/affected areas. I’ve been really focused today on not scratching. Whenever I’ve wanted to scratch, I’ve put more cream on to soothe the itchiness. Sometimes it still itches despite whatever I’ve done, but I’ve kept myself from scratching by focusing on the healing. In the last week, I’ve been carrying around my little collection of creams/ointments in a little box to uni each day so that I can keep reapplying throughout the day (I told Jac today I want one of those 1980s Scooby-Doo lunchboxes with a handle to carry my little collection of tubes around the place). This morning while my prescription was being made up we bought me a couple of pairs of cotton gloves from the chemist too, specially designed for people who have sensitive skin who are prone to contact dermatitis. I’ll be wearing them to bed tonight, with my hands greased up in ointment. Fingers crossed there will be no scratching. I’m so desperate to get this under control I might even wear my gloves in class. Sure, I’ll look weird wearing white cotton gloves, but I don’t mind explaining to my classes why I’ve got them on. I’d rather they saw them in gloves than all scabby and dry and scratched up, which is how they’ve been seeing them so far.
So now you know about my hands.