The Future is Now

I'm recovering from the flu right now.  I'm able to go to work but I'm still (mostly dry) coughing and kind of congested. It's the end of the day now and I can honestly say I feel better than when I left home this morning.

My get-well grocery shopping list last night consisted of lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, a nice change from the generic chicken soup and raisin bran I was having for four days.  I had no appetite and I lost an alarming amount of weight in less than a week, mostly from dehydration I think.  Getting all this nice stuff to eat made me think of something important.  In all these years I haven't talked about my allergies and asthma on Fitzrovians, which have affected me my entire life and have almost everything to do with my indoor environment.  Why hasn't this come up before?  I'm in a living allergen bath on a daily basis, and it was worse when I was still spending so much time in the basement. 

When I was small I had severe allergies to foods and fragrances, though thankfully the reactions were pretty rare.  I had my first allergen test when I was about 9 (fun fact: the hospital that tested me was the future headquarters of Amazon in Seattle WA) and I got my first asthma meds.  I found out that some of my triggers were dust, dust mites, and mold.  My mom took a lot of care helping me clean my room and keep it vacuumed and dusted, and keeping things tidy so they don't lay around gathering dust.

I'm a dust mite!

As I was gathering my food yesterday, which was picked specifically to help me get stronger, I realized that I don't take half the care I used to with these things and now I have sleep issues revolving around breathing problems.  My pillows are old, old, old and they say that old pillows are mostly dust mites after a while.  I hardly vacuum under the bed and there's still a lot of old carpet and feathers from a down comforter about.  It's pretty clear what I need to do about this.

Many years ago, I gave up drinking milk or using it on cereal.  I do use some dairy occasionally, but my allergies have been soooo much better since that time.  I also find that soda and really sugary or floury treats make me stuffed up.  I notice things like this but ignore what sent me to the doctor for answers in the first place.

I'm going to get some new hypoallergenic pillows ASAP, when I don't have other groceries to carry home and it's not raining.  Also, I'm looking at getting a futon mattress to replace the old lumpy one I've had for years and years.  It used to be great, now I don't know anymore.  They're expensive but I'm going to have it another couple decades, right?  And remember what I said about getting rid of the carpet in that other post.  That's still happening.

Well, I guess you want some music after all that.  I'm kind of obsessed with this song.  It's led me to find some other good Brazilian music so maybe it will bring you some nice things too.