Today I took my mother-in-law, who lives with us, to the doctor.  I knew this was not going to be nice.  I had to walk away from my own scheduled Dr. appointment for a physical, just last week. I  could not tolerate the waiting room ‘fragrance pollution’.

My mother-in-law in 84 -she will turn 85 tomorrow (12th), I am rounding the bend right now – into the new shadow of 57.  So, mom is a bit feeble and needs my ‘arm’ to get from place to place.  My MCS makes it very difficult to provide the level of assistance she needs.

I took deep breaths, thought positive thoughts and hit the elevator.  Couldn’t take the stairs. Mom couldn’t do it.

By the time we got to the waiting room, I’d been ‘hit’ at least 6 times.  Reeling and finding it ever harder to breath, I settled into a chair and what would seem like and eternity of 10 minutes to get mom checked in.

It wasn’t easy.  In fact it hurt!

Once checked in, I had to abandon mom to the waiting room.  I’d alerted the check-in nurse to the very likely possiblilty of my needing to ‘leave the buidling’ due to my MCS.  She took my cell number and said they would call me when mom was out of the out-patient procedure and ready to go.

Sure enough, I had to leave.

I went to a nearby coffee shop – picked up quickly – a cup of coffee and sat in the car – with my computer – and worked until the cell phone rang.

I went back into the waiting room to get to mom’s area.  The room reaked with the mixture of a couple dozen different – very strong and lavishously splashed on fragrances.

How long can YOU hold YOUR breath?  That is a question I have to ask myself everytime I enter a public building or walk past a group of people.  Invariably I need to hold my breath a lot.

I got in and out with mom, but not without being seriously impacted for the rest of the day.

All day, late into the afternoon, I became more and more congested, tight throat, nasil drip, head pounding and joints aching.  I was HIT!

I’m going now… near insomnia- due to sleeping most of the afternoon into early eavening … and hurting.

For those who are not familiar with the effects of a ‘HIT’ … this was mild and very short lived.  But the residuals are yet to be seen.  I’ll have joint pain for several days.  Scalp itch for a week.  And feel a general malaise for a good week more.  Providing I don’t get ‘hit’ again!

This is my day… when I go out and comingle with the populace.  Not it’s not fun.  It’s very costly.