It all started with Coke and Dr. Pepper

In my 45 years, I've dealt with my allergies. I don't believe I have ever had a reaction and not looked at it and said to myself "why?". What the hell would do this to a person? Example: anything with Aloe will break me out! Do I somehow do it to myself? Is it a mental thing that if I was in tune to, could I control it a little, or completely, can I make it all go away? Questions I've asked myself thousands of times. And don't for one second think I don't try hard to fine tune my thought process to control it. I do believe its possible, but as of yet I don't have what it takes to call upon it. Hopefully before I die, that is a long term goal of mine.

I did have one outbreak that had me calling my old doc from when I was little (started seeing him when I was 5, Love ya Dr. Ball!). And one other not near as sever, yet bad enough I knew I needed to tend it closely or it would end up being something I damn sure didn't want it to be. Yet it was different. Different than any other out break I've had in my life. It was different because it had meaning, it still brings tears to my eyes and totally fills my heart. Never before have I felt that this crap I live with would have meaning. But this one did and I love Poppa for it.

And it all started with Coke and Dr. Pepper. Poppa liked Dr. Pepper, and I drink Coke.

BossMan was an angel to me the whole time I was there.. DaddyBear, don't think I didn't notice. I never went without anything needed or wanted and not once did I have to even mention to Mr. Critter that I was getting low on something I enjoyed. I'm not sure I ever thanked you... So if your reading these too, Thank You. It was noticed and much appreciated. (and at some point I'm going to find a fitting nick name for you.. I'm sorta liking DaddyBear tho. What do you think?)

ANYWAY.. I drank more Coke than Poppa would Dr. Pepper. Not counting that I would switch up off and on, cause well I like Dr. Pepper too. Poppa would notice when I was sippin at a DP. So, Bloggy.. you can understand this one. Pop started "stashing" cans of Dr. Pepper. Sometimes I'd see them behind the hallway door, or stacked on a shelve in the laundry room. Several cans behind some knickknacks on a little book shelf, 2 or 3 cans in the closet. I'd try to keep up with the new places and take the ones from before and stick them in the fridge. That way we wouldn't have 12 cases of DP stashed around the house! LOL

One day I was washing dishes and Pop was sitting in his recliner at the doorway to his bedroom. I'd wash some and peek around the corner to see if he was still sitting and wash some more. Well, I peeked.. and no Poppa! So I walked into the room and he was bent over, looking at something behind the door leading to the hallway. When I got closer I noticed it was my 12 pack of Coke (COKE now!) that BossMan had left the day before. I had noticed they were gone, but figured I'd run into them somewhere and sure enough there they were. Pop was looking at them like he didn't know what they were. So I said, "there's my cokes! I thought I'd lost them." Poppa turned his head and said "those are yours?" and I said "yeah, DaddyBear got'em for me yesterday". Poppa stood up and you could almost see the vertigo in his eyes. I wasn't standing in a real good place to be good support, but I didn't have time to get into a good place either. So I grabbed him around the waist, but I wasn't behind him OR in front of him. I was behind but sorta at the side and he started in small circles at first and before I could move around him, he tipped backwards. I really thought that we were both going to hit the floor. It scared the crap out of me. I didn't see how us both going down was going to be good in anyway shape or form. Breaking a hip at that time would have been devastating. So, I managed one foot back and I shoved us both up against the closet door as hard as I could. It was still a while before he got his legs back and when he realized that we weren't going to fall, he laid his head on my shoulder, hung on to my waist and just caught his breath. I could feel the relief in his tall frame. Scared the shit out of him too. We stood there for a minute then walked over to the bed and he sat down.

The no rinse shampoo and body wash that Critter used for him of course was Aloe loaded. It wasn't more than a few minutes before I realized that I needed to get my shoulder washed good, and not more than a couple of hours before the out break started. It wasn't a over the counter cream out break either.. this was a pull out the prescription stuff. I suppose it was a week or so, of careful by the book cleansing, blotting and treating before I knew for sure it wasn't going to be something that hung around for awhile. But every time I felt that area, I got the same feeling I got when Pop and I realized that we weren't going down. Relief straight from the pit of my stomach. I was actually somewhere I was suppose to be, at the right time, did the right thing and everything was ok. I still touch that shoulder on occasion, the out break long gone. But I think I'll be able to feel it for a long time.