A bit of a drama

Last night was the opening of Complete Health Borders in Galashiels, which boasted of champagne and nibbles. I was invited by my friend Laura who's doing some work there. I arrived at 6.30 pm dressed in a skirt and summer top (well gotta do something to persuade myself it's summer) and Laura and her husband (who was running the bar) got me a drink - soft because I was driving.

Speeches had just finished and I was talking to another friend who was there who said it was ok for me to have just one champagne. So there I was sipping my glass of champers when a lovely lady carrying a tray of nibbles comes up and offers me one. They looked delicious. A prawn and olive sitting atop of what looked like a bit of smoked salmon pate. I took one and smelled it. Smelled mmmm. It was delicious, so took another.

The person standing next to me and I were remarking how lovely they were and I was just about to take another when the person next to me asked the lady with the tray what they were. 'Oh that's my homemade mackerel pate, so pleased you like it.' At which point I put my glass down and grabbed my bag and rushed over to Laura.

You see I'm only allergic to one thing, and that one thing is mackerel. Well ok I know it's odd, but I can't help that. I had a throat closing experience in 1978 and was told never to eat it again. On the advice of my doctor I used to carry an epipen, but realised that mackerel is one of those things that really can be avoided, so never renewed it when it ran out.

Laura was a bit shocked when I told her and suggested I should go to Tesco as the pharmacy was open and was only down the road. I dashed over there, but the pharmacist told me she wouldn't treat me and I should get to A&E at the Borders General Hospital asap and if I was having problems breathing to pull over and dial 999.

Luckily the BGH was only a short drive away, car park spaces were remarkably free and I dashed into A&E to be met by a very nice receptionist. There were quite a lot of people waiting and by this time my wrists were beginning to go red and lumpy and my throat was feeling quite odd.

A&E were wonderful. I bypassed everyone and got rushed into a cubicle, had my clothes ripped off and was strapped into the obs machine. They got me some meds and me and my bed were wheeled off to a room to wait. An hour and half later all had righted itself and the doc came and gave me the ok, but insisted that I had some steroids if I was going to be going home as I'm totally on my own this week. The thought of staying in hospital was enough to get me to down those suckers as fast as I could.

Now, of course, I'm buzzing. The steroids apparently will probably keep me awake most of the night, which is why I'm writing this at almost 1 a.m. with no sight of feeling tired at all. Still a small price to pay for the relief that the NHS can really do it's thing when it counts.