Stuck up!

This post title is a homage to Wendy, who liked punny blog titles and who would have used it to solve the puzzle of what kind of a doctor I saw on Thursday and Monday, stomach-ache notwithstanding: the allergist!

The initial round of testing on Thursday sent me into something of a mental tailspin.  It was not to my surprise but certainly to my chagrin that I proved violently allergic to nearly every major environmental trigger.  On my way home, I was so immersed in the leaflet the doctor gave me that I actually missed my subway stop; of course, partly the distress is physical, the histamines were raging in the bloodstream and the amazingly named "wheal and flare" response to skin pricks is unpleasant, but I think the major emotional stress factor here concerns the question of living with a cat.  To me that seems non-negotiable!  I have obtained new bedding and will start allergy shots tomorrow or the next day: the doctor chooses five high-priority allergens to desensitize the patient to, and I think she said that we will do spring pollen/trees, fall pollen/trees, dust mites, cockroaches (NYC living!) and cat dander.  I'll go a couple times a week just for next week or two to get a head start, and then fall back to once a week.  I also have nasal spray and instructions to wipe down the cat with a wet cloth a couple times a week: little does he know what is in store....

Light reading around the edges: an advance copy of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, which truly exists at the sweet spot between Joyce Carol Oates and Robert Crais (I wasn't crazy about the final twist at the very end, but it is grippingly readable); and Kameron Hurley's fascinating and engaging God's War, which has a misleading and odd opening that I think detracts from the effectiveness of the book as a whole but which I really loved otherwise.  Kind of like Steph Swainston, with worldbuilding reminiscent in certain respects of but to my taste superior to The Windup Girl.