My short life as a tan chick

As a general rule, I don't tan.  So far in my life, the best tans I've ever had either came from a Fake n Bake tanning booth, or a Spray on tan from a local beauty salon (with the exception of one tragic session that turned me darker than a dark mahogany table, but that's a whole other blog!)  I typically burn quite easily, and and if I spent the entire summer in very small bursts (say 15 minutes tops) in the sun, by the end of summer I might have a very nice light brown color that you could almost differentiate between my pasty white "where the sun don't shine parts."   To top all of that off, I'm on medication for Sarcoidosis that warns against sun exposure, and it usually drains the life out of me when I do get out there for long (another Sarcoidosis related issue) so I avoid being out there in it for the most part.  I should also add here, that I have always disliked the fact that I could never get that bronzed sun goddess look even with my fake tanning efforts!

Now, with all of that being said, imagine my pleasant surprise a few weeks ago when people started commenting on my tan.  Huh?  "Yeah, you look really tan still, how awesome"   WHAT?  I didn't really notice at first.. but then after my showers I started to see it a little.  In fact, I admired it.  I've always been a firm believer that tan fat looks WAY better than white fat, and I rather enjoyed seeing my chest and face looking healthy and tan.  At first I just thought it was because I'd had a few minutes too many exposure to the great outdoors, and what little tan I had from summer was intensified somewhat.  And then I saw a few recent  photos of myself and I thought.. "wow, I really do look more tan!"  BONUS!  And after thinking about it a little more I decided it was because I lightened my hair, and my skin just looked diferent... better... sweeeet!

Two days ago I took a picture of myself and my friend Tricia at a football game/fundraiser.  I looked at the picture and kind of freaked out a little.  It's the picture at the top of this blog.  Now, to some of you, that might not look real tan, but for me, it's huge.  I noticed it in another photo of myself a week ago, but I REALLY noticed it in this photo. And it just didn't feel right.  I'm never more tan than Tricia.. never.  And I asked her right after the picture if I looked tanner to her and we compared arms, and yeah, it wasn't right.  And that night I noticed that no matter how much lotion I've been using on my skin lately, it's still soo dry, and seemed like it was getting harder.  Harder?  Lovely.  Alligator skin.  But hey.. it's TAN alligator skin dammit, and I defend my lapse in judgment and blame it on being blinded by my tan-ness.  I should have known better.
And then last night my mom and dad came over for dinner, and this morning my mom told me that she thought I looked so healthy and tan (there's that word again) last night while we were eating.. but since I had already voiced my little bit of concern to her about the tan color earlier yesterday, she thought maybe I should call the doctor today.  I had already decided to do that anyway.  So, that's what I did.  And for all of my facebook friends who know via my status update earlier today that I was sitting in the doctor's office this afternoon waiting on test results, that's why.  I went to have my tan checked out.  I felt really stupid calling their office this morning and attempting to detail what was wrong with me.... "uhmmm I'm calling because I have a tan.. well, I'm not really sure what it is, but I don't tan, and I have a tan".  I mean, who calls the doctor because they have a tan?  But fortunately, they know me well enough there by now, and they know my health issues, and they called me back shortly and said "We need to see you today."   Ahhh.  Okay, so I felt a little less stupid at that point.

Turns out that my healthy looking new tan is really a symptom of my medication making me sicker.  Figures.  Just flippin figures! Unfortunately both of my main meds to attempt to stop Sarcoidosis can have this particular side effect but they stopped the newest one first.  They gave me a dose of steroids, and I'll go back on Monday to see where we're at.  After that it's back to square one with the medication cocktail again... and back to my un-tan self! So long tan!  I will miss you!