Agonies

Hello Blog Land! Oh, I've missed you so!


This week has been absolutely INSANE!


It was my first official week at my new job as a nanny, my aunt had a major surgery, and on Wednesday I had a major allergic reaction.


Since, it's a very good place to start, I'll start at the very beginning. I LOVE my new job. I don't have to pick up the little girl until 11:45 each day from preschool, so I have plenty of time to get a few things done in the morning before heading out to Prospect to get her. An average day involves me picking up little T, taking her home to get lunch, taking her to get allergy shots, playing with her or putting her down for a nap, and then going to pick up her older brother, A, from school. We then start on homework, which usually last until their mom gets home. I'm home by 7:00 in the evening, with plenty of time to spare for more errands, homework, and a workout at the gym. It's pretty much the bomb-diggity. This past week, the grandmother was visiting. The family is Iranian and over the course of the week, I learned how to say hello, goodbye, what, and to count to 10 in Farsi(Persian). It's a very rich and beautiful culture.


So, on Wednesday, my Aunt Janel had the remainder of a sarcoma removed as well as a skin graft and reconstruction surgery performed. She was under the knife for about 5 hours. My Mom came down from Indy to transport her to the hospital as well as to be here for moral support. The good thing about my Mom's job is that as a Medical Transcriptionist who works from home, she can just pack up her computer and work anywhere where there is an Internet connection. Since my aunt will be off from work for 4 to 6 weeks, my Mom may be here almost as long taking care of her...that's fine by me! :-)


So, by Wednesday my week was going pretty well and I stopped in at my aunt's house to check on my cousins, just to make sure they weren't burning the house down. I was prepared to stay for a while and sat down at the table to eat. They offered me some chocolate Zucchini bread which was very interesting...I only ate half of the slice before I realized I didn't care for it too much. About 5 minutes later, I realized that my face was itching and it felt like it had swollen a bit. So I went into the bathroom to look in the mirror, and sure enough there were several bumpy places around my mouth. Hmmm. I didn't really think too much of it and just thought, "I'll go home and put some cortisone cream on it". By the time I got back into the kitchen from the bathroom, I was itching pretty much everywhere. I decided then and there that I had to go home and put some cream on my itchies. By the time I got home, I was itching in every conceivable place, and when I raised my shirt up I disovered that I was COVERED in hives. Yes covered. It looked like I had contracted leprosy, and the itching wasn't stopping. I took some benadryl and prayed for it to knock me out so that I wouldn't have to deal with the incessant urge to scratch. I woke up at 3 A.M. still scratching and still covered in hives. I took one more benadryl and went back to bed. I woke up again at 6:00 and realized that the benadryl didn't work, and that I should probably go to the Urgent Care center. I had to wait 2 hours for it to open. When I finally got in to see the doctor, I raised up my shirt and her eyes got as big as saucers and she said, "OOOH! What did you get in to?!" In short, we had no idea what it could have been. She explained to me that many times, the source of hives goes undetermined. She prescribed me Loratadine, Atarex, and a Prednisone dosepak....I started the meds on Thursday but I really didn't get any relief until Friday morning. Atarex is one of the strongest anti-histamines out there, so strong, that you're only supposed to take it at night. I took 2. I slept like a baby and when I woke up on Friday morning, my hives were gone! I was still a little itchy but, it was nowhere near as bad as before. Although the hives are gone, They have left red splotches in their wake. I look like someone beat me up.


But, I'm happy to announce that I am much better! I would not wish that experience on anyone. I felt like I was in hell, suffering the agonies of the damned. There must be a rung of hell that Dante forgot to mention in Inferno that institutes hives as a method of torment. Ha.


Anyway, that was my week in retrospect.


Oh! And we think that it might be the Zucchini bread that set the reaction off. Apparently the lady who made it, makes it completely from scratch and uses weird spices. That was the only thing that I ate that was out of the ordinary.