AACHOOOO

I was really naive, and stupid, to think that moving to Florida would cure my allergies.  I shouldn’t say cure.  Maybe reduce is a better word.  I thought, how wonderful it will be to escape the sneezing, sniffling, and sinus infections of the fall, winter and spring.  I mean, who is allergic to sun, heat, and palm trees?

It didn’t really occur to me that living in a tropical paradise also means living in a world complete of POLLEN.  Trees are practically in bloom all year long down here, as are weeds, grass, and an abundance of tropical flowers. Holy overload of allergies.  I knew I was in trouble last week when the hint of a new smell in the air tickled my nostrils: orange blossoms.  A sweet smell, but the moment I inhaled it, I knew my demise was around the corner.

I started the week off with a post nasal drip, causing some soreness in my throat.  No big deal, I thought.  I’m going to take this down.  Numerous amounts of tea, lozengers, and shots of Vick’s on the back of my throat later and no luck.  By the end of the school day yesterday, I had completely lost my voice.   I resorted to using hand held QUIET, RAISE YOUR HAND, and STOP LOOK AND LISTEN signs for my kiddos.  It was cute for a few minutes, but their effectiveness didn’t last quite as long as I hoped.  I knew there would be no way I would be able to get through the next school day if my voice didn’t improve.

So last night was spent on the couch drinking hot lemon water and dozing on the couch.  Dinner consisted of soup and a salad of steamed kale, sauteed mushrooms, white beans, and garlic.  Dessert was a bowl of organic apple sauce topped with cinnamon.  Pamper pamper pamper.  Positivity positivity positivity.

But to no avail did I improve.  Instead, as so many other instances before (like only 3 weeks ago) my symptoms worsened.  By 8:00 pm my boyfriend was whacking my back (ah brought back my memories of being hospitalized for asthma as a child) trying to break up all of the mucus that was accumulating in my chest.  SOB.

Sparing you all of the gory details, I wound up not going in to work today.  AGAIN.  I think one of the more frustrating aspects of being bedridden what feels like every other week is the fact that I miss work.  Especially in a new school system in which I am trying to prove myself.  I’ve had to take five sick days so far.  NOT GOOD.  I’ve been prone to illness since I popped out into this world, so I am all too familiar with things like allergies and kid germs attacking me which, in turn, develops into an infection.    However, my colleagues and principals aren’t.  Having asthma doesn’t help my cause too much either.  Since my career won’t be changing any time soon (fingers crossed), it looks like I’ll need to take another trip to the doctor’s  to get some more kick ass allergy meds to combat this new Floridian pollen.  BOOOOOO.