Monday, May 23, 2011

Fits right in...


If you know me, you know I have allergies. Allergic to everything. Everything under the sun. Including the sun.  I sat outside of work for about five minutes enjoying the beautiful day, watching the cottonwood blow in the air (which I am also allergic to), thinking this could be the only day I enjoy outdoors without having a full blown (nasal) allergy attack. I enjoyed myself, and the company. I got home tonight, only to find my sun allergy had reared its ugly head again. Not too bad, but enough to remind me I cannot and must not enjoy the sun. (My kids call me vampire. I wish I had some of the perks that went along with being one.) So I sit here itching! And miserable.
Keep in mind that all three of my children have allergies of differing severity, but all have some  kind of allergy nonetheless. My biggest complaint about allergies, aside from the sneezing, kleenex going through the wash, hearing the sucking back of snot, coughing, finding snot rags all over the place, has to be that because of said allergies I can't use scented fabric softener. That's why I hate washing clothes, they never smell 'clean'! They don't smell bad or dirty, they just don't have that clean laundry smell that most people get to enjoy. I know it's a simple thing. I just want the smell of clean around me. But, because of my allergies and thanks to the wonders of genetics now my kids' allergies, we can't have that one simple pleasure. It could be worse.
So, we got a dog (this will make sense...stick with me). . I've been noticing that she sneezes when she comes in from being out in the grass. It's gotten progressively worse, much like the rest of ours have. We've already visited the vet twice in her short two months with us. And I wanted to wait until school was out and dance recital was over to check out what was going on with the dog's allergy situation. But, just like the rest of my family, the dog apparently does not like to do things on my time table...she had her own plan.
It started with her coughing and sneezing uncontrollably last night. So bad, that after researching I gave her a low dose of Benadryl to stave off the sneezing and coughing. That did NOT help! In the middle of the night the oldest said the dog started making a gawd awful noise, I first heard this at 5:55 a.m. I thought she was having an asthma attack, she was wheezing, she seemed to be retracting with each breath. I was freaked out! I wanted to take her in to the emergency vet right then and there, but, I couldn't even imagine the cost. I'm kind of cheap, plus I've found an amazing vet really close to our house with really reasonable prices. I digress. The oldest and I took turns sitting with her while she continued the horrible wheezing for about an hour and half until our vet opened for the day.
Once I got there, she continued this horrible, painful, and heart wrenching wheeze. The vet got her in right away. Yep, she has allergies. And this horrible, gawd awful, painful, asthma like sound is called: reverse sneezing. You read that right, reverse sneezing. It could be worse. I'm glad that she is o.k. So now she's on steroids (insert whatever joke you'd like here) and will likely start on allergy meds in the near future. But, in the meantime...the dog fits right in.

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