You have to be careful...

I have to try and post a bit more often here. Fortunately things have been fairly quiet on the allergy front, though I still live with the fear of accidentally ingesting pine nuts (I wish I had come to know what they were like prior to developing the allergy).

Something odd happened last night at work. I was clowning around when a co-worker was flipping through some fashion magazine. She started playing with some kind of face cream "sample" and was trying to crack it open. After a few minutes I took it and managed to get to the cream inside and immediately put it on my right cheek. It was some sort of moisturizer that claims to give people "perfect skin".

Within about twenty minutes I got the old familiar feeling (itchiness and general irritation) on the back of my neck and back. Someone commented at some point that my neck looked awfully red and asked if I was OK. I said yes and went back to work.

Things gradually got worse, and it was at that point I asked someone if they had any Benadryl. Of course I had a TwinJect with me, but that's for pine nuts... and the reaction was irritating, not life threatening. Fortunately someone offered to go out and get some for me (I'll now carry Benadryl along with my TwinJect) and things calmed down and symptoms subsided.

Forty-five minutes later the sedative effect of the Benadryl started to kick in and as a result I could no longer do my job without possibly affecting people's safety so I went home sick, missing the last hour and a half or so of work I had left in my shift.

What happened?

I intend on investigating what this seemingly innocent facial cream might have in it that could have caused this to happen. I had not eaten since leaving home, so it wasn't anything I had ingested - it had to be the cream.

My lesson learned last night? Be careful... very careful with things you don't know. Something as innocent as a facial cream can apparently set me off. What will it be next?!

Pharmacists - can't live without 'em...

It has long been time for me to get myself a new EpiPen. Last time that happened, I called my allergist on Carling Avenue to make an appointment, only to be told that appointments aren't necessary for prescription refills. That was refreshing, considering that most general practitioners require in-person visits to get that little task accomplished. Something about being able to bill the province for an examination, a consult, or something like that. I was told back then that all I needed to do is provide the receptionist with my pharmacy's coordinates and they would call the prescription in for me. Great! It worked like a charm.

Not quite this time.

There must have been a change of policy or something along those lines at that allergist's office. When I called last Thursday or Friday I was met with dead air. When I explained what happened last time, the receptionist put me on hold and then came back to me a few minutes later asking me for the pharmacy information once again. They would call the prescription in for me and all would be well once again - for a year or so.

Or so I thought.

I got home from a golf game on Saturday afternoon to a message from the grocery store pharmacy near where I live. Naturally, I called back as soon as I could. The clerk (or pharmacist's assistant?) appeared to be wanting to be helpful, but having two-way communications with this person was tougher than sinking that 67 foot put on the 12th hole!!

The issue? The Twinject auto-injector (essentially an EpiPen made by another company, only with two doses) they had in stock expires in October. Did I want it or would I want them to order another from their supplier? EpiPens seem to have a one-year lifespan. Not knowing whether a Twinject injector would have a similar "usability" period, I asked the person on the line if she knew how long a typical Twinject is supposed to last. The brilliant clerk came back on the line after a few minutes and responded "until its expiry date". Cool - I never thought about that myself.

My second attempt to get a clear response was met with a "I don't know what the expiry date will be on a new one". Of course, swami, I didn't want a specific date - I wanted a general rule. If this device lasts only six months, then I guess I could take the one they had in stock. If they generally last a year, then I'd be an idiot to take the one that should last less than five months. Since it became clear to the clerk that she could not satisfy my curiosity, she got the pharmacist on the line.

This bird was no better. As a result of my not being able to get a clear answer, I told the pharmacist that I would opt to wait for a new one to come in - some time this week - and will figure out the expiry date thing all by myself.

One would think that information about this "life and death" sort of medecine would be common knowledge for those who dispense it. I guess not. It's a darn good thing that I haven't needed it - though I suppose the pharmacy would argue I could have bought the one that expired in October... maybe they would have offered me a 50% discount.

