Allergies, medicines, doctors-- Oh my!

So life has been interesting lately, full of events and doctors appointments. I started going to the ENT (Ear Nose & Throat doctor) to try and figure out the cause of my constant sinus problems (~6 yrs) and constant sore voice (~2 yrs). She scoped me and thankfully I did not have damaged vocal chords. *phew* They were however red/irritated. She then ordered an X-ray, which she said "may be indicative of chronic sinusitis" (chronic sinus infections basically). So she ordered a CT scan of my sinuses. That came back clear, no chronic sinusitis-- diagnosis? Allergies. Allergies?? Really?? Non-stop for 6 yrs? I thought those were supposed to be seasonal?
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So she sent me to see an allergist, and on 20 January I went in to have a "skin test" to check for allergies. This test involves several "panels" of plastic pokey prongs. Each prong has at its end several tiny triangular-shaped points, going around the circumference of the prong and inward. The prongs are maybe 2-3 mm in diameter... So very tiny. The points are very sharp-- but just less than an actual needle so they don't break your skin. I think the point (no pun intended) is to press a deep "well" into your skin so that the liquid they are putting on you stays in one place.
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So each panel has about 6-8 prongs, each with a concentrated liquid version of potential allergens at the end (on the points). They took each of 10-12 total panels and pressed it firmly into my back. This was a bit unpleasant to say the least. I then laid there on my stomach for a good 15 minutes. Too bad I didn't bring anything to read!
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The results of this test confirmed my suspicions, but also were rather surprising. I began to suspect (now knowing the problem was an allergic reaction to something) that perhaps I was allergic to dust mites. The little boogers are everywhere! That was confirmed. But surprising was, I am allergic to (count them)-- 9 types of grass, 7 kinds of weeds, 8 kinds of trees, 9 kinds of mold (I feel like I'm singing the 12 days of Christmas here)-- as well as cockroaches, a type of mold mite common in dust, and actual dust mites. The worst allergy of them all was... Dust mites.
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While I was laying there letting my back swell up, a spot on the right side almost instantly started to itch like crazy. After several minutes the nurse came to check on me and I told her. "Oh, that's dust mites," she said. "Greeeeeaaaaaaat....." I replied.
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Modern medicine's answer to most problems is to, of course, prescribe pharmaceuticals. In stride, the allergist prescribed me 2 different nasal sprays (and the ENT had already prescribed another medicine prior to this). One was an antihistamine and the other a corticosteroid (to reduce swelling). He said they work best in conjunction with one another.
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WELL... After a few days I realized that if I took all 3 concurrently, my voice (i.e. throat swelling) dramatically improved. But I also started retaining water like mad. So I stopped taking the one the ENT prescribed. My voice wasn't as good, but I like it when my clothes fit you know. Then after about 2 weeks of using both of these sprays, I started to notice I was really moody and becoming increasingly depressed (and retaining insane amounts of water / getting very fat! Well, 2" worth anyway). The warnings inside the box said to inform my doctor immediately if I experience "suicidal thoughts"... Yeah... So I finally realized that it was the medicine making me depressed (and making me retain water) so I stopped taking it.
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I decided to stop just the antihistamine first since that one I heard causes water retention most. And like magic, the next day I felt way less depressed. And today I am not depressed at all. I felt totally whacko, and it was not fun. It was kind of scary. Yes we'll be sure to communicate this to the allergist next week when I go back...
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Aside from learning I am allergic to planet earth, life has been pretty typical. I haven't traveled much for work other than to Las Vegas for a Sales Manager Conference-- I'm actually home for the first 3 weeks of February doing transaction audits (remote data interrogation) and other various and tedious tasks.
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A NEW thing that is happening-- I am going to be playing a full 30 minute set of my own music at a craft fair held in my church's parking lot on 14 March-- The fair is put on by the 7th Day Adventist church with which we share the building, and they are advertising in local newspapers and on radio stations I was told. Wow, this is my first real "gig" by myself since... Well, I think ever. Aside from an open mic at a coffee shop which wasn't scheduled. So I'm excited (and nervous!) about that! Hopefully my allergies don't kill my voice and I can sing that day!!!
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Well this is now becoming a War & Peace novel so farewell my friends! I will update this again probably in another month or 2... :)

Christmas is Here!

Yay! It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. I love the cold, brisk air, the (very occasional) rain, the Christmas lights, the trees and decorations-- I love getting presents for people, and love getting presents too of course (who doesn't? Come on now, don't deny it!). And especially, I love remembering the birth of the King-- Jesus Christ-- who came into our world to save us.

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My whole life Christmas has been my favorite, and the songs about Jesus have always been my favorite, though I didn't much have a reason for this before I became a Christian. My absolute all-time favorite Christmas carol is Oh Holy Night (aka Cantique de Noel). It is hard to imagine how I didn't see the amazing, glorious truth of the Gospel while repeatedly singing and playing this song. But 'tis the blindness of the unsaved soul, sadly. I love it even more now that I understand what it means.

