The return of the shrimp

So I'm most of the way through the first cycle of post-transplant chemo, have my hair back (I promise to post a new photo soon), even had a haircut the other day. All the lab numbers are looking good enough--I could wish for a little more hemoglobin, and the kappa could go down further, but I am not complaining and feel pretty good. Almost all my current complaints are related to my old friend dexamethasone, and even those are greatly reduced by the lower dosage.

So it was a little alarming to find my torso, neck, and arms covered with hives a couple of days ago. It didn't feel like much, but it sure looked like something was going on. Fortunately, I had my monthly oncologist visit scheduled for the next day, and we figured we could discuss whether this was some kind of adverse reaction when we came in the next day. So we reported for duty at 7:50 AM, barely caffeinated, and went through the prelim paces (draw blood, insert IV tube, wait for labs, check vitals, check the med list, are you in any pain), and then I mentioned to the nurse that I had hives, just like I used to get when I ate shrimp . . . and Liz and I looked at each other and I don't know whose draw dropped lower.

I had been allergic to shrimp and other crustaceans since I'd had an arthrogram (involving a largish injection of radioiodine) at age 16, but the allergy had faded over the years and I had enthusiastically welcomed shrimp back into my diet, especially in the last couple of years. A great sustainable, highly nutritious source of protein, really easy to cook and mighty tasty to boot. Two nights before the visit, we'd made a (gluten-free, for those of you keeping score) pasta with a cilantro-jalapeno-lime-cream-shrimp sauce. It was very good, and I'd eaten leftovers for lunch the following day. What's more, the last night we were in Maryland after Dad died, I'd had shrimp and grits at a great restaurant in Frederick.

I will probably have no more. I'm guessing here, but I'm pretty sure that the stem cell transplants have reset enough of my immune system to have restored the old shrimp allergy. It's a minor thing, in context. I will remember those shrimp fondly.