Riiiiiight. And I'm Napoleon.

2007: so far, so good!

As I look back at my promise to make better use of my Nasonex spray to keep the sinuses from blocking due to some life-long (apparently) environmental allergies, I can say that I have been much better this year. I am making use of it almost every day. My head thanks me for sure!

I haven't suffered from any hay fever symptoms yet, though my mother has. I have played four rounds of golf in between these crazy Ottawa spring snow storms - I guess they have kept the evil weeds that cause me grief at bay!

It takes lots of discipline, but I do read ingredient labels on all new products that I buy at the grocery store - particularly on spaghetti sauce or anything else that could potentially contain those evil pine nuts that will do me in without much warning.

So all in all, I'm doing well this year as far as allergies are concerned. I have to acquire a new EpiPen or one of the newer devices (Twinject?) in the coming weeks. Pretty cheap insurance for potentially life saving devices. Fortunately I have never had to use one yet.

Many people around me keep insisting that post-childhood developed food allergies will fade with time. I am hoping that this will be the case for me, but the allergist didn't seem to think so when I got re-tested last year to see if I could enjoy shrimp and/or lobster again.

As such, I will live vicariously through some of my friends who seem to indulge in the wonderful fruits of the sea more often than I care to know!!! Here's to a continued allergy-free 2007!

An update on "declawed Jersey"

By yesterday afternoon I was ready to state that the declawing operation on Jersey went 100% well and that she has sailed through it with nary a problem. Staff at the animal hospital said that she was alert and playful the day after the surgery and when I picked her up two days post-surgery, she was basically the same old kitten she was early in the week.

She didn't seem to be in any pain so that made me feel much better... I still struggled with the concept of making her go through the procedure even though it really is necessary for the two of us to live happy lives together. I never could have imagined how painful a cat scratch would be until Jersey became part of my life!

All was well until last night... 3.5 days after the surgery. It seems that she hadn't quite yet understood what had happened to her, and I can't help but wonder when she will grasp it completely. You see, she had this tendency to only jump "half way" when attempting to get somewhere higher than kitty cat eye level. Last night I was sitting in my chair in my office when she decided to jump up on to my shoulder via the chair back. As late as this weekend she would normally grasp onto the fabric of the chair back and climb the rest of the way. She tried that last night... didn't latch on and had to "bail out", falling to the floor.

I only had enough time to while around but couldn't catch her so she landed front paws first. The right one in particular. She let out a pitiful cry and so I picked her up and we spent the rest of the night in bed watching TV, napping and/or sleeping. At this moment she's walking normally and even trotting from time to time, with a barely noticeable little limp, I guess. When she stops or sits down, she picks the paw up some of the time. That must mean that her paw is hurting a bit.

We gave her the last pain pill the vet gave us for her earlier this evening. I'm hoping that she feels better as the hours and days go by because it's a shame - it seemed like all was flawless! Having said all that, I guess what happened last night was exactly what the "rules" I received were trying to have me prevent: keeping the cat from jumping or running for fourteen days!!! How does one do that? Beats me. But not doing so results in a sore paw, so I'll try to figure out how to keep her as quiet as possible for the week to come to make sure she's 100% pain free as quickly as possible.

In the meantime it's been two scratch and pounce-free nights since she came home. It's nice not to have a limb set on fire in the middle of the night when kitty decides that a (possibly) flailing arm or leg is a play toy!!

I'm sure we're all going to live happily ever after... but I really do hate the declaw procedure... if only there was an alternative - and according to my allergist it would be to have no Jersey and to live in a bubble, isolated from all potential allergens.

I think not.

Off with the claws

"Off with the claws" - that's a little insensitive, I know. But as I sat down and tried to explain to Jersey on Sunday night that by that time on Monday, her front paws would hurt and those little hooks she uses to hang from her cat tree will no longer be there.