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Tomorrow is the annual trek to L.A. County to visit family. First up is my dad's house and then we will all make our way to my brother's home for dinner. I am excited to see my Daddy and step-mum and my brother and his girlfriend. My brother has been so kind to make wheat-free baked goods for me both Thanksgiving (rolls) and for tomorrow's dinner (brownies!). Hopefully the brownies come out as tasty as the rolls. I've heard horror stories about GF brownies!

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Well, dishes must be done as I've created quite the mess in my kitchen baking 2 loaves of GF pumpkin bread (with chocolate chips!). I made 2 loaves so that some would actually make it to Christmas dinner! Ha! Last time I made it I consumed almost half the loaf before the party... Tee hee! MMmmmm...

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Wishing you all a very blessed Christmas and happy New Year 2010-- May you remember Jesus' love and sacrifice for us and reflect on His goodness as you spend time with your family and friends this wonderful season. Amen! :)

Okay, so I've been really lazy about blogging! What can I say? So in the past couple months I've had a couple interesting travel ventures.

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In early September I went to Hawaii, specifically to Waikiki / Honolulu on the island of Oahu. That's where this picture was taken, and that's a real plumeria in my hair! I had just gotten done swimming in the oh-so-lovely (and kelp-free!) ocean.

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I don't want to sound too spoiled (I mean, I do live in SoCal and San Diego County at that), but the beach I visited in Waikiki was way better! The sand didn't make your feet black and there was no kelp. The water was about 75 degrees and you could see through it to make sure there were no sea monsters trying to eat you. These are things I value in a good beach. Though I do think our California beaches are absolutely beautiful, I don't entirely enjoy getting dirty and thinking a giant sea monster is drowning me whenever kelp touches me! haha.

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So then I was home for a week before I was off to my next adventure: Minneapolis. Now, I'm not sure how much more opposite than Hawaii you can get (within the continental USA minus Alaska which is in the frozen tundra of the north)... When I left home it was averaging mid to high 80s. When I was in Hawaii, it was the same (but with a more tropical bent). I checked Minneapolis' weather before my Hawaii trip and during, and it said mid to high 80s. So the same, right?

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Well. The week I came home from Hawaii a huge cold front blew across the northern US... And so instead of 85, it was... 45. Okay, in the day it was probably (maybe) 60. But by the time I got off work, it was definitely in the 40s. With rain. And the week after I left it snowed! It dropped 20 degrees in 1 week! Crazy weather!

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So along with this crazy weather came crazy rain, and crazy flight delays. Mine included. Oh, but I get ahead of myself. Let's start on the way to Minneapolis (MSP).

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I had a stopover in Denver, had to de-plane but then was to get back on the same plane. We boarded the plane, bound now for MSP and... There was an issue. They announced that the cockpit was having trouble communicating with the cabin (seatbelt signs/TVs weren't working), and though the plane was mechanically sound they were not going to take off until it was fixed. They had just worked fine an hour earlier on my flight there from San Diego-- how strange.

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So 2 1/2 hours later after finally de-planing us and having us loider near the gate for an unknown period of time, they finally booked us onto another plane. Then off to MSP, 3 hrs late which really ate into my audit time (then unbeknownst to me). Once I got to MSP, I realized there was not a main store with 2 tills and a smaller satellite store with 1 till (as I'd assumed)... There were 3 stores. And 1 had 3 tills, 1 had 2, and the other 1. And they had an ATM I didn't know about. So my (now) 2 days and 3 hrs was looking rather insufficient.

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To make matters worse, I had also gone out to audit the bank site there. When I got to the bank site, they informed me there were TWO bank sites! Well, each one takes a full day, so that surely wasn't going to happen. And I was already looking at not finishing the airport stores, so this wasn't good! Communication with my boss resulted in abandonment of bank audits in favor of finishing the airport, so back to MSP it was!

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Then on my final day, my flight was scheduled to take off just before 6pm. At 1pm I got a phone call (not surprising due to what I'd been observing all week in flight delays) saying my flight was delayed 100 minutes, causing me to miss my connection in Phoenix. Well yeah, since I only had max 60 minutes between landing and take off of next flight, that would cause me to miss it. They told me that because it was early though that they could possibly make up the time, so I waited to change my schedule.

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At 4:30pm I got another call. My flight was now delayed 180 minutes (3 hrs), "causing [me] to miss my connection in Phoenix". Yeah, they're not going to make up that time! So I thought about my options and decided to get out of rainy Minneapolis and spend the night in Phoenix to depart at 7:30am the next morning (Saturday). But I still had to check in at the originally scheduled time or the counters would be closed they said.

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EVERYone in line was from a delayed flight. So it took over 1 hr to go through 15-20 people (a relatively short line). Then I was all checked in and went back to work for a while. Around 7pm I went through security because I was finished at work. The plane finally took off at 9:30pm! So we flew to Phoenix and when I got outside the airport I about dropped dead waiting for a shuttle because it was 85 degrees (at 11pm)!!!! I had just been in 40 degree weather! Good thing I had the foresight to bring a skirt or I would have died the next day!

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So, there you have some update. Since it is so long I won't go into October details... That shall be for my next blog! Have a blessed November-- I can't believe it's November already. I love this season, it's so wonderful! :)

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