Peanuts.
A week ago, I had a couple of Mary Janes at work to fight a hunger pang at 2:30pm. I had a pretty normal day after that; played soccer, dyed Kara's hair, had dinner, went to bed then woke up at 4am because I was tearing away at myself. I was itchy all over and digging into my neck and shoulders, knees, stomach, pretty much everywhere. I thought that maybe it was the new laundry detergent and tried to go back to sleep. At 7:30am, I got up for work, popped two Benadryls and noticed that I was covered in giant red splotches. It looked like sunburn, and the spots were warm to the touch, and itchy as hell. When I saw this, I knew it was the peanuts since this had happened once before in college after eating two small bags of trail mix over a week, but the rash went away after 2 hours. I went to work after tossing some extra Benadryl in my bag.
Two Benadryls is the equivalent to OTC sleeping pills, so I was pretty useless at work. The itching subsided, but I was still splotchy. I wasn't feeling good so left at lunch and when I got home, I popped two more Benadryls, took a puff of my inhaler, and went to bed exhausted. I woke up 3 hours later, and the rash was still there. I got up and waited for another hour so I could take more, but it was becoming more and more apparent that things weren't getting better. The itching was unbearable. I called my HMO to speak with an advice nurse and she suggested I go into their after hours clinic ASAP.
To make a long story short, I am very allergic to peanuts. When I got to the clinic, they took me into the back and started working on me immediately. Epi shots, an IV, oxygen, the works. I was having a very bad reaction, and they were constantly monitoring my vital signs. It was very scary. You figure, a Mary Jane has maybe a total of three crushed peanuts in it? After an hour and a half of being hooked up with everything being pushed through my veins, the reaction subsided and I was back to my normal self. I left with steroid pills, but the reaction kept coming back in intervals for the next four days. I think it's finally out of my system. The doctor made a point of stressing no nuts, and also pointed out that had I stayed home, I could've possibly stopped breathing. Apparently, now that I'm sensitized to peanuts, each subsequent reaction will be worse. I'm not sure what the extent of it is at the moment, for example, can I eat Thai stir fry if it was cooked in a wok that pad thai was just cooked in? I have allergy testing scheduled for late next month.
I hate these "new" allergies.
Crazy Volcano Bike Ride!
While we were on Maui, I convinced everyone that it would be a great idea to ride bikes down a volcano. To be more specific, you coast on a well traveled paved road that has numerous switchbacks on the outside of an extinct volcano. Here's a photo before we had to start pedaling.
You basically go with a tourgroup, and the coordinator of the trip has a giant passenger van towing a trailer full of bikes. If you can't go on for some reason, you can always bail and hitch a ride in the sag wagon. I must admit, coasting down the side of a volcano was a little scary but only because you gain a lot of speed from doing nothing. To make it worse, the road is only two lanes, one lane each way, and there are giant Greyhound-like tour buses careening up the side of the turns and swerving into your lane.
After the volcano part, we went on some side roads to the only vineyard in Maui. This was the absolute best part of the trip! (Note: there was a lot of whining because of the need to pedal some, but Mom kicked ass.)
If this photo had a caption, it would probably have at least one f-word in it. I'll skip the whole Dad-almost-passing-out-part, and we'll move onto the scenery!
We had lunch at the vineyard. It was the prettiest vineyard because of all the greenery. Hawaii is very luscious. After lunch, we checked out the tasting room and had other random fun.
After the vineyard, we were still very close to the volcano park, so we drove back up to see the crater. The weather changes quickly up there, so by the time we passed through the front gate, and got to the top, the fog had rolled in and we were barely able to see three feet in front of us.
We usually were able to go to the beach for a little bit every day. That evening we went to Sansei for sushi. We killed $120 worth of happy hour priced sushi in oh, 20 minutes. Oink!
More Hawaii stories later!
Hawaii Recap.
Sleep is overrated. I'll get to that story after the Hawaii Recap.
The Open Market!I went to the library two months before the trip to take out some travel books since we were visiting three islands. On our way to the Maui Aquarium, Mom flips open the book, and discovers that there's a Swap Meet from now until 3pm. Dad performs some crazy driving maneuvers and we're back on track, going the opposite direction away from the aquarium only to discover a HUGE flea market. YES!! I bought some trinkets for friends and coworkers, a cool shirt for Craig and a very pretty blue dichroic glass necklace.
Pineapples are everywhere, and very cheap too. They're very fresh and only $2.50 each. I think we probably dropped something like $500 across the five of us (not bad) and then made it over to the aquarium.
Maui Ocean CenterThis was better than the New York Aquarium, but cannot compete with the brand new Georgia Aquarium. It was small and quaint and focused on reef life. The most disgusting thing there was the octopus in a tank by itself. Second most disgusting thing? Probably a sea cucumber.
Sea turtles are everywhere along the perimeter of the island. They're not afraid of humans, and seem curious. They'll come close enough so you can see them, but not close enough to be touched. They're protected, and you're not supposed to be within ten feet of them, I believe.
Oh wow, this Benadryl is some strong stuff. Will need to continue this later...
I'm back.
But won't be here for very long since I'm due to pick up Craig at the airport at any second. We just got back from Hawaii. I was there for two weeks with family, and Craig joined us for the second week. I'll have to put together a more coherent entry later with some photos hopefully. 15 hours of traveling makes me an unhappy camper.
I jotted a quick list of Lessons Learned after being confined with family for two WHOLE weeks. It was probably three years ago when I was in that same situation, but things (and personalities) are always changing.
The list:
1. Stay out of other people's business.
2. Mind the sarcasm.
3. If they dish it, return it.
4. Make alone time a priority.
5. Pack food.
6. If people have deficiencies, be glad it's not YOUR problem.
7. Have an objective source validate your opinions and be a sounding board for sanity.
