Allergic Attack

I had a scare last evening in a restaurant. I was having supper at a local Greek restaurant when suddenly my breathing became very restricted and my eyes started to itch and swell up. It all happened so fast. Within a few minutes I was struggling to get a breath and my eyes were looking like goldfish eyes... egads..

When I went outside to get some fresh air it only got worse. My stomach now felt bloated and my whole chest felt like it was going to explode. So my dinner mate and I paid up and left quickly. When I got home I still had some medication left in my ventolin pump and quickly took a few puffs and within seconds I was starting to relax and be ok. Phew... I swear at one point during the drive home I was considering going straight to the hospital emergency. Had I not gotten home I might have gone into anaphylactic shock.

It's been years since I've ever had a sudden attack like this and I don't think ever as bad. I really don't know what set it off. The restaurant wasn't that smokey which is usually something that affects my breathing. In fact we had just started going back to this restaurant after about 5 or 6 years because we discovered they improved the ventilation. I've eaten everything on my plate before with no prior reaction. The only usuanl thing was escargot. The only other unusual thing was the fact that I seperated the shell of my shrimps with my hands and not with my fork like I normally do. Perhaps I scratched or rubbed my eye without properly wiping my hands and that set off a reaction. This happened to my neighbour and it sent her into the hospital. All because something was transferred to her via her eyes. The only other explanation might be that the combination of escargot and shrimp or some other combination of foods might had strted it. It's all a bit scary.

Oh well... anyways we're in the thick of winter now here in Canada. Montreal seems to havea lot of snow for this time of year. Temperatures are down to -18 at night now. I had a friend who just went to Playa del carmen along the Mexican Riviera last weekend... lucky bum. Unfortunately though the weather forcast for that region is rain all week so I really hope it's not accurate. :(

Here's some pics of things here around my place as they looked this weekend.