Allergy Test

I've been allergic to cats most of my life. But I'm not someone who avoids going into a house with cats in it. Claritin worked well and if I didn't take Claritin I was usually ok if it was a shorter visit and I didn't pet that cat. Sean, my college boyfriend, would wheeze if he got near a cat. My sister has trouble being in any house that has a cat. I would just get itchy. If I was stupid enough to touch my face I would get really blotchy and my eyes would water while appearing to be bright green.

But the thing is, I get blotchy really easily. Really. My skin will inflamed with the slightest irritant. Sometimes, this redness is an unpleasant and itchy. Other times, I don't realize my skin looks like I have been sunburned and I have eczema until someone points it out mildly disgusted and says, "Oh my what happened, doesn't that hurt?" And I don't think they always believe me when I say no. Because of this issue, I will not be wearing a necklace with my wedding dress.

Getting back to the cats, I've never felt like I was horribly allergic until this past Christmas. I stayed with Robbin's old roommate Chad and his girlfriend Lauren along with their 5 cats and 2 dogs. I usually just double dose on Clartin, avoid petting the cats and everything is ok. That didn't work this time. I ended up wheezing. I wanted to all I could to either stay in Robbin's old room (where the cats don't go) or leave the house. So, I decided it was time to go to the allergy doc and get some big girl drugs.

Yesterday I had that appointment. I explained what happened and that I was needed something to take for when I was around the cats. She asked me about other allergies. I mentioned that I sneezed when I was around fresh cut grass and dust, but that I wasn't worried about that. Also, who doesn't sneeze around dust? She had me to spirometry test and I guess I failed. They had me retake it 5 times over the 90 minutes I was there. Failed each time. I think they thought I didn't understand the instructions because they kept explaining, "No you have to keep exhaling." Um there is no more air in my lungs, really. I don't like failing tests.

Anyway, then they did the allergy prick test. Remember that my skin is really sensitive?



This picture is before it got bad. I know that when i took the pick I thought my arm looked much more red and I wished my EN-V would capture it. Eventually some of the welts merged together and most looked like a very bad mosquito bite. The smallest reactions were the 2 controls of histamine and water. I still had welts from dust and grass this morning but they're gone now.

Anyway, she prescribed me Nasonex, Cingulair, and Alavert (ooc). This seems like a lot of drugs. Because really, I think I'm okay aside from the cats. Maybe I've just been coping and I don't feel as good as I could. The lung test scared me a little, But maybe they were right and I just wasn't doing it right. I've never felt like I had trouble breathing (except with the cats at Christmas). Since being in the doc's office I have noticed a slight t tightness in my chest and that maybe I'm not breathing a deeply I could. But maybe that has more to do with the 23 allergens she poked in my arm than with what I encounter in my daily life.

Harpist

I'm considering hiring a harpist for my ceremony music and the cocktail hour before the reception. It is a bit novel. It seems less imposing (in terms of space used) than a quartet. And I really do not want to walk down the aisle to a boom box.

But is a harpist too fancy?

Air Florida Flight 90

I remember watching a TV movie about this plane crash when I was 6. I was very very emotionally involved with the movie..for a 6 year old. I remember that a woman's baby was lost and I didn't understand why she didn't hold on to him and I kept thinking he would be found. I remember that there was an odd side story about a guy who was worried he was going to miss his plane because of the horrible traffic that day & it was implied that his flight was the one who crashed into the bridge, while he was in traffic on the bridge. I remember there was a guy who kept helping others grab the helicopter rope instead of taking it himself. I remember my parents had to explain to me that grabbing the rope was harder than I thought it would be. And I also remember not understanding how that man who was helping everyone else could have died. The camera panned back to where he had been and he was gone. How could that have happened? Why didn't someone tell the helicopter pilot to hurry up and go back and get him? Why weren't there 2 helicopters? Why didn't they use 2 ropes each time they tried to save someone? If they had done that the first time, he would not have died. Also, the baby is okay, right? They are going to find the baby, right? These were my six year old thoughts.

At 31, I have a much better appreciation now of course about how fast everything happened and how paralyzed Washington DC was to get more assistance to the crash. The flight that landed in the Hudson River yesterday made me think of that TV movie so I read about Flight 90 online. They named the bridge after the man, Arland D. Williams Jr., who died assisting the other survivors.

So this is a tangent...but mostly why I thought of Flight 90. There are headlines from survivors saying, God was looking out for them and that this was a miracle. I think God looks out for all of us; I don't doubt he was looking out for those passengers. And I thank God for many things in my life; if I survived a plane crash I am sure I would Thank God. But should I die in that crash instead, does that mean that God shouldn't be thanked? And was God not with the passengers of Flight 90 in their final moments? I'm not criticizing for thanking God. It just opened the why do bad things happen question again for me.

Then there is the miracle portion of this. The first I heard of the crash I had just turned on the news and it was reported (paraphrasing) "Due to the thoughtful, skilled, calm pilot and the quick and well trained rescue team as well as the aid of bystanders, all 155 people survived. It was nothing short of a miracle." To me that sounds like some great people; not a miracle. Maybe it's a miracle in the way I think the fishes and the loaves and the endless bottles of wine was a miracle; people were simply so moved by Jesus' words they shared with those that had no fish or bread or wine. Is it a miracle that everyone responded in a way we all wish we would respond in the face of a disaster?

Okay. Done with the deeps thoughts.

Of course it is cold, it is January and you live in Chicago.

I think I am more annoyed with people complaining about the weather than the actual bitter cold. I'm not talking about talking about the weather or saying you're cold or that you have to shovel the snow or that stuff.

I'm talking about the people who are acting like it is worst thing that has every happened is that there is a snow storm and there is a below zero windchill. In Chicago. In January.

Tivo=Productivity

Finishing a program on my Tivo and deleting off of the "Now Playing" list can make me feel productive; like crossing an item off a to do list.

New Year's