Armed with an Epi-pen!

Original Post:  http://sweettoothblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/armed-with-an-epi-pen/

Today was a very busy day for me!  I had to break up bright dark? and early because of a road assessment that was scheduled for today.  This class has taken forever to complete – 25hrs in class and 10hrs (5 classes, 2hrs each) of driving.   The driving classes are difficult to schedule so this whole process is taking a long time!

But it’s over!

And I passed! (82%)  I am not sure ‘how’ good 82% is but I know it’s better than Dave hehe!  He got an 80%!  :p

After the driving assessment I headed to work for a few hours but then I had to head out again to go to an allergy specialist.  I’ve been super excited to go to this appointment because finally… FINALLY some real allergy testing can be completed on me.  See… I know I am allergic to nuts, I am just not sure which ones, so I steer clear of them all. 

Unfortunately it is pretty clear that I am allergic to several nuts.  The nurse pricked me with oils of various nuts from peanuts, to hazelnuts, to walnuts, to almonds… you get the picture and if not, then here you go:

 

There were three distinct swells, one minor, one questionable and three that had no change.

The first dot on the very left was peanuts and it was #3 on the ‘swollen’ scale.  Hazelnuts (5th from the left) were the worst.  It swelled substantially and was quite red and itchy.  I can’t remember what the other two were – the doctor ran through the results so fast and I thought I was going to get to keep the paperwork but I did not.  We also did some tests for various other things – tree pollen, grass, cats, dogs, etc etc.  The list really goes on for that:

The results for this test were as expected:  Tree pollen was quite high and cats were the worst… even worse than the Hazelnut reaction.  So bad that it is 10pm and my cat dot is still swollen whereas the other dots have de-swelled.  Oh and get this… the doc’s recommendation on my paperwork:  Avoidance: cats: suggest removal from home.  uhh… YAH RIGHT!!

The doc wants to run some additional blood work because he said my results were “interesting”.  Apparently some of the nuts I got a reaction to fall within the ‘tree pollen’ category and others that should, did not.  He tried explaining something to me but it got all biology on my ass so I kind of tuned out.  He did catch my interest when he gave me some homework and told me to Google (I love my Googling!) “Oral Allergy Syndrome”.  After my blood test results come back then we can proceed with some supervised nut consumption! aha! 

Caution now… Peeps I am now armed…

with an Epi-pen!

Thats right!  And I know how to use it!  It even came with a DVD so I can show my friends and family how to jab me with an epipen if needed! :)  How cool is that! 

Ok so now onto my eats.  Yesterday I was feeling like a BAD GIRL!  After Zumba I was craving TERRIBLE foods.  I was not about to make good choices!  Thankfully farmgirl hung around with me at Superstore for a bit while I meandered and tried to decide what I wanted to eat.  I was craving FRIES like crazy!  TOM is here and I do not crave chocolate like normal girls.  noooo… my body craves greasy salty fat filled fries!  I did end up making mediocre choices: 

salad roll-

cabbage roll-

and a fruit dish (no pic, sorry!)

Since I had a busy day with a weird schedule my eats today were not good at all.  I had oatmeal for brekkie and nothing for lunch (Tsk tsk .. I KNOW, right?) and didn’t have dinner until about 730pm tonight (wok box).

mmmmm deliciousness!

Don’t forget – the Epicure order is going in this November 30th!  For anyone in the HRM area, email me to place an order!  Get some Christmas shopping done from the comfort of your own couch/bed. aahha!