Health is Still Lousy

As I wrote in a previous blog entry, we had cancelled our plans for this past weekend and decided to do something in Waterbury that would be far less taxing on my body.  Unfortunately, it turns out that I couldn't even do that.

We previously cancelled our plans for going out of town for an annual train show.  This is a very big event that requires many miles of walking each day.  It is crowded.  It is often hot in each of the four large buildings.  I knew my health was not ready for that.  Actually, I still didn't trust my health enough to simply ride in a car for three hours to get to the show.  A few days before the event, we cancelled our plans and decided to stay home.

Another concern with going out of town was there is still a good chance that I might struggle with anaphylaxis while we are on the road traveling.  Then, we would need to find a hospital very quickly.  The risk was too high so we cancelled the out of town plans. 

Our grandson, Lukey, had two hockey games here in Waterbury so attending one of those games seemed like an option that wouldn't be too taxing on my body.  This would provide me with the opportunity to test my overall health so I could gauge how stable my health is at this point.  Well, we didn't even get out the door and my health was crashing.

While I was collecting camera bodies and lenses, my breathing started getting worse.  Within a half hour or so, I was having difficulty breathing and needed to sit down.  It wasn't long before I was using emergency medications.  At this point, I knew we wouldn't be leaving the house.

I was originally thinking that Sheila could just go to the game without me but Sheila and I both realized quickly that I might go into anaphylactic shock again and she should be watching me in case that does happen.  Sheila ended up staying with me through the afternoon.  

I started feeling more stable after more medications and another nap.  When I say, "feeling stable", I don't particularly mean feeling well.  It is more like, I am "okay" and don't need a hospital.  It is that level where you are at when the emergency department finally sends you home.  I still felt kind of lousy but, at that point, there was nothing a hospital could do for me.

I have no idea what triggered yesterday's breathing difficulties.  It could be anything.  It is mostly likely due to still being on the cusp of anaphylaxis everyday for the past two or three weeks.  It can take quite a while for the body to level out and calm down my mast cells.  Apparently, this is one of those times.  It really could take weeks to months.

In hindsight, maybe I should have continued taking my new emergency medications daily longer.  I am back on them now.  These medications make me incredibly drowsy so I never get anything accomplished when I am taking them.  Stopping them too soon, however, just brings the instability back more quickly.  I thought I was well enough to go back to my normal everyday medications only.  I guess I was wrong.  

So, all plans for this past weekend were cancelled and I was struggling a bit with my health.  This morning, I am feeling slightly better than yesterday albeit a bit groggy.  I'll take another one of those emergency medications at lunchtime so I'll sleep through the afternoon.  Well...  I almost always sleep through the afternoon so that is nothing unusual it is just that I won't have a choice after taking this particular medication.  

I have two weeks or so to recover before we need to again decide if we should cancel plans.  Let's hope another couple of weeks will be enough to wander from the house.