It almost felt like I had a huge anvil on my chest. I could barely breathe, rolling uncomfortably in my bed, I did not know whether it was a dream or was I really suffocating.
I opened my eyes, I was awake but still could not breathe properly, I managed to pull out of the bed, and get to my shoulder bag. Half awake, half asleep, I did not know which pouch I was putting my hand into. I almost felt helpless, it was as though the air around me was running low on oxygen and with every passing minute it was getting worse. I opened the front pouch of the bag and frantically searched for my Ventolin inhaler. I put it in my mouth and pressed it. The sudden release of the bronchodilator was soothing it felt as though my lung expanded, I took one huge breath it felt good, the air we take for granted, it tasted good.
The recent work on painting the furniture in my house resulted in an adverse allergic reaction. I visited the doctor in the afternoon once I had regained enough strength to go out, my father took me out to see the family friend doctor. And in the mean time, I was itching my eye balls out and the tear glands were all swelled up.
The doctor did a quick check up and no guesses he confirmed it was allergy. When I mentioned about suffocation he quickly asked the nurse to connect me to a Pulse oximeter, the reading showed 93-94 typical value is from 95 - 100. Which means the blood oxygen saturation was running lower than normal. So I was given another bronchodilator through an inhaler for about 15 minutes. After that he prescribed a couple of medications for the allergy and to soothe the eye. And then came the golden advice he said
"Don't go back to the house, go somewhere else, that is the only way you can prevent it from recurring."
I was the happiest person in the world, I always hated the new house my parent bought and this gave a good excuse to slip out of the house at nights.
On our way back, My father and I were discussing the various possibilities of me staying in the house.
Me: Why can't you move the furniture to some remote location and to the painting work there?
Father: That did be too tough, to move, Why don't you take up a room in a lodge?
I was "W T F???", A piece of furniture is worth more than me, that it replaced my place in the house.
Anyway these days I spent my nights programming in my friend's house, better than a lodge, you have free TV and Internet :-)
