how my bed almost made me a widow

everyone joked that mr. k was allergic to me.  consequently, i wanted to punch everyone in the face.

one thing was for certain -- mr. k was allergic to something.  for months mr. k woke up with hives.  at first they were small and selectively on his waistband. gradually they spread and grew to bright angry welts covering his arms, torso, and legs.

then the swelling happened. september 22 mr. k woke up with a sad swollen upper lip.  i gave him enough benedryl to drug a horse.

the hives persisted, the swelling increased in frequency, and one night i dragged mr. k to the insta-care because he looked more like a platypus than my husband.

we went to the allergist shortly thereafter to find out... nothing helpful.  mr. k is not allergic to food, dogs, or cats.  unfortunately, when it is not a food allergy 90% of the time they can never pinpoint the cause. super.  we changed our laundry detergent and dryer sheets to hypoallergenic.  we tried 4 different body washes -- ironically, the hypoallergenic st. ives body wash caused the worst hives yet.  we finally settled with dove sensitive skin and a new luffa.  nothing helped.

we racked our brains and prayed like nobody's business. mr. k even got a priesthood blessing from his dad.

a few weeks later we spent christmas eve with my family and settled down for a short winter's nap back at our apartment.  two hours after our heads hit the pillow mr. k woke up with his worst reaction yet... and was having a hard time breathing. his throat was closing down -- the $hit has hit the fan, people.  i repeat, the $hit has hit the fan.

in a rush of adrenaline i threw on sweat pants and a shirt, not even bothering to find a bra.  i grabbed the car keys and ushered him to the car in a state of panic.  we flew down state street to the Provo hospital and pulled into the ER parking lot.  i was trying to keep my breathing steady and but tears were threatening to brim over.  once inside the ER, the receptionist had a look of alarm overcome her and she immediately grabbed the nurse on duty.  the nurse checked his vitals while i gave the receptionist his information to check-in.  his date of birth? i could hardly think. with forced composure i handed her our insurance card and stumbled over our address.  what's our zip code again?

there were no open beds so we sat in the waiting room for 15 minutes.   i stared at mr. k like a lunatic, making sure he was breathing.  obviously i've watched too many episodes of grey's anatomy and my fear was getting the better of me.  what if they intubate him? what if he crashes and they kick me out of the room? what if this is our last time together? it's christmas... we've only been married for 6 months... i thought we'd have more time.

we were finally admitted to the ER and they started an IV right away, pushing epinephrine, benedryl, and pepcid (who knew, right?).  the nurses were exceptionally nice and brought me a blanket and water.  mr. k, being his sarcastic self, tried to bring some comedic relief.  he told the nurse he wanted the shot in his bum and said, in his super horse voice, that i beat him.  "kortney! you can't say that here -- they'll believe you!" don't worry, social services did not come visit us in the middle of the night.

once it became clear that mr. k wasn't dying and the doctor and nurses had left, i lost it. sitting next to his hospital bed i sobbed and sobbed and sobbed into his leg.  this was ugly crying, mind you.  i eventually calmed down and kortney slipped into a benedryl-induced sleep.  i stayed awake all night alternating between staring at him and staring at the clock.  at 7 am we were finally discharged from the ER and we went home to take a quick nap before beginning the belated christmas festivities.

christmas night we stayed at his parents and there we no hives.  hid dad suggested it may be our memory foam topper - more and more people are displaying allergic reactions to memory foam.  to test the theory the next night we stayed at our place but mr. k slept on the couch.  no hives!

our conclusion: it's the bed.  our suspicions were confirmed when he jumped up on the bed and later that night had hives from the knee down. we rolled up the memory foam topper and placed it in our storage unit.  i vacuumed our mattress and we placed a brand new pillow topper, mattress pad, pillows, and sheets on top.

for 8 glorious days there were no hives, no swelling, no stress.

we sold the memory foam topper on ksl a few days ago.  by merely touching it mr. k's hands began burning and hives popped up.

last night he woke me up at 5 am. bad news bears...lip swelling again.  woof.  we're going to bite the bullet and buy a new mattress.  we think our original mattress was so permeated by the memory foam fumes that there is no recovery.  farewell beautiful 2014 tax return.

we are crossing our fingers and toes that this works, because i really can't handle mr. k blowing up like a balloon again.  please keep us in your prayers! we need all the help we can get.

sincerely,

mrs. k