When I moved to North Carolina, the doctor suggested that I might be granted a year or two, possibly three, of grace before my body began to react to the vegetation here. That grace period has obviously ended, at a year and some change. I have been taking Allegra for days now, and today I am still dyin’. Something out there is blooming savagely in my directly, taunting me, throwing out great vile sprays of invisible allergic death, and ‘gainst the slings and arrows of outrageous pollen, I cannot stand.
Should this suffering continue for much longer, I will have to upgrade to something fiercer than Allegra, which has previously generally stood me in good stead if I can get to it before the reaction kicks in full force.
Still, it could be a lot worse. Has been a lot worse at various points in my past–I should, for example, never visit Southern California again if I wish not to die a sneezing death. And I have no food allergies of any sort, for which I am grateful, because hayfever at least has the advantage of a good long run-up to death–generally the season will end before your body deteriorates to the point of collapse, and at a worst case scenario, you can leave town. With food allergies, you get like thirty seconds to realize that somebody handed you a shrimp rolled in peanuts rather than a Twinkie, and then you’re flopping around on the floor clutching at your closing airway. Even the worst extremes of Mexican food don’t do that to me. I may not want to breathe the air, but I by god have the option.
