Over the past 3 months Queenie has been fighting a bout of some sort of allergic hives. She’s done blood tests and allergy tests but the doctors can’t pinpoint what the problem origin is. It’s been a long uncomfortable time or her. She’s had to be given anti-allergy steroid injections twice so far to bring the swelling down and this affliction just seems to come and go, besieging her patience and otherwise carefree good nature. It’s been super annoying to say the least, months of itchiness that seem to onset the worst in the middle of the night.

The condition isn’t contagious however, so it’s really really strange that I now have this exact same problem. I’m wracking my brain trying to think of any fish I may have eaten by accident. The only thing that comes to mind is the food at the Taipei airport, but I didn’t eat anything fishy there. There was fish but I strayed away from it. Also this isn’t the usual food poisoning type of reaction that I’ve gotten in the past when I’ve accidentally eaten fish.

I go to bed but in the middle of the night things ramp up pretty badly. I go to the bathroom to take a look. Holy fuck am I fucked!

(The following pic was actually taken the next day..but… FUCK! Flip that over and you could have a topographic map of Africa)

So yeah, my  whole body is just covered in these massive, insanely itchy hives. Most uncomfortably, my ass seems to have gotten the worst of it. Instead of the chiseled, Olympic sprinter-esque glutes that I’m usually sporting I now look like I’ve taken an epic Johnny ass-cracker off the high diving board into a bee hive. This is the worst, the absolute worst.

My rage builds consumingly through the night. I can’t sleep, I’m online doing a self diagnosis, although there’s no point. Queenie and I have already been through this with her. Looks like Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria. All I can do is pop anti-histamines and hope for the best. If it doesn’t go away any time soon it could last for 6 weeks or up to a year! If I notice it spreading to my hands and face it could be more alarming as it approaches anaphylaxis, that whole life threatening closing of the throat thing.

First day of the fucking trip too! I’m so disheartened. With negative thoughts boiling inside and the insurmountable itchiness covering the exterior I’m just a full blown mess. I’m so mad. I get zero sleep.

Obviously, this is not the best way to start a 6 week adventure..