And then we got Naked

It is Restaurant Week in Baltimore, lots of restaurants offered a 3-course Prix Fix menu for $30.07, having our niece here for the week we took advantage of the babysitter under our roof and hooked up with Es for a night out on the town. We typically don't venture into Baltimore for a night out, somehow its always seemed like a major ordeal but I think tonight might have changed our minds!

Of course being us we didn't settle on a restaurant until sometime this morning and I suggested we might need a reservation. Apparently THAT was the understatement of the century--the first three places we picked all completely booked for the evening, although at a couple there were reservations available at 4:45 and at 10PM. Finally we (meaning I just finally stopped consulting and picked one) decided to try Hawaiian fusion. We ended up at Roy's Restaurant with Es chauffeuring us in her rental SUV. We slid right up front and took advantage of valet parking. We were early (yeah, like that has ever happened before) so we took a seat at the bar and I had the most amazing Pomegranate Patron Mojito, tequila and pomegranate really what more could I want? It was truly fabulous! Finally we took our seats and since it was my day to make the decisions I threw out some wine options and naturally we all agreed on Naked Riesling. Our waiter, with the seriously Bart Simpson hairdo, laughed at us and asked about our wild night. The wine was awesome, I'll definitely need to procure some to add to my stash right along side the Running with Scissors Chardonnay.

Next it was on to dinner. I was a bit bummed with my limited selection due to my shellfish allergy. Gman was kind enough to trade me a shrimp from the appetizer plate for the best spare rib I ever had--is that love or what?! Then it was on to dinner where I enjoyed short ribs while Es and Gman had shrimp pad thai and salmon in lobster cream sauce. Then it was on to dessert molten chocolate cake that nearly made us lick our plates, in fact writing about it is making my mouth water. The whole meal was fabulous but as always the company was better. I am sure we will be heading back, we've vowed to get out more often and try new places. This one was certainly a hit!

My feet are in serious love with these shoes.

I just gotta say, I heard people rave about Crocs clogs but I just couldn't bring myself to even put my feet in them. I wear a size 10, a pair of big bright clogs where never going to do my feet any favors. Then my sister got these cool Crocs sandals and said they were the most comfortable things ever. I gotta agree. I tried them on in the store and then had to order them online because they only had neon colors. Mine are the chocolate and cotton candy, good name, even better feeling. My feet are so darned happy! I don't know if Stacey and Clinton would approve but I really don't care.

Speaking of love. Check out my eHarmony Marriage evaluation over at Maven Says.

I went for allergy testing this morning after my shrimp eating experience. Sure enough, I tested positive to shrimp, crab and lobster--if that isn't enough to make a crustacean lover cry I don't know what is. I was issued an epinephrine pen and advised to stay away from shellfish with the warning that the reactions generally get worse. What a serious bummer, I really love shellfish, I guess I will be a "turf" girl from here on out. While I was there she tested for environmental allergies, I'd always expected I had them but I never knew to what. Turns out to almost all tree pollen, cats, some molds and a HUGE reaction to dust mites. My wrist was itching before I even walked out of the room from getting tested. Two hours and a dose of Benadryl later its still red and puffy. That might explain my eczema and my allergy attacks turned sinus infection pattern. My instructions are to go home and put covers on my pillows, mattress and box springs. I am anxious to see if it helps.

Oops, I did it again

Esmerelda and I took Gman to the gym last night for the Group Power class we love to hate. I would say that Gman fell closer to the hate side of the equation. Mistake number one was going to Panera for dinner first. They were soooooo slow that we only had about 20 minutes to eat before we had to get to the gym to get set up for class. I learned my lesson after the Cheeburger Cheeburger incident and ate pretty light stuff. We worked up a sweat and laughed together. I am trying to persuade him to go with me one night a week—there is something sexy about working out together—besides the fact that we can both use the workout!

If going to the gym at 7:45 last night wasn’t enough fun for the week, I hit the spinning class at 5:45 this morning again with Esmerelda. I didn’t sleep well at all last night, I was mad because I couldn’t find my good cycling shorts, Gman and I watched the end of The DaVinci Code and I thought I’d fall into a deep sleep quickly (yeah Tylenol PM). Yeah, right. I fought to get to sleep, then I couldn’t stay asleep and at 4-something this morning we had a thunderstorm, the kind with thunder that makes the whole house shake. Needless to say getting my carcass out of the bed at 5:10 AM was far from easy, I got up on the first alarm knowing that if I hit snooze I'd never get out of bed. But I did it. Then I enjoyed the spinning class as much as you can enjoy anything that makes you sore all over.