Believe me - it really hurt me to bring her into the vet's office to have this done. While I swore that I would never have a cat with claws (though I also swore that Mr. Patches would be the one and only feline to share living space with me - ever...) I thought from time to time that I might spare Jersey from undergoing what amounts to an amputation process to remove her front claws.

Why? Because I was afraid of the pain. Not for me, of course, but as I look at a picture of her when she was four months old (she's almost seven months old now!) I can't help but feel remorseful for having put her through everything that has happened to her since around noon this past Monday. I tried rationalizing that "it's not so bad" when I get scratched, only to swear at myself every time I do.

So... due to the allergy I suffer from I did pack her up and bring her to the hospital on Monday morning. It is now Wednesday and in about five hours I get to see her again for the first time. According to her surgeon and nurses, she hasn't interspersed my name in and amongst a bunch of swear words, but she's arguably too young to be swearing yet. We'll see how she reacts when she sees me again.

I know - I'm personifying her - something pet owners are often criticized by non-owners. But I know that she's been on pain killers for the last couple of days now and for us humans, even the most powerful drugs never totally kill the pain. Soon enough she'll be OK and we'll live a long and happy (scratch-free) life.

Allergies suck. But what can you do!? There are many people out there with far greater concerns, for my day-to-day life is more or less unencumbered by the affliction - as long as I stay away from pine nuts of course!! Nonetheless, we must do what we can to minimize the conditions that can cause us problems, and I'm hoping that Jersey will forgive me.

I'll give her a few extra treats for the next little while!!

Now I know "how" I am allergic to cats

Ever since I was a little boy and had been subjected to an allergy test I've known that I would always be allergic to lots of environmental stuff and... animals.

I have always lived with animals, be they canaries, budgies or collies. When my wife-to-be moved to Ottawa, I inherited her cat. While I initially had some allergic symptoms when being in contact with Mr. Patches, I quickly became accustomed to him (as I seem to have managed to do with any or all animals throughout my life) and sneered at the doctors who told me that living with animals was to be avoided as much as possible.

When we lost Mr. Patches to illness in October I decided that despite the fact I always exclaimed that my household would never see another feline, I needed a new four-legged friend. Mr. Patches was supposed to be with us for several years and so it wasn't quite time for me to be pet-less.

Our new addition was a three month old kitten named Jersey. Once again I felt a bit of congestion when playing with or handling her, but as usual, that did not last very long. I would not get off scott free, however. What I had not anticipated was the effect of living with a feline with claws on all four paws.

It turned out that when she would innocently (or not so innocently!) scratch me, the area that she'd "attack" would redden and puff up. Itchy pain would soon follow. For the first two or three weeks I couldn't understand why this would happen. One night, my wife reminded me that I was supposed to be allergic to animals and it was almost 100% certain that I was experiencing allergic reactions after being scratched.

Sure enough, that has turned out to be the case.

While her licking me has little or no effect, my handling or playing with her doesn't bug me much. I'm puzzled by what venom must be present in her tiny little claws. I know there isn't any - she's not a snake - but regardless, a Jersey scratch has as much or more of an effect than a "scratch test" at my friendly neighbourhood allergist. Of course, that is most likely because an allergist pricks you - he doesn't drag the needle over a two or three inch area on your arm!!

So, while I had initially toyed with the idea of not subjecting Jersey to the pain that comes with de-clawing surgery, I have no choice but to bring her in. I know that Mr. Patches did not suffer any long term effects when my wife had the procedure done to him, so Jersey will be good as new soon enough.

Once she's healed up, we will be able to enjoy each other's company without one being a detriment to the other. We'll then be able to live happily ever after!!!

But who knew?! I sure didn't...

The sinus infection that never went away

After years of dealing with what I thought was mild hay fever and then getting acquainted with a fatal food allergy, I figured I was finally under control. In February 2005 I "became aware" of the fact that I suffered from a stuffy nose almost all the time, or at least while indoors.

