Monday, August 4, 2008

Anaphylaxis Adventure: Part 4

Friday (8/1)

I decided to tempt fate and attempt a somewhat normal breakfast of coffee, a banana, almonds, and a packet of instant apple cinnamon oatmeal.  Bit of a mistake.  Within 20 minutes, my lips and tongue were tingling again and I had that sheeting feeling of pins and needles in my chest.  By 1:30pm, I was walking myself into the hospital on the corner (closer than the Catholic University ER) and begging for a shot of Epi.  They took my pulse (90) and bp (149/99 ) and didn't want to give me the Epi (as it's not indicated unless the hr and bp are low).  This time, I was able to call one of the foreign support staff from my school, which sent one of the Korean speaking reinforcement team to accompany me to the larger hospital downtown.  There was much running around, as I wasn't sure whether to go to the emergency room first or try to get in to see the allergy doctor.  Finally we decided to go for the allergist, who saw me and prescribed a shot of Epi and another shot of Dexamethasone.  They took a blood sample before giving me the shots and I’m scheduled for a skin prick test on Monday sometime between 1pm and 3pm. 

Hopefully, the skin prick and blood test will shed some light on the situation.  Until then, I’m existing on rice, veggies, bananas, and cheese.  Not entirely unhealthy, but I feel like the fear and uncertainty is driving me batty. Here’s hoping for good news.  

1 comment:

anon said...

Perhaps that little pack of pills is the culprit? Some people have bad reactions to certain steriods... or maybe now almonds can be added to your list??