I decided to skip the gym locker room this morning after my Monday experiences. There is a locker room at work and I decided I’d give it a try. I know at least one other morning exerciser who does it so I figured it couldn’t be all bad. I’ve never been at the office at 6:45 AM, its really, really quiet which creeped me out a bit when I headed up to take a shower, they (the 3 people I saw on my way in) all know where I am going, psycho music playing in my head. I turned on the water and waited for it to get warm, and I waited and waited and waited and waited. Finally I decided it wouldn’t make me turn blue so I braved it, definite wake-me-up experience. Finally, after 2 hair washes the hot water arrived, thank goodness! I get out, confident that I have underwear and deodorant today. Apparently I was prematurely cocky—no bra. So there I am trying to decide between my sweaty blue sports bra or nothing. I started with nothing, went out to check it in the mirror-not that bad but I knew I’d either be wearing my coat or so obsessed about it that I’d have to head to Target for a new one. I comptemplated the sports bra—would it show in the neckline of my shirt, doesn’t show--check. Did it smell like cake batter or worse, no smell--check. Now, what the hell to do about the big wet spot? Iff I was self conscious about everything hanging free I know a big wet spot was probably worse! Ah, the hair dryer, so I spent the next couple of minutes praying that no one would open up the bathroom door and find me there in front of the mirror, right inside the door at the only outlet in the whole freaking place blow drying my bra. Dry--check. Obviously I need to keep an entire change of clothes in my van along with everything else if I am going to attempt morning exercise.

I was at my desk before 7:30, half-caff’d and ready to go. Later today I am going to my first acupuncture appointment, hoping that self-awareness and total exhaustion will bring with it the ability to sleep through the night. I made it to the doctor yesterday. Yep, he suspects I am allergic to shellfish and should probably avoid it. When I asked him about the allergist he told me it was up to me, my immune system was obviously in overdrive and he was sure they'd find something. I left a bit frustrated, I will probably call the allergist today and start the long wait to get tested and find out what exactly what sent me into hives the other night and what has my eczema in high gear. Part of me wants to play what you don't know can't hurt you but I know in this case its just not true!

Of allergies and genetics

Last night we had friends over for fondue. I was psyched to find a recipe to mimic Coq Au Vin from The Melting Pot to cook our meat. They brought the cheese—I was shocked and amazed you could buy it already made in a bag, complete with wine—and bread. It was fabulous, until I touched my face. Apparently I touched my face near my eye, next thing I knew my eye started itching, when I mentioned it DH and the friends told me I probably needed to take something (and of course Gman wanted to take a picture). I freaked out when I got into the bathroom and my face was swollen and red and the eye nearly closed. I popped one of Ellie’s Benadryl strips and tried to enjoy my dinner. At some point my stomach was really crampy as well but got better with the Benadryl. Most bizarre was that the strip made my tongue a little numb, good to know before I give it to my kid.

I am guessing genetics have caught up with me. Sometime in her 30s my mother developed a shellfish allergy. It started as a gastrointestinal thing and then it moved on to hives and swollen lips. For years I’ve joked that I better eat it while I can because some day its going to revolt. Now, I am afraid its begun. I have inherited all of Mom’s other medical oddities so why not this one? I have been putting off dealing with the allergist for years, it was good enough to know that something would control my hay fever, I really didn’t need to KNOW what was causing it. I feel some serious empathy for Chris over at Notes from the Trenches who is finding out she is allergic to a whole host of things—things that are in nearly everything we eat. And Builder Mama and my friend Lisa who have kids with serious peanut allergies who have to watch everything their sons eat. At least you can avoid shellfish if you need to, although you don’t have to like it. I’m going to see my GP this afternoon and try to figure out what the heck is going on with my body. I’m hoping I will get at least one gold star for being 10 pounds lighter than the last time I was there!

Dinner was good, although I felt a bit like I did when I was in college and we'd play "I never." Someone would say I never ate a goldfish and everyone who had drinks. I sat for long dry spells never touching my drink as I was pretty naive and inexperienced. As they traded awful ex-spouse/mother/in-law stories last night I realized how glad that I could just listen and laugh and NOT have a thing to say (and for me thats HARD).

Blahhhhhhhhhhhhh

That is how I feel this morning. I was up several times during the night with the hope that a drink of water would make my throat feel better. While it helped a bit at the time this morning I woke up with a flaming sore throat (in the dark no less). Seems I managed to go all winter without a cold, flu or sinus problem but wham, the weather turns nice and I feel like crap. Maybe its the fact that stuff has started blooming?! Its supposed to be 70 here today!

Of course here at work I have a full day on tap, starting with an executive inquisition, er um meeting so there was no crawling back in bed for me. So I got up and downed some Vitamin I. Put on the new dress I bought at Kohl's last night (gotta love a 30% off everything coupon!), dug out some heels, wriggled into some hose and headed for the office. If I don't feel good maybe looking good will get me through the day. And the dress, it came from the regular sizes not the plus sizes--talk about non-scale victory. I also felt lighter this morning and sure enough, down 2 pounds from Friday--how the heck does that happen--do the little fat globs sneak out in the middle of the night? I guess I'll ride the loss and the new dress through the day and count my blessings that it is Tuesday and I get to leave early to pick Boobah up at preschool.

