Allergies Aplenty

Just finished my THREE HOUR appt with my allergist. It was quite the interesting one.

When I initially came in, my lung function was at 48% which is “beyond bad,” according to the doc. He for realsies asked me why I hadn't gone to the ER. But it's honestly better than it is a lot of the time.

I told him that and he just stared.

After steroid and breathing treatments, they got it up to 70%, which was just high enough they could perform the scratch testing.

So. After 64 scratches on my back and 14 injections in my arm, I am allergic to 48 different things. FORTY-EIGHT.

Yeah. I know.

The severe allergies include:
Cats, dogs, horses, Alder trees, Birch trees, and Aspergilla (a common mold).


Other allergies include cows, all birds with feathers, (wait don’t they ALL have feathers?) a dozen or so trees including oak, maple, and sycamore trees, almost all grass grown in Utah, a couple dozen different kinds of weeds, hay, and house dust (See honey, I wasn’t just trying to get out of vacuuming. It really does give me asthma!)


Phew.

It seems the only thing I’m not allergic to is ‘yo mamma.

So the plan?

Immunotherapy shots twice a week. I can only do them if my asthma is under control, and I have to be tested before each shot. My allergist said that almost any other doc would tell me to get rid of my furry lovers or find a new allergist, (I'm a liability you see, but I hear that all the time so whatever) but he’s a dog breeder and shows dogs at the Westminster Show, and he said he knows how important animals are, so he said he’d let me try this, but he said with how severe my allergy is and my asthma, (especially to cats) he’s not even sure the shots will work. Boo to that! But I remain optimistic.

Oh, and he also thinks I might have sinus disease. What is that? I need to see an ENT now. I think I should Google this. Ooh, and get this! My nose and sinuses are so swollen, that he said he wasn’t even sure a feeding tube would be able to get stuffed up there anymore. I think perhaps that’s like the only good thing to come of this congestion. And he wasn’t surprised that my allergies and asthma seemed to begin when my ED was really severe. Weird connection, eh?

He also said that “People like you are the ones who die of asthma every year. I’m not trying to scare you. I just want you to know.”


Gee. Thanks.

So I guess there goes my dreams of, like, becoming a farmer or whatever. Oh darn.