51 years old, and I now have to answer, “Yes,” to the question, “Are you allergic to any medication?”

Backing up a bit, on Feb. 13, I went to the provider and she diagnosed and ear infection and I started on Augmentin.  I was not improving and on Feb. 17th, I went back and she gave me a steroid injection and started me on another medication.

I think I ended up with a virus on top of the ear infection, around about Feb. 20th, just as Nan and Noelle were joining us.  I sort of stumbled through that week and all the activities (note the blog!) and then on Monday, the 27th, I noticed I had two small hives on my left wrist.  Noelle flew out.  I took Tab to archery, and by dinner time, my face and neck were involved.

I called the office before they closed and they set me up for a nurse visit on Tuesday morning.  I was told to take Zyrtec, and that Benadryl probably wouldn’t help?

 

When I woke up this morning, I was covered with hives from my scalp to my knees.  I could not get to my 9AM appointment fast enough. 

 

I waited at least 30 minutes, itching like a crazy person, until I was given another shot of steroid, and an NSAID.  I was told to absolutely take Benadryl WITH the Zyrtec.

I was miserable, but at least I was getting better. Nan was helping a lot with food and kids and household, and I was just miserable.

And then she lived happily ever after, right?

NOPE.

I did feel better and better as Tuesday went on.  I found some steroid cream in my medicine bag and used that where I could and I think that helped some.

I expected to continue to improve on Wednesday.
But
by lunch time I was getting worse again.
And telling myself that I would be on the ship soon enough (John and I had a cruise planned for Thursday) and even thought I could just see the ship’s medical staff for more steroids if I needed them.

But then my brain came back to doing its job, and as John came home from picking the girls up from church around 8PM, I announced we were going to the ED.  There is a wonderful free standing ED just around the corner from our house.  And 90 minutes later I had a steroid shot, a ten-day supply of Prednisone, and instructions to take 50mg of Benadryl around the clock til I was better.  The ED staff was superb and we were home and back to packing by 11PM (we had to stop at the 24-hr pharmacy).