When things seem like they are all hitting bottom at the same time, you can only go up, right? Like I mentioned in my GITW post, that’s why I keep moving forward – because it can’t always come up tails.

Today I finally got to see some heads.

Oh, not in a spectular way – I’m not expecting everything to always come up heads. But it was a pretty good day, on the whole.

My morning was spent taking my car to the local Hyundai dealership to get the frame checked out. All I wanted was confirmation that it was a weird big rusted out hole so they could report to corporate and I could then call and insist that they need to cover it. I was already thinking in my head how I could prove to them that it was a defect, not just normal wear. So I think the very last thing I expected today was for their answer to me, “Oh don’t worry about it. We’ll take care of it.” I think I stared at him and laughed a little funny and asked for clarification. Yes, he really did mean they are going to fix my car for free. No fight. No question. No surliness. Just a, “Yep, that’s broken and needs fixing. We ordered the new part. Don’t worry about it.” (And yes, I have it in writing.) Holy. Shit.

Needless to say when I told Den he was extremely giddy, too, and we both came to the same conclusion. I already knew I wanted another Hyundai when this one dies – now we are certain we will be, and purchasing it from this dealer. I have never, ever been so impressed with any customer service, much less from a car company and dealership. I’m going to write them a big letter gushing about how awesome they are.

The middle of my day wasn’t near as fantatsic. In fact, it wasn’t really one of those heads situations, but it wasn’t really a tails either. I had my allergy testing today. It was not a scratch test. This was the kind of test where they inject little bubbles of liquid under your skin on your upper arms. Tiny sub-q needles, so that wasn’t the issue. The issue? 152 injections. I am NOT shitting you. My upper arms look like, as one coworker said today, a quilt. A bubbly, 3-D quilt. Granted most of them faded a lot, but I have a ton of little dried blood and red bubbles all the way down my arms. Atrocious. No short sleeves for me for a while.

What they do during this test is they have the same set of 30 things they test for, each in a vial. They do a group of 30, then wait and record the results. Then they go to a stronger dose of those 30 things, and repeat. (And there are two “control” injections, which is how they get to 152, in case you were doing the math.) So 5 groups of 30 in increasing concentrations.

The first 3 groups weren’t too bad. Little pinpricks – an irritation. And nothing was showing up, either. She was watching the group of different dust allergens, especially the dust mites. It looked like it might swell a little, but didn’t really too much.

The 4th group stung. The 5th I was gripping the chair. “Stung” is not strong enough. Every injection overwhelmed my poor little nerve endings. It was the same needle, so I know it wasn’t the prick that hurt… it was the reaction to the concentration. Hurt like a bitch. I was all, “Well I’m never doing THAT again!!” And yet nothing really blew up huge.

End result was that some things did swell up a little, which means that I am mildly allergic. The dust, dust mites, those were definitely some of them. Oak trees, apparently – more sensitive to that than other trees. Some weeds. (“Do you feel worse when you mow the lawn?” she asked me. “I’ve never cut the lawn,” I replied, “so I haven’t a clue.”) One type of mold that grows on cheese and fruits. And… cats. Yes, I said cats. Do you remember where I work? Cat sanctuary. Hahaha. Yeah. I guess it’s finally gotten to me.

They talked allergy injections, which I’m not against, but I have two main concerns. First, do I want to be doing that when pregnant. I know, it’s probably not going to be contra-indicated. But I’m gunshy now. I don’t want to be doing anything unless it’s strictly necessary. And second, money! It’s one shot a week for the first year… at $20 copay per visit. That’s… a lot of freaking money. I don’t feel that bad. I just have some excess mucous. Not fun… certainly not life-threatening. So I paid more attention to the other things I can do.

There is a good chance the dust is a big problem in my house. I think we’re going to have to do a thorough cleaning of the bedroom, put some covers on the mattress and pillows, and try to dust and vacuum as much as possible. Getting an air purifier wouldn’t be a bad investment either. At work, well, I’m not sure what to do about that. Trying to deep-clean the office would be good. Replacing the old carpet would be fantastic – I know my boss really wants that to be done – but money is the issue there. And it’s not really up to me, either.

The doctor also talked to me about diet. Because my allergies are surfacing as stuffed up sinuses, post-nasal drip and yucky throat he said I need to really seriously cut back on milk, cheese and chocolate, which can all make these symptoms worse by increasing mucous production. I stared at him. I mean, seriously?! That’s my three main food groups. This is bad. This is really bad. What the hell else do I eat if I can’t have milk or cheese? I don’t think I actually eat anything that doesn’t include at least one of those two. (Granted he didn’t say I need to cut it out entirely. But still.)

Plus of course taking something like Zyrtec every day. I know I could have just done that and skipped the [freaking painful] test, but I think it’s good to know what it is I’m fighting against.

The third coin was definitely squarely on the heads side. Upon returning to work after the Pin-Cushion Effect I got a call back from the IVF nurse, responding to the message I left them this morning. I explained that I’m very late, very not pregnant, and that I’m never late. She was really nice, very understanding of how frustrating this is for me. She’s sending me for bloodwork right away (tomorrow morning, in fact), to get my progesterone and of course hCG levels checked. Yeah, yeah, they have to be sure that I am not in fact pregnant. But then they’re going to look to see if my hormones are indicating that I ovulated. She said if I did then we just have to wait it out, AF will come. If not then they’ll be getting me medication to get things started.

So I figure in about a week at most I should finally starting my next cycle. Give or take. I’m feeling relieved that there’s a time limit on this craziness. And when I talk to her tomorrow (if I’m able to catch her call) I’m going to ask her if I can start the birth control pill right away, if that won’t mess anything up. I don’t want to risk another 40 day cycle. I may go insane.

All in all, a pretty good day.