I had this whole long whine about how my experiments are eating my life and they don't work anyways and I'm giving a seminar Friday and my committee meeting is coming up and oh, gracious me, it's almost Pesach and I don't have TIME for it to be Pesach!!! Aaaaaah!
Then yesterday happened.
Let me tell you: if a couple hours after your allergy shots your throat swells up and you feel amazingly dizzy and your pulse shoots up to 130? That is not a good time to take one Benadryl and sit counting your pulse. It is, nonetheless, an excellent time to use that Epi-pen, take two Benadryls, and call 911.
If you decline to do this on the grounds that epinephrine will feel unpleasant and interrupt your experiments, you should not then call the emergency department and argue with them. Because it is anaphylactic shock.
Nonetheless, when you and your Very Bad Ideas finally walk down there- alone- it will take under two minutes to be propped on an exam table with an oxygen tube, a pulse oximeter, a shot of Benadryl, four worried nurses, and a slightly panicked doctor.
And if, after a couple hours where they check your heart rate and continued breathing every five minutes, you should call your husband to pick you up. Although the Handi-Van is available, he will not mind the inconvenience.
I think that was my last allergy shot. Ever.
