My head knows that today is Independence Day; my body doesn't care. One of my dumbass neighbors was setting off fireworks until 2:30 a.m., and I wasn't sleeping well anyway because of my fever. I managed to go back to sleep until around 5:30 and when I got up I felt a little better. My fever was down from 102 to 100, which felt like pretty good improvement. I hadn't eaten anything yesterday other than a piece of plain bread in the evening, so I was weak and woozy. I couldn't think of anything that appealed to me, so I got another piece of bread around 7:00, which I shared with Mazie. I just couldn't stand the thought of eating much.
Around 7:30, I decided that taking a shower would make me feel much better. It did, but I wasn't up to getting dressed yet. I put on my nightgown and rested a while on the sofa. Around 8:30, I put on a sundress and went out to water my plants. They had suffered a bit in the two days I was not around to water them and were looking a little wilty. My head was spinning but I thought, "Oh, it won't take me even five minutes to water the plants. Then I can come back in and rest." I tended to the few out-front plants and made my way around the back yard and into the side yard. I have two planters on my side fence and one climbing plant. The climber gets enough water from the sprinkler system, but the others are too high. As I watered the first planter box, I felt a sharp pain on the back of my leg. I had been stung by a bee! Maybe not a big deal, unless you are -- as I am -- highly allergic. Good lord. [Here I'm rolling my eyes; it's good to recover from one malady before dealing with the next!]
I have an Epipen but that's only a stopgap, not a remedy. I am still supposed to get immediate medical attention afterwards. Because I have an emergency room less than five minutes from my house, I don't usually use my Epipen if I think I'm going to have a reaction. I hadn't been stung by a bee in many years, but in the past I've had two anaphylactic reactions from them. It's quite terrifying. Today I stayed pretty calm and came in a took a Benadryl before driving myself to the ER. The nurse and doctor I saw there made me feel like an idiot for coming in. I didn't have a severe reaction, and the doctor told me that if I were to have an anaphylactic reaction, it would happen within five minutes. That has not been my experience. Both time with bees, it was more like thirty minutes, and one time with a spider it was over an hour. All were true anaphylactic reactions. The doctor also said that an allergic reaction was something quite different from an anaphylactic reaction. Having suffered both, I would say that the latter is caused by the former; in other words, I could have an allergic reaction without anaphylaxis, but not the other way around. He was a big jerk, and the worst thing about doctors (and nurses -- she was just as bad) who act that way is that they make a person think twice the next time something happens. Would I rather shell out the money and time to get checked out than die of anaphylaxis in my living room? Obviously. So probably these crappy staff-people won't deter me, but I am stubborn. They could deter someone else, perhaps.
This evening I managed to eat some chicken and rice, and so far I've kept it in my stomach. I've been keeping hydrated and rested. I hope that tomorrow I'll be back to normal, or at least a lot better. I've got things to do!
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