Emergency

I realize that this post was supposed to be up yesterday, but considering the circumstances, I think being up a day late is understandable.

Thursday night I was at home getting ready for bed after cleaning up from dinner when I noticed that I was scratching an itch on my stomach repeatedly.  I lifted my shirt up to investigate and saw a raised welt.  "Oh no," I thought, "I've got a bug bite.  I better not have bedbugs!"  I went into my room and looked through the bed linens.  I didn't find anything.  I thought about it a little bit and realized that having a bite appear now would be awfully strange since I hadn't noticed any bugs within the last hour or so.  Before long, other welts started to appear on my arms, legs, and torso.  "What is going on?" I wondered.  Then the palms of my hands started to itch.  That's when I figured it out.  Allergic reaction.

I didn't blog about it, but back in March I had a bad allergic reaction to something (to what I still don't know) and had to go to the Emergency Room.  That started the same way: itching that got worse and worse.  I didn't want to go to the ER again if I didn't have to, so I went to a local pharmacy and bought some Benadryl and took a dose and a half.  I also called my parents, who urged me to seek out a Priesthood blessing.  Keir and shut off his internet for the night, so I couldn't look up who my new Bishop was (I went with Ian last week to help out in Primary), but my folks took care of that for me.  While they were taking care of that, I called Margot because of all of her experiences with allergies and she asked me: "If you have insurance, why don't you want to go to the hospital?"  I didn't want to because I was hoping I wouldn't need to.  While we were talking, my hands turned bright red, like I had a bad sunburn.  I relented and said I would go.  Just as we were hanging up, I had a call from an unknown number.  It was Bishop Peterson asking how he could be of service.  I asked for a blessing and a ride to the hospital.  He said he would be over in about fifteen minutes.

By the time he came and got me, I was red head to toe and tongue and hands had started to swell.  He gave me a blessing in my apartment and then we left for the ER.  On the ride over, he was asking me about myself as a way to better get to know me; in other words, he was fulfilling his calling.  I realized after this was all over that I never learned anything about him (what he does for a living, how many children he has, etc.), but I did learn that is a kind, sincere man that is willing to help out his fellow man.  Seriously, he's a great guy.

When we got to the ER, I was pushed to the front of the queue (being bright red from an allergic reaction will do that).  As soon as my basic information was taken, I was sent back to a room.  I was given an IV along with a steroid to reduce the inflammation and swelling.  The Benadryl I had taken earlier was knocking me out at this point and I fell asleep.  I woke up a few hours later (no longer looking like a cardinal) and after giving one of the nurses my insurance information, I was discharged.  I went out to the Bishop and explained what happened and we left.  We had arrived at about 11pm and left at about 1am.  Like I said, Bishop Peterson is a great guy.

I got home, left a message for my work that I wouldn't be in the next day, and fell asleep.

I have an appointment for this coming Friday because I want to talk about my breathing problems, but since I'll be seeing a doctor anyway, this is the time to ask, "What am I allergic to?"  In the meantime, it is nice to know that I have people that care about me, even if they just met me.