dehived and deswelled

Excellent news! I am back to my normal color, size and shape!!! Tonight we will hopefully be celebrating 72 hours hive-free, and I am feeling sooo. much. better.

Thank you so much for your well-wishes and advice. Maribeth asked if it helped, and your sympathy honestly did. I felt as if I wasn't totally crazy for being concerned, particularly since my primary care physician was acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Reading all your comments and knowing that you thought I was right to be alarmed made a difference.

I will tell you that Josh almost met with an untimely death when he told me on Friday night that he thought the source of all my hives, chest pressure, swelling and difficulty breathing were all due to stress. It took all my strength not to THROTTLE him. Thankfully, we are done with that theory and he has admitted that a drug allergy is more likely.

The doctor's second prescription made me feel remarkably better, and it wasn't until yesterday that I realized just how swollen I'd been from the hives. If I'd shown you my legs on Friday, you could scarcely distinguish my knees from the rest of my legs, the swelling was so extreme. I hadn't worn my wedding ring for several days because my fingers were so swollen it felt as if my circulation was being cut off. My face looked puffy and all my clothes fit tighter.

Today, I feel 100% better. So thank you thank you thank you! For all your kind comments and for all your emails checking to see how I was doing.

I spent the large part of the weekend parked on the couch watching movies and addressing holiday cards, per Josh's orders that I had to rest to get better. We ventured out only once on Saturday night for a brief visit to a holiday party, and to breakfast on Sunday morning. I had another 16 hour day at the office yesterday, and I feared that the hives would return, but I remain hive-free today. I'm hoping the rest of the week will allow for shorter hours and next week I may be taking some vacation time, pending a client's decision on when they'd like to close.

Thanks again for the messages! I'll keep you updated on what the allergy doctor says. I am apparently seeing an allergy and immunology specialist, rather than an actual allergist. I'm not sure why, but I guess I'll find out soon.