Snow days

For the last three weeks, we have had at least one snow day each week, sometimes more, and/or a delayed opening.  The public schools have closed for an entire week or most of the week for the past three weeks.  Needless to say, there are a lot of angry parents.  It's not really that the weather has been consistently bad or dangerous, there were a few days, but not enough to justify the continuous closings.  It feels like people just don't want to go out in it and are jumping to closings when they're not really necessary.  

In other news, my best friend was correct about the paint color of our house, we were indeed able to find our house in a snowstorm.  We thought it looked lovely.  How's winter treating you?

The 2015 Oscars

I'm staying up very late to watch the show.  So far the highlights for the Oscars:  Patricia Arquette's speech, the performance of Glory, and Lady Gaga's performance of The Sound of Music.  The first hour and a half was a waste, this last hour was worth waiting for.  And now, the acceptance speech by Graham Moore, who won for best adapted screenplay for The Imitation Game.  Ooh, surprise!  I hadn't expected Eddie Redmayne.  I'm glad he won.  Okay, back to watching.

Sigh

Am I up to day 16 of hives?  They are moderately under control, but still not gone, I keep having wheezing and sore throat that goes away, then returns.  I also have bad indigestion that's becoming regular.  I'm not prone to indigestion, so this is a new experience for me.  I had a blood test on Monday.  I don't know how long it will take to get results.  The doctor's office is supposed to call me tomorrow.  I do not like this turn my health has taken. Trying hard to be patient while we figure this out.

11 Days with hives

I am including pictures with this post, they are not of me, but of some other poor soul who suffered from the same thing. So 9 days ago, I began itching during the day, but didn't think much of it. It being winter and dry here, itching is normal. By the time I got home after work though, I ITCHED like crazy, felt hot, and was beginning to hurt in various spots on my body. When I took my clothes off, I discovered an array of problems. 1. I had a lot of little red spots all over that looked like they had the potential to become problems. 2. I also had bigger red splotches that looked angry, and then 3. I had raised hives all over as well. I believe these were the three stages of my hives. Here are some pictures of what I'm talking about.
 

Unfortunately, I was supposed to get up very early the next day to go out of town. I have had hives a couple of times in my life before, and I was always able to take Benadryl and a few hours later they would be gone, so this was my plan of action this time.  I took meds and went to bed, thinking all would be better in the morning.  Well, the hives were still there Wednesday morning, and now I also had a bad cold, when I really needed to leave for the airport.  They weren't any worse, but weren't gone either.  I had recently begun taking a new medicine for cholesterol and so figured that was the cause of the allergic reaction.  I stopped taking the cholesterol drug, took more Benadryl and went to the airport.  I figured it would take a few days for the cholesterol drugs to get out of my system, so I kept taking Benadryl, and soldiered on.  By the time I returned home on Sunday evening, I had been dealing with hives for 5 days.  My next plan was to go directly to my allergist's office first thing in the morning and be waiting when they opened, and get them to see me without an appointment.  They did, and diagnosed it as an allergic reaction, which, d'uh, I already knew that.

The doctor prescribed a menthol cream, and a couple of heavy duty anti-histamines to be taken at the same time to knock the allergy out, however, I wasn't supposed to take the anti-histamines until they could run tests on me to figure out what I was reacting to.  The earliest they could do this was Friday.  Well, Tuesday morning my hives got worse than they ever were and I was wheezing.  I had to take the meds immediately.

So today, Friday, the eleventh day after all this began, the hives are gone, only itchy red spots remain, and I'm supposed to stay on the anti-histamines for quite some time, then later get test for all my allergies all over again.  I have no idea what I could be reacting to, because the hives started before I left town and continued after I returned.  They lasted longer than the time it would take for the new meds to get out of my system.  Viruses can sometimes caused hives, but I got over my cold and still had hives.  I bought different clothes and wore them while out of town because I thought I might have developed an allergy to laundry detergeant. So, I'm at a loss over what was the constant, ever present allergen that was causing all the trouble.  I sure hope they can figure this out. 

Leavin' 'Nawlins

M had a conference to attend in New Orleans, so I tagged along, and got in a visit with my sister. It had the makings of a great mini-vacation, but the night before we left, I broke out in hives. No problem, I had started on a new medicine a couple days earlier, so I figured it was an allergic reaction and stopped taking the meds. The first day I woke up in New Orleans, I had a cold. So 6 days later, I still have my cold, and I still have hives. I have been popping anti-histamines and cold meds round the clock and am still not better. I will call the doctor first thing Monday and hope for the best.