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Doctor’s Appointment

Oh, my! I hate waking up after the drugs wore off and seeing that I spelled treat wrong in that last post.  It was the drugs . . ok?  Typos and spelling errors make me break out in hives and rashes!  Not really.

And, did I mention that “Miss Disorganized” has every card in her wallet EXCEPT her insurance card!  I don’t have a clue when I last saw that thing?  I was trying to call Vince, who I thought was teaching a class but when I couldn’t get him, I called Chad to see if he would run down to the college and get Vince to call the hospital or if Chad would go somewhere and fax me his insurance card but Chad told me Vince was in the middle of an emergency too.  The hospital was very nice to take my word that I had insurance and finally Vince had a break and was able to fax his card but I still haven’t been able to talk to him today. The hospital did give me copies of my card in the unlikely event I need them again before getting home.

But for those who thought I should get the allegy tests, I called my doctor and have an appointment the day after I get home.  His nurse thinks he will definitely send me on to an allergist and that’s fine.  I’m ready to try to get to the bottom of this.

Between the frequent kidney stones and less frequent allergy attacks, I am starting to re-think my traveling schedule and I don’t want to live that way.

I was thinking this morning .. as bad as it is for me to go through this, it’s worse for my friends!  I scared Eileen to death last night.  I knew things were going downhill fast and I pretty much ran out of there.  I was planning to go to the hospital that’s a bit farther from her house and felt sure I could make it.  In Lake Charles, looks like there are police at every corner so I knew if I had a problem, I could get help fast.  Then I remembered a much closer hospital and went there.

My other friend, Betty, was with me at the AQS Show in Nashville when I had to have surgery for kidney stones.  She was pretty worried about me then too.  We each had vehicles and when it was time to go, I still couldn’t drive so she left me there and I stayed another day.  Mind you . . I had my sewing machine and fabric and was in a pretty nice suite type hotel and wouldn’t have minded staying another week!

But, the allergy problems will be solved . . the kidney stones — maybe not!

I’m betting my traveling buddies are reading this and thinking . . do I really want to travel with her any more?

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Comments

  1. Ohh Judy–allergies are bad enough, but kidney stones?? I’ve had them and it doesn’t bear contemplating!!

  2. I am good in emergencies. I took care of an extremely sick roommate for 3 days in a motel. One of my best friends thoughout my life was an epileptic and we traveled a lot.

    So no, I’m not afraid to travel with you. I’d be more afraid if you brought strange people back to the room to party after last call.

    Or if you could only sleep in a hot room.

    And since I know for sure the second thing isn’t true and I’m almost positive the first one isn’t, it’s fine.

  3. Oh, and I forgot to add, I hope you aren’t allergic to fabric. That would be bad.

  4. Very happy to hear you are ok. It sounds like you had a pretty severe allergy attack while visiting a friend. It’s nice to know that there was help near by and friends to support you through the process.

    BTW, I would travel with you even though I’m in Oregon 🙂

  5. I am glad to hear that you are being tested. I was tested and boy has it helped me restructure my life. My asthma is allergen induced so I breathe better knowing what to avoid too. Judy, make sure you mention to the allergist any strong reactions you have to known allergens, they will draw blood and test it rather then the scratch test for those items.

  6. I think on your next travel, map out where the hospitals are, at least you’ll be alittle more organized.
    You know reading this post, I think I’ll make a copy of my ins. card for the car with the the cars paperwork. In case of an emergency. Hope you are feeling better.

  7. Hi Judy, my mom started having severe allergic reactions this year and wound up in the hospital a few times. She was tested and they couldn’t find anything specific she was allergic too. They told her she has some disease that causes too many histamines and basically her body is attacking herself. I can’t remember what it is called, but I can find out if you want. They put her on some medications and over time it has gotten better. She carries an epi pen with her and the attacks have gotten way farther apart and last one she had was way less severe. Just something else to consider. BTW, I’ve had kidney stones and those are terrible!! Sorry you’ve been having a hard time.

    • This is to Becky and Judy.

      I have the same thing… allergic attacks for no apparent reason. The test for this is a CUI or Chronic Uticaria Index. The ‘disease’ is an auto immune thing and since they don’t know why I over produce histamines when my body thinks it’s being attacked, I take no meds other than carry the epi pen. I’ve been told to avoid alcohol, hot rooms, crowds, and the biggie…. STRESS!!!! The test is fairly new. I had it a year ago and it was relatively new then. What it boils down to is that I’m allergic to myself…. sometimes.

