Random Thoughts About Allergies.

I have four different types of allergies. There's the type like the wrong kind of washing-up liquid or moisturiser that brings on bumpy hands or eczema. There's the type like hairspray or paint fumes that makes me wheeze. There's the type like cats or dogs that does both. And finally, there's the type like pine sap or tea tree oil that causes hives, unpleasant digestive responses and full-on-call-the-ambulance asthma.

The first three are inconvenient and at times distressing, I have a small (and often expensive) choice of household products, toiletries and cosmetics to chose from, I've never been able to have the much-longed for dog and I've had to ban the cats from my bedroom. The steroid creams and ointments prescribed for allergic eczema are all based on white paraffin or petroleum based carriers which...I'm allergic to.
Walking past someone who's wearing too much aftershave can leave me gasping (seriously, Lynx works more as chemical warfare and less as personal grooming in my world) and I once passed a hideous train-journey behind a woman who thought doing her hair and spraying Ellnett all over her head in a crowded carriage was a good idea.
On good days I take three different asthma and allergy drugs but any number of illnesses can result in hospital trips (last year's pleurisy caused months of issues). My eczema makes me feel self-conscious and ugly and my asthma restricts my life, I hate it.

However, I can live with all that. Slightly, no strike that, a lot more dramatic is my reaction to latex, pine sap and tea tree oil. After noticing these things were all tree based I was a little worried but yesterday's experiment with Maple Syrup was totally satisfactory and I enjoyed my pancakes very much.

I've had three very serious allergic reactions in my life.
The first was one night when I'd eaten a prawn sandwich that may have been a bit too old (hot day, insufficient chilling in a sandwich shop), I came out in hives and my lips, and fingers swelled-up. However, in the light of subsequent events I'm beginning to wonder if the latex gloves I wore for my housework that evening may have been more to blame (though I'm still being wary of prawns).

The second was a couple of years' ago on a family day out. I'd gone to Bekenscot Model Village with my Dad, my sister and my niece. We'd been meaning to go for years and it was lovely. I adore model villages (there's a post in there somewhere) and was having a lovely time when suddenly my sister said,
"What's that on your face?"
That, was a hive.
They'd been trimming all the miniature trees in the village and an avenue of full-sized conifers and the sap was on the air. I became very ill, very quickly and had to be taken home. Fortunately my anti-histamines and asthma drugs worked and I recovered quickly.

I was not so lucky last week.

I've had an abscess on my head (golly, I'm making myself sound attractive aren't I!) and have been bathing it with very hot water into which I'd put a few drops of tea tree oil. Stupidly, I hadn't made the connection to my other allergies and although I was fine for a couple of days, when I got too much of the water and oil on my body I cam out in hives all over my body. By Friday night they'd joined up into great red patches and my breathing had gone crazy. I called an ambulance.

The Paramedics, and the lovely staff at Hull Royal Infirmary were wonderful. They sorted my breathing, pumped me full of anti-histamines and put me to bed. They cared for me and listened to me and never once patronised me.

They saved my life.

And now? I have an appointment with my GP later, I'm going to sort out my medication, I'm going to take my allergies seriously, I'm going to carry a warning card and I'm going to go and see the Consultant. Oh, and I'm going to have an artificial Christmas Tree this year...

My Babies

I suspect it is too late for me and I am a full-on mad cat lady.

Bedtime Reading

So, thanks due to The Girl for lending me Sarah Walters wonderful book, "The Little Stranger". It's good that my reading habits are being expanded beyond detective novels set in Italy as I was in a bit of a rut. This book is set in the immediate post-war years in rural Warwickshire and narrated by a practical, sensible country doctor. The fascination of this book is how he reacts to mysterious goings-on at a decaying manor house.
Probably best not to read this in the middle of the night when you can't sleep (unless you enjoy scaring the beejeebus out of yourself I suppose) although my experience wasn't quite as bad as The Girl's...She'd got to a particularly spooky bit with tapping on walls when Maud tapped on the bedroom door and pushed it open. Not since the days of my late-lamented Harley has one cat caused such terror. Harley was an odd creature who used to go and sit in the bath when he wanted to be alone. One night I made my way down to the loo in the dark and on sitting down felt a touch on my shoulder. Harley had decided to sit on the cistern and was just alerting me to his presence with a paw. I wonder if he realised why I was screaming?

The Salad Project

I meant to give you regular updates on this but things have not quite gone as planned.



First, one of the cats was digging up the surrounding earth to use as a litterbox and tearing at the fleece and the cellophane cover. I started covering the plants with the offcuts from the hawthorn at the bottom of the garden (which I still haven't been able to throw out as my next-door-neighbour's builders haven't returned to empty my garden waste bin which they filled with rubble) as I thought the thorns might keep furry bottoms out of my salad. Eventually it worked though I have noticed Professor McTufty (one of the feline visitors to the garden) is still sniffing around the area.



Unfortunately that has not been the end of it as, lacking the protection of the cellophane tunnel, the leaves have now provided a delicious meal for every slug and snail in the garden.



I may well have to start again with a new seed roll and anti-cat measures from the start but I'm a little disheartened and I wonder whether it's worth it.

Housemates

I thought for years that I liked living alone.

I thought I preferred to be alone because I preferred to be alone to living with someone who poured his coffee on the floor if there wasn't enough sugar in it, left filthy underpants on the bathroom floor and said he'd "never be the kind of man who takes his dishes through to the kitchen" as if I was asking him to give up an essential part of his integrity.

I'm glad to say that my housemate, The Girl, does none of those things! Actually, she's so tidy that she inspires me to better things and I really hope that my natural untidiness doesn't end up driving her crazy. I've been getting home earlier than her most evenings so I've been cooking the dinner, but she's been doing the washing-up and it's so nice to be able to share the chores.

But mostly it's nice to share jokes, chat, craft supplies and quiet evenings in.

So, these are the inhabitants of Vista del Nada,

1. Dorothy Sims Crumpet- that's me. Tall, voluptuous,shoe-obsessed, talkative, coffee-loving, romantic and messy.







2. The Girl- housemate. Tall, gorgeous, funny, patient, cleaning machine, mad cat lady.







3. Maggie- Black cat. Cranky, talkative, grumpy, loving.







4. Maud- Tabby cat. Beautiful, funny, cuddly, stripey.

We're not the most harmonious home in the world due to Maggie's habit of hissing at anything that moves but we rub along quite nicely most of the time.