On the road to discovering anaphylaxis

So I learned early on that I would suffer from hayfever for the rest of my life. Sure, I could subject myself to a regimen of shots over a period of years that could "cure" me, but I'd rather jump off a cliff without a parachute... or so I thought.

My first contribution to this particular blog points out that I'm 31 years old. When I was in elementary school 25 years ago (sheesh!) it was common to bring peanut butter sandwiches with me for lunch. What was even better was this neat snack item - anyone remember those little plastic containers that came with four crackers, a little rectangular stick and either peanut butter or cheese on the other side? I loved those! Do they still make them? I digress...

The bottom line is that a staple for us kids back in the early 1980's was peanut butter. Some had the PB&J (as Big Brother has apparently coined the term), others liked peanut butter and banana... though I never really figured that one out... but out of 20-30 kids, I'm sure that at least half of them brought the substance to school with them on any given day.

In recent years many if not most schools have banned peanut butter from a 500km radius of a class or lunch room. OK, I'm exaggerating a bit, but you get my point. Some accuse me of holding rather pointed opinions - I'm guilty, I guess - and for the longest time I became increasingly annoyed at these peanut butter nazis that want to criminalize that delectable and affordable spread. Was the world going absolutely nuts? Bad pun...

Late in the 1990's I won lunch for everyone at a restaurant downtown thanks to a local radio station. We all went out and I enjoyed what I often select at finer restaurants, whatever variation of salmon that was available. Soon after finishing my lunch I remember sitting in my car waiting for the ladies to pile in for the trip back to work. I wasn't feeling well. As we drove back to the office I felt worse and worse. I opted to go home because I doubted I'd be any good that afternoon. Little did I know what was in store for me in the years to come, starting from that moment on.

To be continued...