przed: (bean game of thrones)
[personal profile] przed
So, my week started well, and then rapidly got weird/bad/semi-dangerous. Let me share it with you.


I'd been looking forward to Monday for ages, because not only was that the day I was going to see the Game of Thrones Exhibit down at the TIFF Lightbox, but TIFF had brought George R.R. Martin in to do an on-stage interview and book signing and I'd got tickets for myself and one of my best friends that I'd encouraged to read the books. (She then managed to rip through them all, including the latest one, faster than I ever could. Ah, for infinite time.)

The exhibit was very cool. They had Dany's dothraki costume and the pin of the King's Hand, a Stark shield, several swords, King Robert's crown, and Ned Stark's head on a pike. The Sweetie got to see the exhibit a couple of days before me when he was down at the Lightbox for a screening, and he was practically bouncing when he came in.

Sweetie: Guess what they had in the exhibit?!
Me: Does it have something to do with Ned Stark?
Sweetie: Yeah!
Me: Is it Ned's head?
Sweetie: ::looking distinctly less bouncy:: Yeah.

Poor boy. But he did make it rather easy to guess. He takes too much delight in the Bean getting killed off.

They also have a replica of the Iron Throne that not only do you get to sit in, but that they take your picture in. Alas, after waiting half an hour for the privilege, they seem to have lost the pictures of everyone who had their pictures done on Monday night. But you can see the Sweetie glowering on the throne here.

The Martin interview was fun. He's a funny, engaging guy, and as a bonus they showed the Season 2 trailer on the big screen in the theatre, along with interview clips with various cast members. One of the best clips was when they asked which character they thought Martin himself resembled. A few, predictably, said Tyrion, a few, less predictably, said Varys. But Nicholaj Coster-Waldau said Samwell Tarly, which I thought was interesting and not one I would have come up with at all. But it makes sense.

After the interview, Martin adjourned to the lobby to, and I quote, "deface your books." I got him to deface my copy of Game of Thrones, but also a copy of Armageddon Rag, which I'd accidentally found in a box of box I happened to be moving in the basement.

So, that was the good part of the week.


The bad part of the week started out normally. I got up at 5:30 on Tuesday to head out to my martial arts class. On arriving, I found out that Sir Winston (all the instructors are either "Sir" or "Ma'am") wasn't teaching, and Sir Sean, who I'd been warned about, was. He got us to run laps until I could feel my asthma starting to kick off, and then to skip rope until I thought I was going to die. Which wasn't the bad part, actually.

The bad part was when we started doing kata, and I felt my scalp getting a bit itchy. And then inside my ears. And then, when I realized things were about to go tits up quite quickly and went back to the car to retrieve my antihistamines and Epipen, my left eye swelled shut, and the inside of my mouth swelled up. I downed the antihistamines, drove the five minutes home, during which my throat swelled enough that it hurt to swallow, and jammed in the Epipen as soon as I got in the door. (You don't want to drive after you've taken adrenaline. Truly.) This stopped the worst of the swelling, and gave us enough time to get Ros ready so the Sweetie could drive me to the hospital and then drop her at school.

In the E.R. the doctor made sure my airway was clear, gave me even more antihistamine, and told me I had to take the bloody stuff every 4 hours for 24 hours to make sure the swelling didn't rebound. Which meant lying on the couch all day either in an absolute fog or unconscious. I couldn't even watch anything I really wanted to since I couldn't stay awake for more than 30 minutes at a time. And yesterday when I went into to work, I had enough of a Benedryl hangover that I was dopey, dizzy and useless for most of the day.

So, yeah, not my best day ever.

The scary thing is not that this is a recurrence of my usual mysterious "idiopathic angioedema" (which is my favourite diagnosis ever, as it basically means "you swell up and we don't know why") but that this time the bloody thing seems to have been kicked off by the cardio exercise. I gave up beer years ago since that seemed to be triggering this. I'm not bloody giving up exercise.

From this point forward, the week has got to get better.

Date: 2012-03-16 08:36 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] moth2fic.livejournal.com
That sounds so awful - and with no real reason!! It wouldn't be so bad, somehow, if there was something you knew you could avoid! I'm glad you're OK - it sounds a rapid reaction and maybe you shouldn't really have driven home but I can see why you did. I like your posh-sounding diagnosis too.

(((((hugs)))))

I hope it stays away for at least three years.

The juxtaposition of jeans, T-shirt and throne is wonderful. What a pity they lost your pic!

Take care of yourself!

Date: 2012-03-16 10:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] przed.livejournal.com
It's the complete randomness of it that's most frustrating. I've seen five allergists over the years, and after they've all had different (and sometimes crack-potted) theories about what's going on, I've given up on the lot of them.

I do wish I knew for sure that it wasn't beer, though, because I could do with a pint every now and then. :-( At least I can still drink scotch. And gin.

I have hopes that they'll find the rest of the Monday pics, but I'm probably delusional. Don took Ros down the other day, so I'm hoping to find her shots eventually. (You have to go through literally hundreds of pics on their facebook page to find yours, so I've haven't gone looking for her yet.)


Date: 2012-03-16 10:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] moth2fic.livejournal.com
As you hadn't had beer this time it's less likely to be beer. Think about beer ingredients - not alcohol, because you're OK with spirits, presumably not yeast because you can eat bread (I'm assuming, here), and probably not whatever grains/sugars they've used or it would be a problem in other products. Hops??? But again, if you have an attack without any exposure... It sounds more like something in the atmosphere. I have a severe hayfever reaction that they eventually narrowed down to the mould that forms on damp autumn leaves, so anything is possible.*g* Could it be a cleaning product they used at the place where your martial arts session was held? Or new paint, polish, whatever? Your exercise and extra deep breathing would have meant taking in more of that, especially as you say your need for an inhaler was kicking in. Maybe you have to avoid over exerting yourself unless you know for sure the surroundings are safe. Good luck - and sympathies!!

Date: 2012-03-16 12:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] przed.livejournal.com
The other, increasingly likely, option is that it's an auto-immune response, which means my body just decides to nearly kill itself every once in a while just for fun. I'm not sure what's worse, an allergen that's extremely hard to track down or the auto-immune thing.

Date: 2012-03-16 02:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] moth2fic.livejournal.com
If that turns out to be the case, it really sucks! I hope you can keep it under some kind of control!

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