8th Grade: One Ghastly Horror

My first hive experience was utter jell. I am not sure if I was more uncomfortable with the intensified itchy welts all over my body or the fact that these spots appeared inevitably and out of the blue. The uncertainty of a cure is just as bad as the disease itself. I live with a condition called chronic urticaria and yes, it means that I get hives for no apparent reason at any given time of day. My first encounter with these demons was in the 8th grade, and since then, each attack gets either progressively worse or stagnant. 

I was in language arts class watching a documentary about the Nazi regime. It was not the most exhilarating thing I have ever learned in an English class but I paid attention to the best of my ability, as I knew that she might give us a quiz on what we just watched. It all started with a little rash on my neck that looked almost like an inflamed mosquito bite. "God damn, this is one itchy bite, I thought to myself." Within a few minutes, I felt extremely uncomfortable all over my neck and when I put pressure on the body part, it felt as if it was swollen in some sort. I attempted to quietly leave the class, but of course, that did not happen. My mind told me to be respectful but my body told me to run to the bathroom and slam the door. And that is what I did.

An exasperated reaction was on my face when I looked at my ghastly self in the mirror. The red rash spread to my face and chest. I thought that I might have acquired poison ivy or poison oak. But I was in the classroom all day. And it was the middle of February!

Thankfully, school was over in 25-30 minutes. I stayed in the bathroom, practically playing medical hooky, until the bell rang. I bolted to my locker, grabbed my backpack and paced rapidly to the bus with my head down in utter shame. A few of my neighbors asked in a condescending way, "what the hell happened to your face Michaela." I told them that I didn't know and they responded that I should seek medical attention, like I don't know that, I thought! The itchiness was getting worse, my body was heating up, it was so painful it started to feel like I was getting repetitively stabbed in the freezing cold weather, that mixture of warm and brutal cold is what I felt. I ran home crying to my mom and while panicking, she ran me an oatmeal bath.

A few hours later, the swelling, burning and itching went down. I took some Benadryl and everything went back to normal, except for my fact that my mom did not know what was wrong with me! She thought it was due to an allergic reaction of something I ate. When asking me everything I consumed since last night, I told her that I did not eat anything new or out of the ordinary. She said that we should keep an eye on this and if it comes back, she will take me to my pediatrician. Fortunately, I was hive free the rest of the day and the rest of the year.

Until 10th grade...