The second quarter
We have just passed the six month point of living in Capetown and I figure it’s time for an update.
I feel like I have been here a long time. I know my way around and I am very comfortable driving and exploring new places. Before the Christmas holidays arrived , I had settled into a good routine and was working out daily, hiking and enjoying cooking classes with my friends. I was on a roll…and then the “parking lot incident” happened and its been downhill ever since.
Sean still can’t believe that security video of the incident hasn’t surfaced on YouTube. I’m sure I would have nabbed the 2018 worst fails list! I had just finished working out at my Virgin Active gym and was in the parking lot waiting for my Uber with an icy fruit drink. To gain access to the parking lot you need to swipe your gym card for the parking boom to raise. So along comes this woman and she couldn’t get her card to work the boom. So being a natural born helper, I walk over and try my card and viola, off she goes. At this point I look lovingly into my refreshing icy goodness beverage and WHAM!!! The parking boom came down on my head and crumpled me to the ground like a two bit drunk. I broke the parking arm OFF the lever…with my head! What was my first thought you ask? “ I broke the arm and I better drag it out of the way so that no car gets damaged driving over it😳” Minutes later my Uber pulls up and I hop in, using my icy drink as a cold compress, but before we have left the end of the street, I am on the phone apologizing to the gym for breaking their parking boom…what’s wrong with me!?!?
The next day was my weekly hiking group and we had planned a leisurely 2 hour walk with lunch at the end. One wrong turn meant 4 hours and 15 Km’s later , I knew I had over done it and concussion symptoms started reigning down on me. Besides being dizzy , overheated , dehydrated and confused , I think this perfect storm compromised my immunity and by the following day a gastro bug hit hard and left me running for eight days!
I think I had about a five day reprieve of feeling somewhat normal again when I developed what I think was post nasal drip. Five weeks later it has progressed into chronic viral bronchitis with suspected adult onset asthma . Its been a long hall!!! The good news is that it takes all of a couple of weeks to see a specialist…and in some cases a couple of days. Which leads us to Avianna. Yep , had a repeat performance of having an allergic reaction out in the middle of no where again! The most important difference being that we had her medication this time! The safari lodge we were travelling with had packed us breakfast and lunches for our Panoramic drive and the salad dressing set her off. The lodge maintains there was no peanut product. “Had we considered that maybe she’s developed an allergy to mustard seed? “ It was a scary time. Avi’s body went into overdrive producing histamines and she felt like she was reacting to everything. To add insult to injury she developed a wicked throat virus and went down for a couple days with that. Its times like this that I want to pack my bags and come home! Its so much more difficult to manage these things in a strange land with strange medications and so many variables that I dont understand. The winds and allergens play a role in all that is going on with our health, it is a new frontier to be sure. As I mentioned, fortunately Avi was able to see an allergist a few days after arriving home and mustard seed was ruled out. ( sorry to all you patients of Dr. Doctor who wait a year to see him!)
I hope this offers some insight into why I havent been blogging much as of late, I just need to get this one big pity party out of the way!
