This concludes my first official week in Armenia! I cant believe it one week gone already! Living in a village, staying with a host family, eating Armenian food, muddling through the language, what could be better? Oh yeah the week wouldn't be complete without my first major medical mishap. After darting around oncoming cows, diving away from crazy drivers, and having conversations with a vocabulary of about 20 words one would think that I would have enough to keep me occupied. AHHH No, upon going to bed last night I got stung by an Armenian bee that was hiding in my pillow. Having not been stung in about 20 years I was unsure of how I would react but suspected that due to my Hazelnut problem, my sensitivity to allergies would be worse...CORRECT! After benadryl and an epipen a trip to the Medical office in the capital was not only necessary but became emergent. I am not sure what was scarier, the shortness of breath, the swollen and red extremities, the all-over pain and tingling, the shakes and sweating or the taxi driver driving at 120 mph at 130AM dodging potholes, with no gas in his tank or my host father who accompanied me asking about what make of car we have in the US so he could report it back to the driver....*sigh*..nerver mind that I couldnt talk or breathe :)
All jokes aside my host family and peace corps medical staff took wonderful care of me and I even got a long hot shower out of the deal! ...Bucket baths are otherwise common...
So now I can add bees to my list of allergies and apparently although living in a village, in the mountains with tons of wildflowers I was advised avoid them :)
Sounds reasonable right?!
Well....Maybe the bees we will try to avoid but definately not the Honey!
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4 comments:
Glad you weathered the crisis, Brig.
Saw your parents at Sarah's wedding and heard about your bee allergy. That's what got me medically deferred from Vietnam years ago when my draft number was 15, and I was sure I was going. The wedding was attended by a wonderfully international and diverse group and Eddy and Sarah were handsome and pretty, respectively, after a wonderful ceremony they wrote. The next day wasn't such a great honeymoon start...they and we were delayed for many hours from taking off because of thunderstorms up the Atlantic seaboard...we got home 7 hours late. Sounds like you're having fun! Doug Ross
Second try here. I saw your parents at Sarah's wedding..they both looked great and it was a wonderful party. I heard about the bee allergy issue and told your Mom about how that kept me out of Vietnam when my draft number was 15 way back when. Sarah and Eddy and we had long plane delays on the day after the wedding but they're having a blast in Costa Rica. Have fun! Doug Ross
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