      An allergist should be aware of this test…. good luck!!

      • So Sorry…. my reply was to Jeanette in Georgia and not Becky. Not enough coffee yet!!!

  8. Judy,
    Your reaction sounds like a peanut reaction. Could something you ate been cooked in peanut oil? Both my son and I had allergy testing. We are allergic to over half of everything they test (including dogs) We went through the shot therapy and take daily meds (steroid nasal spray and antihistamine) It has helped tremendously. Rusty gets weekly baths. We wash our bed linens weekly and never hang sheets out to dry. Air conditioning is a must for us. Can’t have open windows. DH has had kidney stones, too. Not much helps there except he drinks lots of water. Good luck! Enjoy the rest of your Louisiana visit. We are trying to get to Lafayette during the next two weeks. Lots of scheduling difficulties. Marion wants to come with us and our schedules don’t mesh. Oh well….

  9. Hope you find out what it is. For me it turned out to be NERVES. I live w/ an OCD husband and at times it is nice..nothing is ever out of place. At times I begin to itch..and scratch everywhere and break out in whelps. Dr. put me on a nerve pill for SOMETIMES and it goes away in 20 min. I only take half because it makes me sleepy too.

    Getting older is SO MUCH FUN. Love your blog. Continue on…

    • I’d be very surprised if mine is nerves or stress. I have so little stress in my life and visiting in Louisiana is almost totally non-stress. Mom cooks, cleans, washes my clothes . . I relax almost the whole time I’m here.

      • If it had been stress related, you’d a been in the hospital for the quilt binding debacle or the “when should I go to Louisiana” debate.

  10. When I tracked down my migraine triggers in the late ’70s/early ’80s, most doctors believed that migraines were, basically, imaginary. I found only one book then to help.

    I was and am also allergic to *something in injections* which induces anaphylactic shock. I was put into shock in 1986 but didn’t find out the NAME of the “something” until April 2007…very long story.

    Migraine is a vascular reaction, and allergy is a histamine reaction. They’re different, but sometimes the same substance will trigger a migraine in person A and an allergic reaction in person B. So the tracking-down process is the same for both.

    It doesn’t need to be a food that you’re reacting to. It could be…

    –a food coloring agent
    –a preservative (did you or your friends use any new prepared foods?)
    –an additive
    –a fragranced product (there are a LOT of them out there, and a formulation may have changed)
    –a laundry product (detergent, fabric softener, static sheets)
    –a cleaning product
    –an automotive product (many possibilities here for VOCs–volatile organic compounds)

    etc.

    And this trigger could have been at your house *or* your friend’s house. You will need to approach this as a “detective assignment.” Write down everything you can remember eating, contacting, or–yep–breathing the 24 hours before the reaction. Ask your host/friend whether she used any new cleaning products, laundry products, etc. (upholstery spray?) in the 24 hours before your visit.

    Re. kidney stones–aieee! Perhaps yours can be minimized by lithotripsy and followed up by diet? I definitely hope so.

    No fun at all. I really know. 🙁

  12. Judy, glad you’re feeling better. Regarding the kidney stones – drink lots of water. Some foods are more prone to aggravating kidney stones – not sure what they are but I’m sure you could google it.

  13. All good tips are listed above.

    My two cents is to create a traveling medical record. I did that for my mom and it was to reduce the number of repeat tests as well as provide a tracking of results over time. It did help and the new doctors would “borrow” the book to look over. I didn’t have to rely on my mom’s memory (which was declining) on her health issues. The record can be organized by a timeline or by subject. And keep a copy of your dr’s names, numbers, insurance cards, medicines you take, medical history, etc.

    Create it so that if you couldn’t speak for yourself, the traveling record can.

    You do have a right to your medical records – you may have to pay for printing, but get the ER summary, the lab results, etc.

    Another point is that you may be allergic to something that you have not reacted to in the past. I had a reaction to sulfa drugs and mom had a reaction to tetracycline when we both had those drugs for many years without a problem. On the other hand, we also grow out of allergies.

    Glad you are ok – take care of yourself – you have many traveling companions. Just let us know and we’ll take care of ya!

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