A Celebration and Anaphylaxis

Last night was supposed to be a celebration.  It was supposed to be a celebration for the delivery of a product to one of our biggest and most prominent customers.  As some of you know, I work for General Electric Aviation Systems.  We provide avionics to most of the aircraft manufacturing companies located around the world.  Well, we delivered big a few weeks ago.  We delivered a product to a customer ahead of schedule and under budget.  Everybody wins when this happens.  However, the evening did not quite turn out that way for us.

One of the executives (John) who oversees our work wanted to show his and the company's appreciation by having the team working the program over to his home for food and drink.  Deirdre and I made a conscious decision to remain in GR this weekend to catch up on some home projects, as well as to attend this event hosted by John and his spouse.

The event was announced earlier in the week, with a show time of 6:30PM.  We left our house about 6:15PM and it took us about 25 minutes to drive to John's house.  His home is in a densely wooded area in a suburb of Grand Rapids.  Deirdre and arrived at John's house at approximately 6:40PM.

We parked our car and headed to John's house.  We walked to the front door and I lightly knocked on the screen door, and we let ourselves in to John's house.  John was immediately in front of us, greeted us warmly, and introduced us to his spouse, Billie.  I thanked them both for their hospitality, then Deirdre and I walked through his kitchen to a deck at the back of his home to get a drink.  15 or 20 people from our program team were already there, and some were milling about the deck, enjoying the view into the woods.

Deirdre and I got ourselves something to drink, and we moved back inside to the den and had a seat on a sofa.  In the den, the Royals-Tigers was on TV.  The game was in the 8th inning and the Royals had just scored 4 runs to bring the them to within Tigers, who at the end of the 7th inning enjoyed a 6-0 lead.

We sipped on our drinks, and a moment later John announced that the the food was ready in their dining room.  Deirdre and I walked to the dining room, grabbed a plate and made our way through a very well appointed buffet.  We returned to our seats in the den to watch the end of the Royals-Tigers game.

Then, it happened.  I felt a scratch in my throat.  At first I chalked it up to my allergies, which have been acting up a bit lately.  I nibbled on the food I selected from the buffet, and it happened some more.  My eyes were watering and I felt a dull cough every few moments.  Deirdre was sitting across from me, and we both were making small talk with the people who had gathered in the den to watch the end of the baseball game.

Deirdre was speaking to one of my co-workers and I noticed that her voice was an octave or so lower than normal.  I felt my chest tightening up with each breath I took, and the scratch in my throat became more pronounced. Dee looked at me and she said, "I think I am reacting to something in this house."

I was having similar feelings, and I asked our very gracious host, John: "John do you have cats?"  John said to me, "Yes, I do, but they are upstairs."  John then walked out of the den to attend to a newly arrived guest.

At that moment, Dee and I made the decision to leave as soon as the next batter got out in the baseball game.  Well, the next batter was the third out for the Royals, so the game ended moments after we decided to leave.  Dee said to me, "Please give John my thanks, I need to get outside."  I walked over to where John was standing and I said to him, "John, Deirdre and I are both reacting to your cats.  I want to thank you for being such a gracious host, but we need to leave."

John said to me, "Paul, I am so sorry.  The cats were upstairs."  John followed me to his front door.  Deirdre was already outside on John's front porch, coughing a little.  John walked outside with me and said again, "I am so sorry about the cats.  They are upstairs and I did not think that they would be a bother to anyone."  Dee and I both thanked John again for inviting us into his home, and we politely took our leave and headed to our car.  We had been in John's house for about 45 minutes.

We got in our car, wheezing, sneezing and coughing.  We headed home, opening the windows to try to flush our lungs with fresh air.  We arrived at home and Samson greeted us as we walked into our kitchen from the garage.  Samson immediately started sniffing my legs and backside.  He clearly knew that we had been at a place that had "indoor bunnies."

I took off the clothes that I was wearing and threw them downstairs to be washed lated.  I hopped in the shower to scrub down the cat dander that had made its way on to my skin.  

One of the effects of an anaphylactic reaction is a drop in blood pressure, so after I got out of the shower and dressed, I checked my BP.  It was a a respectable 124/71.  I continued to cough and sneeze the rest of the night, but it was clear to me that I was going to live.  

Morale of the story:  Deirdre and need to continue to avoid being around cats.

