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Today was supposed to be all about allergy testing. All my life I’ve been itching, the past several years sinus problems have worsened, and last year my lips started burning and drying up. My doctor said I was starting to worry her, and recommended the testing. In order to do this, I had to be off my Claratin for two weeks – which controls my itching. Let me tell you, I have suffered many a night since being off that medicine. Truly, I was excited for this day to come.
I traveled to Charleston (one hour away via turnpike) with my girls, their homework in tow. Lynne, the testing lady, put me at ease right away, asking questions about my family to get my mind off the NEEDLES. This is no easy process – the needle digs in, she waves it side to side, up and down, swirls it all around like it’s some kind of cheerleading pom-pom, extracts it, and starts all over again. This was the first step in the process, she explained. I sat out on the bench beside Hayley and Kylie to wait for the bumps to rise.
And rise, they did! The longer I sat, the itchier I got, and the bigger the bumps grew. Lynne had cautioned not to scratch, so I blew. The girls blew. I wished for a bucket of ice in which to plunge my arm. It was definitely uncomfortable. About 20 minutes later, she checked me out. “I’m dying.” I moaned. “Oh my goodness!” She exclaimed. “I think this means your skin is very sensitive and no matter what we test on you, you will have a raised place.” She went on to explain that one of the solutions inserted was water. I had a raised bump from plain old water! There was no reason to continue the testing because I would test allergic to everything! “I have been doing this for 17 years” exclaimed Lynne, “and you are the FOURTH person I’ve had this happen to.” Wow – I’m a freak…great. We had to go with Plan B – blood work, and I would have to wait three more weeks for results.
Lynne gave directions to take the elevator downstairs and around the corner to the lab. We went in search of the elevator – walked right past it, out in the hallway almost to the back door, and followed two old ladies back in who showed us the elevator. They were going up, to which I in my constant lack of direction paid no attention, and followed them off the elevator. I asked the one with the walker if she was going to the lab. “No, I’m going to see the doctor.” I looked up to see a doctor’s office, turned around to look at my girls, who explained to me that we had indeed gone upstairs. Good thing I brought those two along. Sometimes it’s like they’re the adult and I’m the kid.
After finding the lab and getting that overwith, we lunched at Wendy’s. The poor lady at the counter was having a rough first day. She had to keep asking a co-worker for help, plus she was sweating profusely. Not exactly what ya wanna see around your food. She finally called us to order. “I’d like a small chili,” I paused to wait for her to find it on her screen, “and a small chocolate fry”. Long pause…the lady stares at her screen really hard and tries to find something resembling a small chocolate fry anywhere. In the meantime, I realize she is making a funny face as if trying hard to think about my order, “Chocolate what?” She queried. “What did I say? Did I just say ‘small chocolate fry’?” To which the old guy with the hearing aid beside me burst out laughing. I giggled, looked back at my girls who had just said to each other, “Did she just say ‘small chocolate fry’?!” both doubled over. Sweating-Stressed-Lady tries not to laugh so as not to appear to be making fun, Hearing-Aid-Guy pats me on the shoulder and, still laughing, says, “It’s ok, don’t feel bad!”, I correct my order, “I meant small chocolate frosty”, and 20 minutes later, we had our lunch. By the time we were done eating, our table was surrounded by the longest Wendy’s line of customers ever – poor SSL was trying her best.
We got on the turnpike, a sign flashed that a wreck was up ahead, and we sat in traffic for an hour and a half. Thank goodness I had just filled my gas tank. We had cell coverage if we held our phones up against the car ceiling, played hangman, took turns drawing a picture, talked about how bad we had to go to the bathroom, and listened to Christmas music on Hayley’s cell. Once we finally started going, we had several more stops, due to the large amount of traffic, plus the obvious fact that several people had not filled up on gas before entering the turnpike and were now stranded in various spots.
This day did not turn out as expected at all. I expected allergy answers, I didn’t expect to get lost on an elevator, get stuck on the turnpike, or order a small chocolate fry. But, I did laugh really hard during every single one of these episodes, and for me, that is a good day. After all, if you can’t have a small chocolate fry, laughter has got to be the next best thing, right?
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