Given the time of year, I dismissed it as being a cold, but after a few weeks, the "cold" didn't pass as colds usually do. Being the stubborn person that I am, I tried my best to ignore it as long as I could and dealt with the fact that I would be congested for an indefinite period of time, hoping it would go away come spring. It did not. I turned to drugs. Not of the illegal type, sort of - though after a while I have to admit fearing that pharmacists might look at me as a potential target for the 'meth watch' program that has been put in place to nail those who convert off the shelf drugs that contain pseudoephedrine into meth amphetamines - or crystal meth. I say that not because of the quantities of the drug I'd buy (I would stick to one package at a time, getting a new one when it would empty), but because I'd be back every two to four weeks to buy more.

Weeks turned into months. Spring came and went, summer did as well. The glorious drugs kept me relatively stuffy nose-free during the day at work or on the golf course. At some point late in the year I started thinking out loud - or seeking sympathy from people around me, hoping they would feel sorry for me or (more likely!!) offer me advice as to what I should do. A trip to the doctor proved fruitless. While antibiotics for a perceived sinus infection did clear things up for a few precious weeks, the infamous stuffy nose came right back, just like the legendary cat.

I joked with my boss and fiancee that my chronic sinus infection and I were about to celebrate our first anniversary together. Everyone around me started to pester me to try the physician route one more time to take care of the problem once and for all. Instead of celebrating one year having passed, I headed off to my GP to see how I could kill my new "friend".

Given that the previous treatment did not "take", she speculated that I might be suffering from some sort of allergy. Great. Another one. She advised me to make another appointment with the allergist who confirmed my pine nut problem a while back in the hopes that he would come up with an answer to the question of what had been causing my nose and sinuses to be plugged up for the better part of a year.

He did.

The diagnosis? A confirmation of all the hay fever/pet/dust/pollen, etc. diagnosis from what, almost twenty years earlier? This time, however, the severity meter had been cranked up to the point that he told me that other than living in a bubble, I would live with this problem all my life because for all intents and purposes, I am allergic to everything. Everything.

I love my parents' dog. He's bad for me. My affection grew for my fiancee's cat, Mr. Patches who adopted me as his father when he moved to Ottawa with his "mom". He was bad for me. I play golf and don't always stick to the fairway. All the growth in the rough/fescue/trees/forests is bad for me. Grass (!) is bad for me. Anything environmental? Bad for me. All these things and everything else conspire daily to attack my immune system and apparently my defense to all this is my sinuses boarding themselves up to resist the constant attacks!!

Fortunately there was a solution that both my allergist and general practitioner agreed upon. I was prescribed a drug (I guess) called Nasonex. I was told to use it twice a day for a week or two and then once a day after that - into perpetuity! Within a month the symptoms were gone - or under control I suppose.

I have come to understand why our provincial government has been working hard to force schizophrenia patients to take their drugs. After a while, you start feeling normal and then do not think you need to take the drugs anymore. Even to this day, I'll take it for a while and then stop. I'll start taking it again for a while, perhaps using it two or three times a week as a "maintenance dose" and then stop. As I write, I'm not stuffed up like I once way but I am aware that my sinuses are not as happy as they could be. I guess the prescribing doctor nose (hehe) best!

Accordingly, and despite the fact I'm not one to engage in the annual "new year's resolution" ritual as so many of us do, I am resolving to refill my prescription next week and start taking it as prescribed. If my father can take his pills every day to make sure he's running smoothly, I owe it to myself (and my poor sinuses!) to do the same.

Another mystery solved - though I have to say it's really starting to get on my nerves. Will I ever end up like some of those hyper-allergic people who say they go down for the count for days and/or weeks after sharing an elevator with someone who uses perfume? I hope not. I still think those people are nuts, but I once thought that these food allergies were all a load of unadulterated crap. After all, 80% of all lunches when I was in elementary school in the early 1980's was peanut butter sandwiches! Now you can't bring a peanut within 500km of a school. Well, as you know, I have the pine nut allergy that will kill me.

What's going on out there?