Private message to Poppy Pomfrey

[alt_umbridge]

Poppy -

I do hate to bother you on a Saturday evening, but really, you’ve assured us ever so many times that you’d rather hear about something sooner, while it’s a small problem, and I'm taking you at your word.

I've had trouble the past few days with my feet and ankles itching, and it’s far worse tonight. I’m sure it must be something simple - this week has been entirely irregular after all. Maybe it’s the dry winter air, or the cold when I was observing Aurora's evening classes on Wednesday, or something of the kind.

i’m normally just as healthy as anything (and so very careful to maintain a regular schedule, eat and sleep far better than most staff here seem to manage.) These little annoyances are so terribly frustrating.

At any rate, would you have a moment to see me this evening, perhaps, or if not, first thing tomorrow?

Comments

[alt_poppy]

Of course, you may come up. You might wish to wait half an hour or so, as I've just had two students arrive with rather acute intestinal complaints. I've already settled them in and given them their potions, so things here should be much less exciting twenty or thirty minutes from now. I'm sure the elves will have things tidied up straightaway.

Itching, you say? It could quite well be the cold; our weather, while in no way unseasonable or unexpected, is certainly announcing the approach of winter. This castle's extremes prove difficult for many people. It's higher reaches tend to be drafty and dry, while it's lower areas hold damp and have a tendency to cold mouldering. None of it's kind to the skin. Any of it could be the source of your difficulties.

[alt_umbridge]

Thank you for the warning, yes. I will wait.

You are quite right about the castle. Most unpleasant, really. You would think that the little details like proper heating and removing the damp would have been solved sometime in the last thousand years. Still, I suppose we must all serve where we're called.

I can't think what's caused this, really. So very irritating.

[alt_poppy]

Well, and change itself can sometimes cause us difficulties. The differences between Scotland and New London, between this castle and the comforts of home, between old routines and new ones here--all of those rather abrupt shifts may have accumulated and be causing your system to register its complaints in a physical way now.

But you say the itching has only just begun and there were no earlier signs of anything amiss?

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Yes, just recently. I noticed it particularly yesterday and today, and can't imagine it's lasted more than a day or two beyond that.

I've never been prone to such things. Illness, all those supposed 'sensitive skins', have always struck me as the sign of a weak will.

[alt_poppy]

It sounds as if you come from healthy stock, then! No skin troubles that run in the family, then?

I know you've said that you yourself have always been quite healthy, but I really should ask whether there are any remedies or preparations that you take on a regular or occasional basis. (And if the latter, then is there anything you've taken recently that we should consider as a contributing agent?)

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Nothing at all like that. As to family history, they both died quite young, but that's merely made me the more determined to attend to the smallest health concern promptly. And of causes quite unrelated here.

And my last Healer's visit, last spring, found everything in excellent working order. Right living, avoiding rich foods, all the best advice.

As to remedies and preparations, nothing beyond a few cosmetic treatments, and nothing I've changed recently. I frankly distrust many of the apothecary potions, always have.

[alt_poppy]

Quite sensible of you.

Well. So that presumably rules out scent or bath oils, but to be thorough, are you using any creams or unguents to help with dry skin? Anything that might be applied topically should be suspect.

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Nothing I've not used for years. And not on my feet, just my hands. Dry skin does catch so on parchment, really.

I can bring the jar up, but it's nothing at all fancy: beeswax and almond oil, rose and lavender. And as I say, I've used it for decades now, with no sign of problem.

[alt_poppy]

You've not had any redness or itching on your hands at all? One wishes that would definitively rule out the ointment, but with dermatological irritations, the point of contact is sometimes not the site where trouble flares. (Mind you, it generally is that simple, but not always.)

Since we're considering the ointment, I must ask whether you blend it yourself.

If one is not the preparer (and sometimes even then) one cannot tell when a preparation may have some substitution in its ingredients, and it's possible that even a change in the type of lavender or in the source of the beeswax could introduce an irritant in a substance you've used for years. And that's not to mention the chance of a contaminant introduced via the processing of the almond oil.

Likely there's nothing I could tell from the jar. If it's an irritant there, it may well be something that is harmless to most users but is provoking havoc in your system because of some unhappy quirk of your constitution and its elements.

And, of course, it may not be the ointment at all. The trouble could be with something you've ingested or come in contact with in another way. You mention parchment, and I must say that I have seen my share of students over the years with sensitivities to parchment itself or to the substances used in preparing it for our use. But again, it's most likely to irritate the hands.

You've not eaten anything recently that you do not usually consume? Tis the season, after all, for holiday hampers to begin arriving, filled with rarities and special treats.

[alt_umbridge]

Nothing noticeable on the hands, no. I don't blend it myself, usually, but get it from a school friend who does - one does like to support little cottage industries when people are trying to better themselves - but as I say, she's been using the same methods for years.

I send the holiday baskets on, generally. Always have. Too much sugar and very little to my tastes. It's an unnecessary indulgence. I limit myself to the occasional rosewater candie, but again, not very often.

Perhaps it is something with being out in the wind more on Wednesday, the more I think about it. I keep telling Aurora it can't be healthy.

[alt_poppy]

Well, or I was just wondering if it mightn't be something that you've come in contact with whilst out supervising the YPL exercises in the evenings. The wind carries all sorts of things around the grounds--grasses and plant matter, debris from the Creature stalls and the lakeshore and the forest. There's no telling.

Well, my dear, do come up. I'll have a look and we can consider whether to run a few trials to see if we could isolate what is causing your difficulty.

I don't wish to extinguish hope, but I should tell you that this has been a term in which I've seen an unprecedented uptick in allergies with mysterious sources. I mention it because the great majority of the symptoms have been dermatological--mostly afflicting hands and arms, but yours would not be the first to include other extremities.

[alt_umbridge]

I'll come right up, then.

This is such a poorly designed building in so many ways. And the insistence on all these entirely unsanitary activities. I suppose it's a marvel there aren't more problems.

I'm surprised to hear there's other issues of this kind - I'd gathered that your most recent evaluation vigorously concluded you were entirely competent to handle the vast majority of student complaints. Perhaps we should talk about other tendencies you've noticed this term, and I might put in a good word with those who could offer additional resources.