Allergies

I woke up yesterday with a headache, a sure sign of a bad day to come. The pressure on my eyes was intense. I drank some juice, had a bowl of Cheerios and laid back down. I figured another hour or so of rest would help. It seemed to work.

I had a staff meeting yesterday at noon. I woke up, showered, and headed across town for the meeting, feeling good.

After the meeting, I made my way to work. Within about an hour the pressure on my eyes started to return. At about 5 0'clock, I went to the bathroom. As I was washing my hands I noticed a bump on my face just below my right eye. It wasn't too bad looking but was a little tender to the touch. I thought it was the beginning of a zit. I went back to my desk and took some Ibuprofen. My class was just a few minutes away, I had to hustle.

Over the next two hours the bump grew quickly. My kids thought it was pretty freaky and I began to get worried. By 7 o'clock, the bump was huge and dark red. I was getting a bit nervous about it because it's close to my eye and it was causing me some vision troubles. I kept thinking that perhaps a mosquito or a spider had bit me the night before, I was dumbfounded. After the class, I went to the office and told my boss I needed to go to see the doctor a.s.a.p.. She wasn't thrilled about this idea because I had a class starting in thirty minutes. I told her I guess I could teach the class and go to the doctor after...not thrilled about waiting, but I did.

Gavin, one of the bosses, took me to the doctor at 9 o'clock. He poked at it for about thirty seconds and told me that it was an allergic reaction to something. I have never had allergies before so I was skeptical. He told me to put an ice pack on it for fifteen minutes and then apply some ointment that he gave me. I agreed and set off home. I was still not sure that it was allergies but I did what he prescribed.

I woke up this morning and was pleasantly surprised to see that the bump is smaller and not as painful. Did I somehow develop allergies in the past few months? As I said before, I have never suffered from them before. I hope that this isn't the start of a long battle with the environment here.