Speaking of the allergist, I took a prescription he made for Pataday eye drops to CVS and when they rang it up, they said I owed $50. I was all “$50!??!?! WTF!??!” and they said that insurance covered $59 and I had to pay $50. Wow. For 2.5 milliliters. To put this in persepctive, there are almost 5 milliliters in a teaspoon.. so that’s like $159 for a half of a teaspoon. I don’t know if I’ll be refilling this prescription very often.
Dallas and I have tossed around getting a dog for a few years. It never seemed like the right time and then when it was, when we owned our condo and didn’t have any trips planned for a while, we decided not to. And then I got the urge again and then we were planning the wedding and after that was finally maybe the right time again. But I’d been noticing that Dallas would get an itchy face when visiting the houses of some of our friends who have dogs. Also, since coming back from Hawaii he was snoring like crazy! So, I asked him to go to the allergist for both of these reasons. Since I hadn’t seen an allergist for years, I went too.
On a recommendation from Kristin, we went to see Dr. Anne Ditto at Northwestern. We actually both went on the same day with our appointments spaced just a half hour apart. Northwestern is a teaching hospital, so we actually saw different student doctors with Dr. Ditto overseeing.
After our allergy tests we found out that I am allergic to mold and Dallas is allergic to tree pollens and that we are both allergic to dogs, cats, ragweed and dust mites. So… there go our thoughts of getting a dog! The doctors said we could get one anyway and see what happens and do treatment, but my allergies to cats when they lived with me was so severe, they did not recommend it. When I had two cats I would wake up not able to breath and had to have an inhaler for allergy-induced asthma. Not fun times!
Anyway, we got updated prescriptions and advice on how to deal with seasonal things. We’ve put covers on our pillows and mattress to help guard against dust mites. Oh. Also? All that snoring? Dallas had a sinus infection! So he got antibiotics for that too.
We both have follow up appointments scheduled.. hopefully we’re on the road to feeling better this allergy season!
Tags:allergies·allergist·cat·dallas·doctor·dog·dr anne ditto·northwestern·ragweed·streeterville
Allergy Test, Magnificent Mile, Chicago
I gave the allergist that Ray recommended a try yesterday. He was pretty cool. I went in told him what the deal was (ragweed season is upon us), he gave me 26 quick pokes to confirm, let it sit for 10 – 15 minutes*, wrote me 3 prescriptions and I was outta there. I was trying to be proactive. My allergy symptoms haven’t been too bad, but yesterday, MAN! Maybe it was because I was pricked with everything, but I was sneezing like crazy and blowing my nose. My eyes hurt and were so itchy. This morning I woke up with crusty eye boogers. YUM! Can’t wait to pick those prescriptions up today!
* This photo was taken after only a couple minutes. Most of the dots were tree pollen and didn’t do anything, but the two that were types of ragweed and the one that was cats got really huge and red and itched like crazy. They stayed that way until late into the afternoon yesterday, grossing everyone out at work.
ShellB: Then and Now
At this time 3 years ago I was preparing to move from California to New York. As part of those preperations, my cats, ShellB and Shorty, moved to New London, Wisconsin. I didn’t know what my living situation would be in New York and I was really allergic to cats, so after living with me for about 3 years, they were going to go live with my parents.
Not long after they moved in my mom began to have allergy-induced asthma attacks so Shorty moved in with my brother in Milwaukee and ShellB moved into a deluxe suite in my parents’ garage. Well, the house that my dad built must not have been deluxe enough for ShellB, who tended to be a bit finicky, and she disappeared. I think everyone feared the worst since my parents live on the edge of a large forest with wild animals and such.. and because ShellB didn’t even like to go outside in the first place.
I knew my parents felt bad about ShellB’s disappearance, but things happen, I was in Manhattan and there wasn’t much I could have done differently – we all just moved on. So when my mom started calling me a couple weeks ago saying that she was seeing ShellB around the yard, I calmy asked her to please lay off the crack pipe. But after a few more calls and emails and some photos she was finally able to take on her digital camera, I’m convinced that it really is ShellB who is hanging around my parents house almost 3 years after disappearing.
She has a different collar so I wonder if someone has taken her in and she’s been living the good life. .. or if she’s toughened up and has been living on the wild side in Bean City.
Tags:allergies·Animals·cat·New York·Nostalgia·San Diego·shellb·Wisconsin
This sweater makes me sneeze
I bought this sweater more than a month or so ago but it’s mostly just been sitting in my bedroom wrapped in tissue paper & still in the shopping bag it came in. When I brought the sweater home I noticed that it wasn’t just a wool/cashmere blend, but a wool/cashmere/angora blend.. and that’s when I got scared. I once bought an angora sweater and when I brought it home and put it on I went into such a sneezing fit and face itchiness that I took it off, gave it to my friend and never wanted to see it again. So, this new sweater… I loved it so much and didn’t want to return it but was afraid to wear it! Finally on my Thanksgiving Vacation, when I was already drugged up on Claritin because my cousin has cats, I got brave enough to put it on.. and I was fine. This morning I put it on again.. and sneezed 1 or 2 times. Nothing compared to the sneezing attack that I remember from my last angora sweater. I took a Claritin today just to make sure there wouldnt be any problems.. but doesn’t it seem strange that I have to take drugs to be able to wear my new favorite sweater?
Tags:allergies·angora·christmas·New York·santa hat·Sickness·tribeca