MEComposing

'Orrible!

All I knew was I ate pancakes for breakfast. One pancake actually from a MAYA mixture (with egg), to which I added less than a teaspoon of syrup. (May I just add that we have the same every 3 weeks or so for breakfast, it's all regular fare)

Within 20 minutes, my eyes started getting red and itchy and well... swell-y. I also started getting itchy all over. I also started gasping for breath. I also had to vomit out what I had for breakfast.

And then everything just got worse... even after a 10 mg. Iterax.

As fate would have it, Wednesday found me forcing my cousin to make a decision of bringing Pyro with her to accompany me to the ER. Nobody else was home. I couldn't wait for JRA anymore because I was red-blue in the face already.

It took every ounce of will to live to get dressed and walk the length of our street. I had to squat on the pavement and WILL myself to be able to wait till I get help... while my cousin flagged cab after cab after cab.

It seemed like forever before fate smiled upon me that morning.

Good thing the driver got equally alarmed at how PUFFED and RED I was getting... he drove maniacally!

Good thing too, that MaDocs ER was a little quiet.

The security guard assisted my cousin instead of me (I had the PRESENCE OF MIND and VANITY to don a pair of shades), seeing her carrying a bald tot with a mask on.

Howell.

After 2 drugs (IV), 2 nebulization cycles (which caused tremors the whole day) and some 5 hours of oxygen... I was stable enough to be sent home.

I just missed an anaphylactic shock that could have really spoiled my LIVING plans.

*~*

Doctors and nurses alike coo'd over Pyro, who was slipperless and sockless, and found him too cute for words.

Oh and yeah, they were a fan of Jack-Jack too, which Py happened to be clutching with him to the hospital.

Weirdly enough, he didn't call attention to himself, and didn't show panic.

I had the PRESENCE OF MIND again to ask my cousin to cover his eyes lest he gets traumatized.

*~*

JRA spent the whole Tues night at work. Imagine having me call him at 7:30 AM that Wednesday morning, gasping for breath, telling him he has to bring me to the hospital.

Imagine him being unable to immediately get a cab too... and fearing he can't get to me in time during the long ride from Bicutan to MaDocs...

Talk about a bad morning for my beloved.

And to further demonstrate how stressed and rattled he was... he arrived on the scene, watching me twitch here and there (because my body was panicking and not relaxing enough to let to oxygen do its work), and immediately grabbed my wrist...

HARD

Exactly where the IV needle was (see, in case I don't respond to the drugs, they'd have to inject me some more, and left this needle with some sort of stopper on my right wrist).

I had the PRESENCE OF MIND to slap his arm!

*~*

I was actually CALM inside, while doctors and nurses and interns surrounded my bed. In fact, I was even talkative... always motioning to my cousn to tell the good care givers that I managed to take one lousy antihistamine... that they could call my allergologist if things get really BAD... that am allergic to pain relievers... that it was the first time I got rashes that's not from liquor-intake, etc

I even had the PRESENCE OF MIND to don nice undies (although I kept wondering talaga why nobody at the ER thought to unclasp my brassiere... like duh, that's SOP in giving first aid, esply since I was there not because I looked like Garfield, but because I was like a fish out of sea) in case they have to open my shirt up and revive me using electric gadgets that are no fun...

I even had the PRESENCE OF MIND to tell myself that I'd blog about JRA and the needle thing... OUCH!

*~*

We didn't know just how blessed we were that day.

I was lying in my bed, naked (because I was freshly showered...and till about 10 minutes ago planned to go to work, as usual), coughing as I tried to NOT PANIC and SUMMON chocolates (because I knew I wouldn't eat sugar by the spoonful)...

Pyro's sleep was seemingly disturbed by my coughing...

He started crying... he's been a bawler since he got sick... so there I was, fighting to LIVE...

While aching because for the first time in our lives, I couldn't come to comfort my nephew...

And I couldn't then really shout for my cousin (who was downstairs, in the CR).

I heard footsteps and then I heard my cousin saying soothing words... and Pyro quieted down.

It was only after we've gone home and all... during dinner at that, that we realized that PYRO WENT DOWNSTAIRS ON HIS OWN!

I thought Ate Gang went to him.

Ate Gang thought I brought Pyro down.

When we realized this, we knew how narrowly we missed real tragedy that day.

For Py, cryng and in his PJs, could have easily fallen down the stairs... smack dab into this computer (with table).

Worst case scenario... internal hemorrhaging (like what did Dolphy's 4th child in) for him...

And i'd still have been upstairs, clutching my neck for breath.

And my cousin, bless her, could have lost either or both of us.

Thank heavens for the guardian angel watching over him.

*~*

I was CALM. But because I was groggy, I mistook the 12 o'clock prayer as someone giving someone else his last rites.

And true enough, seeing all doctors and nurses and interns surrounding another bed... and covering it up... I felt pity that someone didn't make it.

That someone turned out ALIVE (still)... and a celebrity to boot. Seems Wycoco had an aneurism or something... (am too lazy to search for updates about his health, sorry).

*~*

Thursday found my a$$ in so much pain.

A visit to my allergologist resulted in:
1) a change in prescription (seems i didn't need the steroids offered by Claricort)
2) a schedule of desensitization treatments (to last for 3-5 months, and cover 8 allergens... which will hopefully protect me for 3 years) next year (which basically means more injections)
3) knowledge that am the 10th case my doctor has met who got allergic reactions from eating pancakes... and that it could be because the mix was contaminated, by either a bug or a tear in the packaging (which can only ba FATAL to people like me, as proven by my entire household who ate the same thing that morning)
4) a strict change in diet to follow for a month
5) Globulin (antibodies) shots on my dorsogluteal (PIGE) that's still sore till now
6) an emergency kit prescription

It's allergy season for me, based from my skin allergy test (based on the aero-allergens and perennials)... and with the wedding stress, my allergologist wasn't surprised my immune system was DOWN... thus, the exaggerated hypersensitivity. Thus, the need to boost my immune system, if only for the next 3 months.

Anyway, fellow sufferers from allergic rhinitis, and drug and food allergies... am not advising you get all the treatments, tests am getting. But it would be wise to discuss them with your doctor, and let yourself have options...

The skin test, for example, can at least show you which food/allergens can combine and connive to bring about a rhinitis episode... and which things to avoid when you're desperately trying NOT TO GET SICK...

The antibodies shot, on the other hand, can offer relief for those who break out in hives/rashes when cold season is upon us (and seemingly for no other reason, and the rashes appear usually a night).

The emergency kit is actually just an Adrenaline/Epinephrine ampule and syringe/needle... but you'd need someone who can CORRECTLY get .2 cc and inject you with it... Overdose of such COULD BE FATAL. And administration is only justified when the patient is having trouble breathing.

Angioedema (rashes and swelling of eyes) isn't enough. But when air passages constrict, then it really is an emergency!

*~*

I've just consumed half of my intended budget for a new fone on medical bills/expenses.

And my digicam is still broken.

I have every right to feel bad!

And every reason to feel blessed.