medical

Since the last time I updated my blog, I've been in to see the dr once more and also had an appointment with an allergist.

The dr appt took place on May 13th. I had dropped 1 pound between visits, which is pretty cool. Now if I can curb this sweet-tooth and keep that drop in weight I'll be happy. My bp was 120/80 which really good too. He decided to send me to play with the vampires one more time to see how my white blood cells were doing. The results showed that they were just slightly elevated, but not as bad as 4 weeks prior. Since my allergies were going slightly that day, we've chalked it up to that. Not much we can do about it as antibiotics only work so long on a person , then quit. All I can do is keep up with my meds and the local honey. The honey seems to be helping somewhat....not great but better than nothing at all.

On the 19th, I had an appointment with an allergist. *Ugh* The nurse took my BP and became concerned that it was rather high (132/78). I told her she'd have a high bp too if she didnt like needles and knew she was going to be used as a human pincushion!! LOL. She explained what all was going to happen and which allergins I was going to be inflicted with. On one wrist I'd have a control which contained nothing but saline and on the other I'd have one with a straight histamine which would show whether I'd been taking my pills or not (and I wasnt supposed to be so you can be sure there was a reaction there). It also acted as a control for the opposite end of the scale. The nurse talked a blue streak asking me questions about where I was from and all. I see all my friends who have experienced me in a chatroom laughing now because they all know that's not the question to ask me. Where Im from and where Im at are two different stories and the one dealing with where Im from is a mile long. She got to laughing (just like everyone else does) when I went into where I was from. LOL. Well I gotta give her credit...it hurt like hell being poked more than 4 dozen times or so BUT she worked FAST.


What one needs to know about me right now is that I have very sensitive skin that likes to break out with the slightest provocations. That said, I can say this....EVERY LAST POKE got a reaction of sorts....yeah....even the saline. The reactions all showed up within seconds of being administered. Now, this isnt to say that all of them were allergic reactions, but they all did welt up a little bit. Whatever she nicked me with on my right arm wasnt so bad. It itched like a mild sunpoisoning...nothing I couldnt really handle. If nothing had been going on with my left arm it would have bugged me somewhat. I hardly noticed the itching when I compared it to my left arm that simply blew up in spots. The histamine spot blew up like a horsefly bite, which was to be expected. Some of the other spots on my left arm were pretty much as bad as the histamine one. The two that were the worst, however, increased to twice the size of the histamine spot EACH and then proceeded to merge into one large welt. When the nurse left, the left arm was just reacting and was definitely a nice shade of hot pink. By the time she got back, I was sniffling , eyes watering, scratching the table (because I itched badly and knew I shouldnt scratch myself) and wasnt sitting still at all in the chair. She took notes on the results and then let me wash up in the sink. I cant tell you the mess I made trying to get all that crap washed off!! She then gave me an alcohol wipe and some cream that was supposed to make the itching all better. Yeah RIGHT!


The specialist came in a bit later. Poor lady...would have been nice to meet her before I was so damn miserable. We discussed what could be done to deal with these allergies of mine. The biggest problems are grasses and weeds, the next is the flowers and trees. Basically, if it pollenates, Im allergic. She told me that she was going to recommend allergy shots but was going to leave the decision up to me. Allergy shots means that I need blood work-up first to narrow down exactly which allergies are the problem (the prick testing was more a broad spectrum to give an idea where to look for problems). Then they'll make a serum of the allergins geared for my body. The serum would be made into 5 different strengths. Each vial of the serum would be 10 times stronger than the one before. Each vial would be 5 shots worth. I'll need to go in once a week for the next 25 weeks for a shot and once those are done, I go in once a month for the next 3-5 years. The big problem is that the allergist said each one was going to be a co-pay for the insurance. *ugh* That's a bit much. I told her I needed to talk it over with hubby so she wanted me to call back in a week. *laffz* I've been so distracted lately I forgot to call her and didnt remember til yesterday. OOOPSIE! Why did I call? Because I was absolutely miserable.


This past Sunday hubby's work had a company picnic. It was an hour out...I really didnt want to go to be honest. I never quite know what to do with myself because invariably everyone there knows everyone else and has been to these things scads of times. Personally, I'd love to go to one of these things and not feel like everyone was looking down their nose at me. I always felt that way with hubby's old job too....with the exception of one couple. I felt like I could just let loose around them and not worry about anything. When hubby said we had an event to go to, my first question was always "are so and so going to be there?" Well here, we dont have that yet so needless to say I sat by myself a good part of the time. I probably came across as a snob. LOL. His boss was really nice though and Im thinking his wife was ok too. She was a bit rushed though as she had to get back to work. I've made a mental note to try and get to know her better next time.


For a few hours, I did fine out in the fresh air. I had to bounce around a bit to make sure my skin didnt get too much sunlight (I tend to get sunpoisoning really bad...didnt used to...but as I get older it gets worse). Things were fine...until the wind shifted and the pollen that was being kicked up by the guy on the riding mower (who was til then downwind of us) wafted over to our picnic area. Within minutes I was starting to feel the effects. The flowers have been doing a number on my sinuses (as you all well know) but the weeds (which took to pollenating this week) made things so much worse. My eyes itch and water like nothing Ive had before and the sneezing! Im so miserable now that I swear at least one of my meds stopped working on me...I havent figured which yet though. I stayed in all day Monday and left only to go shopping on Tuesday (mistake there). By yesterday, I was so miserable I called the allergist's office. No answer so I dropped an email as to how I was feeling. She reiterated she recommended the shots so I talked it over with hubby. I told him that it says alot that Im even considering taking them with how I feel on needles and all. He said it was my decision. So Monday I go in for more bloodwork. I suspect more blood than usual is going to get pulled which means I'll be a very unhappy camper by then. A week after that I have to call the allergist and see what the next step is. Thankfully, I can get my bloodwork and shots done at the clinic near us and not go all the way into Springfield for them.



Benefit for Tori: The comic up there had a guy in a dr's office. The dr is preparing to give the dude a shot and the dude's saying "Man, I hate needles". The funny part of the comic is the dude is COVERED with tatoos..... ~grinz~