[A portion of this post was originally posted on Sherri Blossoms on January 21, but it's relevant here, too, so rather than rewrite it all, I'm copying it.]
I went to the doctor last week, finally. I haven’t been since I found out for sure I was having a reaction to fragrance. Besides the cost, I wanted to wait until I had eliminated as much fragrance from my world as possible, to stabalize and see what healed and what didn’t. It seemed to be going pretty well, and then The Time of the Migraine hit the reset button, and I knew I couldn’t wait any longer.
I ended up crying at the doctor’s office. I feel pretty dumb about the blubbering, but it just serves to show how frustrated I am by the whole thing, how much I really need to figure this sinus thing out. The X-rays showed nothing abnormal (it so cool to see inside my own skull) so he gave me a course of antibiotics and steroids.
I told Doc I’d been dealing with this problem for 6-7 years, but as I look back I think it’s been closer to eight or nine. I’m not sure if Doc believes me when I tell him how my old doctor dealt with these chronic problems. With the backward lens of time and experience, it seems like the old doc hated me. I wish I could see what he wrote about me in my chart.
It won’t surprise me at all if antibiotics clear it right up. The old doc refused to consider it. I love having a doctor who listens to me, even when I’m crying.
And oh yeah, I told him about the fragrance thing and he didn’t laugh at me. He didn’t get defensive. He didn’t dismiss it. He said some people have sensitive airways, and that was it. I’m hoping that the fragrance sensitivity will shake out when my sinuses are healed. I’d probably never go back to the old level of stinkiness, but at least I’d be able to be around people again, which means writer’s cons and a job and TCoB in general. To be normal would be the height of awesomeness.
