Like Kryptonite To Superman

Allergies, my one weakness. Okay, so it's many weaknesses in one (pollen, dust, smoke, extreme amounts of pet fur, etc.), but allergies are the ONE thing that keep me from doing many of the things I enjoy, particularly this time of the year. Even things that I don't enjoy, but should be helping with are issues. For instance, Monica is outside right now finishing off mowing the lawn with the push mower, partly because the rider we were given by her dad still has 2 flat tires, but mainly because if I were to be the one doing it, I would spend 2-3 weeks suffering in allergy hell, which would then lead to bronchitis and possibly pneumonia, followed by potential doctor and/or hospital visits we neither have time nor money for.

So here I sit, inside at the computer, while she toils away in the yard (albeit it, enjoying the first nice, sunny day we've had in a while.) I HATE this time of year! But at the same time, I want to be outside ENJOYING this time of year. I want to go hiking, fishing, and camping. I want to play tennis, and take a mountain bike (which I'm going to obtain by some means) along the trails by the river at Watson Mill Bridge State Park. And many of those things I will do, allergies be damned! If I'm going to suffer, it may as well be for something I enjoy and love doing!

But right now I just feel bad. I feel like a slacker, and a bad husband, because Monica has been working off and on in the yard yesterday and today, and I am unable to help like I want to. As mentioned in my previous post, this time of year is a bitter irony for me.

Now I know many of you out there (okay, so maybe it's just the 1 or 2 people who actually read these things) are saying "Why don't you get some allergy medication? Or go to the doctor and get this problem taken care of?" And to those questions I reply, "I have, but nothing works." I've had allergies more or less for all of my life, and while they've gotten better over the years (somewhat anyway), they still loom up to haunt me each spring, and I definitely haven't "outgrown" them. I've also taken basically every type of OTC medication for allergies, AND most if not all of the prescription only variations. And nothing seems to work; not for very long anyway.

Sometimes when I try a new medication that I haven't used before, the first (and maybe the second) dose help really well, and I think to myself, "Finally, something that's going to work!" But then my body adapts to the new drug almost instantly, and each dose gets less and less effective. I've built up a tolerance of sorts to pretty much every allergy medication available, and nothing really helps any more. So I try to spend as much time indoors as possible (torture itself to me, because I'm very much an outdoor type of person), and I grin and bare it over the next few months.

This will be my first pollen season in our new house, so I'll have to see how this spring is going to go. We have oak and pecan trees aplenty in our yard, along with numerous flowering plants, so I'm not expecting the next 2-3 months to be a very enjoyable time for me. Still, the weather is starting to improve, and one way or another I'm going to try to get out and enjoy it, at least somewhat! But for now, I'm sheltered inside, hiding away from the pollen which is already turning everything a nice shade of yellow-green. Gotta run now though. Monica needs me to restart the lawn mower. At least I can be of SOME use to her...