Random Thoughts & Musings

I've recently developed some new food allergies, so I went for comprehensive allergy testing on Tuesday. A nurse put a bunch of tiny holes in my back and put allergens in them, then waited to see what puffed up and complained. The nurse said that if those spots itched, it was normal, but if anywhere else on my body itched, it wasn't normal, and I was supposed to tell them if something out of the ordinary happened.

I sat in the consultation room until the doctor came in, reading 2-year-old magazines with articles about how much J.Lo loved Ben while my back started itching and crawling and burning and I wasn't allowed to touch it.

The doctor came in eventually with his handy clipboard and when he saw my back, his eyes widened and he swooped over and said, "Oh wow!" in a surprised but horrified tone of voice. He promptly started making notes and asking questions. We amiably discussed family histories, etc., while my back ran away screaming.

When the doctor started winding down, the nurse came back in with information for him and she stopped inside the door, stared at my back, and said, "Oh my goodness!" She then leaned out the door and said, "Psst--!" and another nurse arrived and made similar noises. I was a veritable freak show of horrified fascination.

I started noticing that the back of my right arm was itching quite a lot--it turned out that my reaction to the tree-based allergens was so intense that the reaction had started crawling up my arm. The doctor made more half-laughing wow noises. He said I was reactive to every outdoor allergen except dogs and feathers, but he was only 80% sure of those not being reactive, because the surface test has a large error margin for false negatives. They could have injected more dog and feather allergens into me to make sure, but he figured that my body was probably under enough stress as it was, trying to cope with 30+ allergens simultaneously.

At that point, he offered to put topical Benadryl on my back and arm. Despite the fact that I was supposed to go to a business meeting directly after the appointment and the cream would probably stain my dress shirt, I eagerly accepted the relief. I spent the business meeting sitting forward the entire time. I must have looked really interested in the proceedings.

jcobleigh said I still had spots on my back this morning. The blood tests for the food allergies should be in in another three weeks.

I didn't think I was that fragile! :)