| As a boy growing up, I often sneezed for no | | | | pink skin appeared. None of our guests |
| reason and sometimes had a problem with my | | | | recognized me when I appeared for the first |
| breathing. In college, to take advantage of | | | | time downstairs.Ten years later, an Army |
| a free screening program, I subjected | | | | sergeant told me to climb into the rafters of |
| myself to twenty patch tests. It turned out | | | | the radio building and vacuum the dust on the |
| that I was allergic to house dust, | | | | beams. My warnings of the danger to my |
| phosphates, mold spores, mildew and of all | | | | health only convinced him that I didn't like |
| things, my own bacteria.I found out about | | | | the job. Fifteen minutes later, he had to |
| phosphates the hard way. I read somewhere | | | | take me to the hospital.A small, but sudden |
| that bat guano made good fertilizer. If | | | | temperature drop at about sixty-five degrees |
| followed that the 20,000 bats that lived in | | | | triggers a catalyst in my blood causing me |
| our attic must produce plenty of fertilizer | | | | to sneeze. Usually I try to avoid going |
| for my garden (four tomato plants). After | | | | outside at dusk because that is when mold |
| ten minutes I collected about five pounds of | | | | spores are released from the damp earth. But |
| "fertilizer" and two minutes later my throat | | | | one time the mold and mildew spores almost |
| closed up completely, cutting off my supply | | | | killed me. A |
| of air. I started for the stairs but fell as | | | | |
| I entered the second step. Thankfully, my | | | | few years ago my breathing ability started |
| mother heard the bumping noise and came | | | | to decline. Over-the-counter medication |
| running. She breathed into my mouth and | | | | alleviated the symptoms somewhat, but after a |
| pumped my chest until I could breathe again. | | | | month of suffering, I admitted that I needed |
| I later found out that the benefit of bat | | | | professional help. A short walk of only ten |
| guano as fertilizer is from its phosphate | | | | feet had me gasping for breath! A shocked |
| content.Just as serious was a bout of poison | | | | allergist tried to admit me into the hospital |
| ivy. In the woods around our house grew | | | | but I wouldn't go. She finally agreed to |
| poison ivy vines with trunks as big as my arm | | | | treat me at home and in her office on a |
| and extending thirty feet into the air. | | | | strict regimen of steroids and rest. I |
| These mature plants produced small red | | | | required three weeks of treatments on a |
| berries in July. My brother and I used them | | | | breathing machine before I could breathe |
| as ammunition for our blow pipes, peppering | | | | normally. The cause turned out to be a water |
| the birds and cats and whatever else we could | | | | problem in the cellar where I worked. |
| hit. The next day, my brother turned a | | | | Continual dampness under the carpeting grew a |
| brilliant red and itched all over. I had the | | | | huge colony of mold and mildew. The owners |
| same symptoms, but because I was allergic to | | | | ripped out the carpet but I didn't stay long |
| poison ivy, my body broke out in the | | | | enough to see it done.Knowing the root of |
| well-known vesicles. Every inch of my body | | | | your allergy problems can go a long way |
| was affected except my scalp and eyeballs. | | | | toward living with them. If you are an |
| It took two months in bed sipping drinks | | | | allergic person, don't put off having |
| through a straw and staring at the ceiling. | | | | yourself tested for the exact cause. It |
| At my weakest moment I contracted a case of | | | | could save your life.While photography was my |
| pleurisy pneumonia. A new drug called | | | | main profession, I have dabbled |
| penicillin saved | | | | |
| | | | in factory work, sales, house cleaning and |
| my life. At the end of the two months, my | | | | writing. |
| body gradually lost its swollen look and new, | | | | |