And the winner is....

Mold. I took Boobah to the allergist today where she was a total trooper! She winced a little but didn't cry at all when they did a scratch test of the 14 or 16 most common allergens and Purell (that's her arm with all the dots). The only thing that she tested positive for...mold. So, we can assume that is the culprit--the party was in the basement of the building and they'd been playing with a parachute, running around and rolling on the floor. The doctor did say that it is possible that it was something else and if she has another reaction we can look into other possibilities. G-man followed up with the people at the gym today and they went and looked at all the dispensers to make sure it was Purell.

We'll be carrying around Benadryl from now on, just in case. She also seems to be suffering from the after effects with a runny nose and now runny eye (which the allergist assured me wasn't pink eye, because what we need around here right now is another reason for one of us to stay home from work!).

Of Mommy Guilt and Stupid People

Yesterday both girls had a birthday party to attend, on opposite sides of town at basically the same time. Since I took the party at the dreaded Chuck E. Cheese last time, G-man took it this time. I took Boobah to the party at the gym. She parties, I work out, all is good. So, trying to get my bingo card filled out I pick swim for 30 minutes. It was so hard. When I was done my legs were like jello and I was dizzy. I wasn't sure which was stronger, the sense of accomplishment or the desire to puke. I took a quick shower, did a few nautilus machines, chatted with Es and went to pick up Boobah and that's when the fun began!

I am waiting and waiting with the other Moms and Dads when a woman comes up and asks if I am Boobah's Mom and says she is all red. I go with her, a bit confused because the party should have been over 10 minutes before and we've been waiting for her and suddenly it seems as if I've done something wrong. I get downstairs and Boobah's face is red--nothing I haven't seen before when she was really hot. Then I look at her hands that are nearly purple and her ears as well. There are people talking all over each other...She didn't eat anything...Should we call 911...It just happened...We tried calling you...You *have* to take her somewhere you have to figure out what its from...Benadryl, anybody got Benadryl...it was all I could to check her over and try to figure out what was going on. The father of the birthday girl is a physician. He was very quiet so I expected it wasn't so bad or he'd have had them call an ambulance. So I asked him if he thought it was okay for me to take her to the ER, he looked me in the eye and told me yes--she didn't show any signs of respiratory distress. So I wisked her away feeling like I'd done something wrong. I could see all of those faces screaming at me and hear the voices reverberating in my had. Should I have stayed at the party? I never left the building. She goes there 2-3 times a week. She has an emergency form on file.

I drove to the ER with the rear view mirror trained on her. Her cheeks were red and puffy with welts, and her ears were bright red. We got to the ER and the admitting clerk had me fill out a form. The volunteer that came to take us to the pediatric ER wasn't nearly as slow moving, he showed us right back, they immediately put us in a room and the nurses descended upon us. They asked questions, checked out all of her vitals and were obviously in charge. Then in came a resident, Dr. Lipschitz just like from Rugrats except this one was female looked to be about 12. It was obvious from the way she came in and started doing things around the nurses that she was just in their way. If I'd had to choose one of them, it would have been one of the nurses.

They assured me that she would be fine. We discussed her fever earlier in the week but it seemed to be far enough in the past and never high enough to be a viral rash flushing itself out. They gave her some Benadryl, explained to me that it was considered a major allergic reaction, she was red from head to toe with welts on her face and a rash on her body and that we needed to figure out what caused it. The last thing she ate was grilled cheese and yogurt hours before the party. Things she's eaten a million times before.

The attending physician (I think the same one that sowed up her head 2 years ago) gave me a sheet on anaphylaxis and said we were lucky, her reaction didn't involve her respiratory system. He also assured me that we'd done the right thing bringing her in. He suggested a second reaction could be more severe and we should follow-up with an allergist. So, less than an hour later we were headed home. My head was spinning and I was finally coming down off my Mommy crisis reaction.


I called the Mom from the party when I got home to let her know that everything was okay. She gave me the low-down on what had happened prior to the redness. It seems that they used hand cleaner on all the kids hands so they could have pizza. Then Boobah said she had to go to the bathroom so the Mom took her. That's when she noticed she started turning red. My suspicion at this point is the hand cleaner. They said it was Purell which she's used a thousand times but more than once someone mentioned a new cleaner.

So, now instead of guilty I am a bit concerned about their ability to deal with an emergency. No one paged me, no one called my cell phone. Es confirmed for me that she never heard my name over the PA. I will put notes at school, daycare and the gym that she shouldn't use hand cleaner. We will follow-up with an allergist. The not knowing is the scary part, what if she encounters it again and no one notices? I've always been sympathetic to parents of kids with peanut & other food allergies but now I have an all new appreciation for the fear they must have every day.