The Eagle has Landed

As many readers of this blog know, we are fortunate to own a little slice of heaven on the shores of Lake Huron, just about 3 miles south of the Au Sable River, near Oscoda, Michigan.  We purchased our cottage in January, 2010, and little by little, we have made this place our own.  In 2010, we contracted to have new windows and flooring installed.  In 2011 a new kitchen found its way to our cottage.  This year, we put in a deck to make the comings and goings from the beach a little easier.  The deck is also a fine place for a libation at the end of a long day.


This is a view of our cottage and the new deck taken a few feet towards Lake Huron:

This is the view from our deck towards Lake Huron:

We gave our cottage a name, calling it East of the Equator.  The origins of that name can be found here.  We purchased this place to relax, unwind and most importantly, recharge.  Deirdre and I have hectic jobs that keep us busy almost every day of the week.  We come to our cottage to get away from recharge our batteries to face whatever comes our way during the next work week.


An added benefit of owning a cottage where we do is that American Bald Eagles are part of the indigenous animal population.  We have been fortunate to see a few of these amazing birds quite a few times since the beginning of the year.  There is a pine tree one cottage south of ours where an eagle will sometimes roost and today, roost he did.  Here are a few images of the eagle, who was clearly enjoying the view, too:

These were the best images I could capture with my Nikon CoolPix.  Deirdre had her Nikon D300 with a zoom lens and she captured more images, that will certainly soon make it to her blog.  After about 20 minutes, the eagle had seen all that it wanted to see, and left.  He was completely silent as he departed, flying down the beach for a hundred yards or so before heading inland.  It is an amazing thing to see this magnificent bird of prey fly.

So, if you ever find yourself near Oscoda on a Saturday or a Sunday during the summer, chances are Deirdre and I will be East of the Equator, along with perhaps an eagle two.  Stop on by and remember that cocktails are served at 6:30PM, sharp!

Blucher mocs and other tales...

OK, I have been a bit of a slacker this past week. I did not update my blog and I am catching heck for it.

I was busy at work and I have been taking care of Princess. She had a great post-op visit with her surgeon this past week and the date for the removal of the Pin. I also received my new blucher mocs, and I am slowly breaking in the leather.

As for updates on Polly Pinfoot and Deb, here we go:

1) Polly Pinfoot: 3 days and a wake up and the pin comes out. To say that she is excited is an incredible understatement.

2) Deb: Deb goes under the knife on Monday, 28 July to have a screw removed from her leg. She continues to rehab and she is doing well, but the screw in her tibia needs to be removed. She will be under general anesthesia for an hour or so during the procedure.

I will endeavor to be more vigilant in updating my blog this week. Mea culpa.

First Post-Op Visit

Dee had her first post-op visit with her surgeon today. I will spare you the details regarding the removal of the original dressing and her first look at the sutures and pin sticking out of her foot, but I am happy to report that Dr. B. was quite happy with her recovery. She is now able to put a little weight on her foot and she no longer needs crutches. On Monday her sutures will be removed. Now that will be an interesting evolution!

DEIRDRE'S NIGHTMARE...

Our meal on Christmas Night was nothing short of fantastic. We had a very relaxing day and enjoyed doing as little as possible throughout the day. Today, on Boxing Day, I was the first one up. Deirdre and Attila slept in a little, so I emptied the dishwasher and noticed that the sink in the kitchen was not draining properly. Yep, I quickly realized that we were facing a plumbing problem. I called our plumber, Dave, who arrived a few hours later. Dave snaked out the drain line. but he did not have enough time to work on a problem with the dishwasher. It looks like we will be doing dishes by hand until Dave can come back.

Are you married to a "Weather Nerd?"

The Enchanted Mitten was engulfed in its first winter snow storm of the season yesterday. The local meteorologists were using several weather computer models to try to predict the length and severity of the storm. Deirdre was beside her self most of the day, frequently telling me to change the channel of the TV whenever there was a commercial interruption in the broadcast of the Army-Navy game. Dee would listen intently to the "talking head" on the Weather Channel and then would either nod in agreement or say, "There is no way we are going to get that much snow. This is a wintery mix, there will not be much accumulation." At one point, she looked at me and said, "I am going to go downstairs to do some ironing... and watch the Weather Channel."

I suppose of all the vices one could have, being a weather nerd is a fairly benign one!