Didn't Dodge the Bullet

Thought I had dodged the bullet, but apparently have not.  My mother was allergic to lots of things, including several major foods; wheat, eggs, milk and more, but even those two alone are tough to live with. 

I, however, wasn't allergic to a damn thing.  I felt at once lucky and arrogant.  One would figure that with such a genetic likelihood, I would be a mess, but not me.  I was of superior stuff.   Until I felt like there was something stuck in my throat and had spasms of radiating pain in my chest and back which brought my worried self to the local hospital emergency room.

Fortunately, it was determined that I was NOT having a heart attack.  Ensuing radiology tests determined areas of my esophagus that were significantly thickened, and blood work showed a white blood cell count that encouraged attention.

The doctor told me it could be a few things;  inflammation, allergies, or....and gave me a substantial dose of some kind of steroid, and "something for pain".  Please note, I did not ask for anything for pain...but when offered...

The nurse told me, "Doctors tend to beat around the bush and I don't believe in that, so I'm going to give it to you straight."  She looked me in the eye and continued, "You have a tumor."

OoooooooKAY, then.

A few days later I had an endoscopy with a biopsy that revealed I suffer from Eosinophilic Esophagitis.  The GI doctor believes it is caused from a food allergy, so a couple weeks later I saw his favorite allergist, who I really like.  Before becoming an allergist he was pre-veterinarian.  So he told me a lot of chicken stuff, like chickens with blue earlobes lay white eggs, and chickens with red earlobes lay brown eggs.  I went home and checked my chickens, and although I already knew which of my ladies laid what color eggs, I guess I wanted to see their earlobes.  As an aside - he was correct.

We set up my allergy testing appointments, which all told, will take about a month to complete.  Today a big patch was applied to my back.  Day after tomorrow, the doctor will read it.  And after two more days will give it a final read.  Last week a nice member of the allergist's staff called to ask that I bring a piece of potato and tomato to today's visit.  She seemed prepared for my response: "huh??", when she quickly said they needed it for the patch.  Only having a week to gather these items, of course I found myself last night with NO POTATO.  I texted Sean at work at the restaurant to please bring home a small potato, or piece of one.  He texted back "why?", and texts are not the best venue for explanations after someone replies, "I need it for my dr.'s appointment tomorrow".  Doesn't matter.  He forgot anyway, and I was struggling to find a potato on my way to the appt. this morning, since the ride there brings me over the river and through the woods, and there was only ONE store that MIGHT have a potato that was 1.  on the way and 2.  open.  But it did and it was.  So I was good.

Next week I do skin pricks, and the following week some intradermal tests and I believe the week after that comes the results summary visit. 

I can't think of anything that I can't live without except dairy.  Please oh please oh please, don't let it be dairy.  Or eggs, that would be a really tough one, too. 

So the bullet has probably been sitting inside me for awhile.  Maybe next time, Grasshopper.