is in the hospital emergency room because of a severe allergic reaction. This is the thrd time in 6 years. One year ago, the night before I was to have lunch with Steny Hoyer honoring me (and others) for awards in education, my face blew up. Yesterday I had a mild case of hives, but somehow during the late afternoon and evening one side of my face began to swell up. My wife came home around midnight, took one look at me and insisted that I call in to the on duty nurse for my health care plan. When she found out I was already on benadryl and still had serious swelling around my eye, I was instructed to go to the nearby hospital emergency room.
I got there around 1:30 this morning. I finally got home shortly after 5 - they were very busy last night, and I was not an acute case, so I got bumped down the queue several times. I was able to get a couple of hours of sleep.
The left eye has so much fluid under it that it is difficult to wear my glasses. I am on steroids - thereby being disqualified from the Olympics, he? - benadryl and Pepcid for the next 5 days or so. i can teach, although I look odd, which will perhaps ease the minds of my students who take their AP exam one week from this morning.
Here's the scary part: we do not know what caused this reaction. Six years ago it was the heavy sulfites in red wine. Last year? We never figured it out. Nor do I have a clue as to the cause this time. So I am going to have to be very careful what I eat and monitor for any possible additional reactions. I am now hypersensitive to all kinds of things - breathing the pollen walking home from the hospital was irritating.
I titled this how not to spend your night. But I am lucky, and I know it:
I have medical care and hospitalization. I turn 65 in 3 weeks, and already have my Medicare card. I did not have to worry how I was going to pay for this. I knew how to navigate my way through getting the approval to go in, because I have been through it before. I was close enough to walk, so I did not have to worry about where to put my care, or if my eye might swell up so much that I could not drive.
My reaction, as odd as I now appear (and will appear for the next few days), was actually not all that severe.
In those, and other ways, I am lucky.
But it is a little scary to realize that I am allergic to something I ate or drank, and not know what it was.
This morning no coffee - having a mug of Earl Grey Tea. I had a lot of coffee yesterday and sometimes I do react mildly to coffee. No peanut butter. No beer (sob). But beyond that? I simply do not know.
I know that when I get any kind of allergic reaction, I am a lot more sensitive to other stimuli. That's been true in the past when I have been stung - another allergy.
After the episode with wine 6 years ago I was thoroughly screened for food allergies - testing that cost over 1,000 and was paid for by my insurance - and they could not identify anything. So I was given an Epipen just in case I had another severe reaction. I no longer carry that, but I wonder if perhaps I should. My personal physician is not an allergist. Perhaps when the school year winds down I will seek out the appropriate referral.
Not how to spend your night, in a hospital emergency room. Not pleasant to look at. Not comfortable, with the puffiness and some itching.
But I was lucky and I know it.
Peace.