I’ve got allergies these days.

When I was a kid I had a dog. No allergies. When I was a teenager, my step-mom had a cat. No Allergies. Sometime in my twenties, I noticed that if I got scratched by a cat, the scratch marks would become raised welts. I suspected that I’d become allergic to cats.

In the late nineties, we visited Pam’s mom Pat. After a few hours in Pat’s condo, I developed chills and started shivering. Within an hour of leaving Pat’s I’d be fine. This also happened on the following day. We figured that I was allergic to Pat’s cats and not Pat. (Insert mom-in-law joke here).

In the early noughts, I’d have allergic reactions to spring and fall. Each year the reaction was worse than before and my eyes would be rediculously itchy and sore. I was also having problems with asthma. My GP prescribed some allergy pills but they weren’t effective. He then sent me to an allergist.

The first thing that the allergist did was get me tested to see what I was and wasn’t allergic to. This is where they draw a grid on your back and scratch you with different allergens to see which ones cause a reaction. In my case they found that I was allergic to cats, dogs, trees, grasses, dust, and mold. I often summarize this as “allergic to Michigan”. Apparently I set the daily record for having the most allergies in their office.

The doctor told me that reacting to allergens is like filling a bucket. That didn’t explain anything. The allergist added, I could be allergic to trees and grasses and dust and mold and still be okay. The bucket would be, say, three quarters full. But if we add golden retrievers then the bucket would overflow and I’d be sneezing and struggling to breathe and scratching my eyes out.

They started giving me allergy shots. Weekly at first but it’s more or less monthly these days. Getting the shots aren’t usually that bad but they make you hang around for an extra 20-30 minutes to make sure that you don’t drop dead or go into shock or anything.

I’m still allergic to spring and fall but with the shots the allergy pills can mitigate the symptoms.

When I leave work to get the allergy shots, I usually announce that I’m going to get stabbed. This will sometimes get a reaction if folks who don’t know me are within earshot.

Sitting around the allergist’s office as I make sure that I don’t drop dead is still a pain. At least it gave me time to update my blog.