My Allergy Journey, Part IV: Waiting For The End Of The World (and my first food challenge)

September 18, 2024

My Allergy Journey, Part IV: Waiting For The End Of The World (and my first food challenge)

Back in the late ‘70s, Elvis Costello wrote a song called “Waiting For The End of the World.” Great song. Among the lyrics was his description of a train “stuck in a tunnel with no lights shining…we were waitin’ for the end of the world.” Well, that could have described my commute the morning of my first food challenge.

I was on the 7:27 from Edison, which should have given me ample time to make my 9am appointment at Latitude, the allergy treatment clinic where I expect to spend every other Monday morning for the next 6-12 months. Everything was fine until a few minutes in the tunnel under the Hudson River, when the train came to a stop.

And made some strange noises.

The conductor was seen running to the back of the train.

More strange noises. Then we moved backwards for a few moments.

Finally, an announcement: “We have lost power to move forward,” the conductor said. “We are currently disabled and are waiting for a rescue crew to come and re-charge our engine so we can move again.”

Frustratingly, as an AT&T customer, I didn’t have a signal and with ten minutes until my appointment, I knew there was no way I would make my appointment on time, if at all. I borrowed a neighboring passenger’s phone since he had a solid signal. (Curse you, AT&T!) I left a message for the clinic describing my frustrating situation, then sat back and waited.

At least the lights and AC were on.

The conductor told us this never happens. This particular train is one of the most reliable ones. But not today.

Of course not.

Anyway, eventually the train was recharged and after 45 minutes sitting in the tunnel (and making the entire Northeast Corridor late for work) we moved and crawled into Penn Station. I made haste, grabbed a few street photos as I power-walked down 34th Street to the Q train.

Any nervousness I had (and I had plenty) was mostly replaced by frustration; about the delay, and I finally walked into the clinic nearly an hour late.

New strategy for the day

The original plan for today was to kick off my journey with two nut food challenges—Macadamia and Brazil. Due to my tardiness—and the staff was very understanding about it—we decided to do just one food challenge today. Which one did I want to do?

I flipped a coin, and chose Brazil nuts. The first dose—approximately 1/4 of a nut, was mixed in with applesauce. No reaction. Then they gave me around half a nut, also ground up and mixed with applesauce. Again, no reaction. Before I knew it, they gave me two whole nuts. I chewed them well, was surprised that they tasted like almonds. And I like almonds.

After eating the two full nuts, they had me hang around for 90 minutes and checked in on me every 10-15 minutes. After nearly an hour I started to feel a little nausea, and duly reported it. It was fairly minor, and might have been because it had been a while since I’d eaten. They gave me saltines and some ice chips, and the nausea subsided after a few minutes.

Finally, they were satisfied that I'd passed the hurdle. I was relieved that I hand't hurled. I was released with the suggestion that I saunter, rather than power walk, to the subway and train and to take it easy the rest of the day. My body was going through a lot and exertion could lead to reaction-like symptoms.

As soon as I left I felt a bit of nausea again, while walking down 75th Street, so I stopped and hung out for a few minutes. I called a friend and we chatted. After about 10 minutes, I felt OK. I strolled to the 72nd and 2nd to take the subway down to Herald Square, then walked at an uncharacteristically leisurely pace down 34th Street to Penn Station.

Since I was in no rush, I took the opportunity to shoot a bunch of street photos (see below). By the time I got on the train, I was exhausted. Thankfully, there were no railroad incidents going home. I slept deeply in my seat for about half an hour, and took it easy the rest of the day.

The Day After

The doctor gave me a cup full of Brazil nuts to take home with me and advised me to eat one every day or two until the next session in two weeks. So, the next night after dinner, I laid out an antihistimine and my Epi pens, just in case, ate a Brazil nut, and watched an episode of Suits. No reaction--not even nausea!

The bottom line? I can now eat Brazil nuts without fear!

In the immortal words of Peter Allen in his song celebrating a certain famous city in Brazil, "I'm free at last, what a blast!" Doing a little happy dance!