Birthday's, banquets and barely breathing

It's my birthday tomorrow.

Happy birthday to me.

All the Crazies gave me my presents a few weeks ago while we were on holiday, and my family don't really go in for birthday pressies, so I think it's going to be a bit of a quiet day.

We went to the Company of Chivalry annual banquet last night though. this is the big social event of the year and as it tied in with my birthday weekend, and we could stay overnight so alcohol consumption wasn't a problem, I was really looking forward to it. There was a 9 course meal being served, plus we'd made a dozen bottles of ciser (apple mead).

CrazieQueen was nabbing a lift from us, so she turned up about 6ish, with all her new kit, and we all trundled off down the motorway to the banqueting hall (well, a village hall that had been converted for the weekend). We said our hello's, found a good place to sit (not a lot of choice as we are grouped by rank), and started drinking.

It was all going great for the first half hour or so, then my cough - which still hasn't gone since September! - started getting really bad. I went outside for some fresh air, and it seemed to calm down, so i came back ready to start the meal. 9 courses takes quite a while in anyone's book, and as we interspersed each course with "entertainment", company promotions (we went up from Villien or serf, to Yeoman, or freeman), it was obviously going to take all night.

By about 9pm, my wheezing was obviously getting worse, and by 11ish I realised that I was not only very wheezy, but I was actually unable to breathe sufficiently at all (I had stopped drinking about 9pm), and was still getting worse:-( I gave up & went out to the car to try to sleep it off. - Our car specifies that you can convert the back seats into a double bed - so i put them all down flat, climbed into the sleeping bag and realised that Mitsibushi's version of "flat" and my version of "flat" are obviously not the same! We won't be trying that again!

But in fact, it didn't matter, beacuse if I tried to lie down - or even just sit back a bit, I suffocated! It stopped being difficult to breathe, and became impossible! I started to get a bit stressed out after a while & texted Aggie to come back, but he was too busy socialisig & didn't notice:-( I was still getting worse and was starting to go hypoxic, with tingling fingertips & clawing hands! I called Aggie & when he came I said I was really worried and should I call an ambulance. He gave me an antihistimine that he had found, as it was obvioulsy an extreme allergic reaction to something. He said I should come back inside, but I didn't want to as whatever had set it off was in there, so he said he'd check back in 10 minutes & dissappeared.

Half an hour later he hadn't come back, so I decided to call NHS direct & ask their advice. Bad idea. It was now nearly 1am on Sunday morning, and it's well into Xmas party season. all their medical staff were "busy" so I go one of their idiot receptionists who have a tick list of questions to ask you.

• "Are you choking?",
• "No, I'm having an anaphylactic reaction to something & i am hypoxic",
• "Do you have pains in your chest?"
• "No, I'm having an anaphylactic reaction to something & i am hypoxic, it's not a heart attack",
• "Do you have a red rash that does not go away if pressed"
• "No, I'm having an anaphylactic reaction to something & i am hypoxic, it' not meningitus"
• "Would you say that you have a headache and are losing consciousness or are very drowsy?"
• "No, I'm having an anaphylactic reaction to something & i am hypoxic, not having a stroke"

This went on for a good twenty minutes, then she said that she would have to get a medical professional to call me back & it would be about an hour & a half wait. i didn't have the energy to tell her I'd either be getting better or dead by then & hung up.

Half an hour later, I was able to lean back in the chair and start to doze, so when Aggie came to bed (only an hour & a half after saying he'd check on me in 10 minutes) I got him to call them back & say don't bother.

I dozed on and off through the night, slowly getting better so that by 5am I was able to lie down! But I didn't get much sleep really:-( By morning I was just a bit wheezy again, with a horrendously sore throat, but I have spent most of the day feeling pretty crappy, both from the reaction to lack of oxygen, the agonising throat & the lack of sleep. Aggie has been good, and despite being hung over & watched the kids most of the day & let me get some sleep, but I am definitely going to have to go to the Dr's tomorrow & stop pretending that I'm not anylphalactic.

Aggie thinks he tracked down the cause - CQ's cloak was hanging over the back of my chair at the beginning of the night, and her cats had been lieing on it! My allergy to cats has been getting progressively worse for the past decade or so - and for the last year or so I've known that i can not visit houses where cats live as I can not breathe withing about 10mins, but just sitting next to somthing that once had cats near it is just silly!