It really hasn’t been my month. And a half. First it was my tooth, then my shoulder, then my eye, and now, this morning, I wake up to discover I’m suffering an extreme allergic reaction to.. something. Could’ve been the antibiotics I was taking for my eye infection. Could’ve been the new laundry detergent. Hell, it could’ve been the Hugarian food and/or Old Tyme ginger beer I had the other night (although I sincerely hope not). Whatever the cause, I decided I wouldn’t be heading into work today looking like a mottled lobster so I showered, dressed, and went to the hospital.

It was a little after 6:30 a.m. when I got there and, surprisingly, it wasn’t all that busy. I checked in with reception, spent some time in the waiting room, had my name called and was directed to a check-in area where I was asked some general questions and had my blood pressure checked, directed to another waiting room, summoned over to the other reception area where another woman took down my pertinent information, directed to yet another waiting room, had my name called again and subsequently escorted into a room (No. 3) where I was told to strip down and put on one of those modesty gowns. There, I waited. Another nurse came in and examined me. She hadn’t a clue what was wrong but assured me the doctor was far more knowledgeable about these things. I waited some more. Eventually, a young doctor came in and introduced herself as one of the new residents. She asked me a couple of questions, looked me over, and frowned. She had the look of someone about to embark on one of those Ikea build-it-yourself adventures who realizes their package didn’t include the Allen key. No idea. Guesses? She informed me it could be anything from a delayed reaction to the Amoxicillin I was taking to a possible liver problem. Liver problem? How Movie of the Week! “Possible but unlikely,”she tried to reassure me before disappearing. Even more waiting and then the final doctor arrived. Given that I’d had my physical just two weeks ago, he was able to check the blood results and confirm my liver was normal. The fact that I had no other symptoms (nausea, headache, joint pain, sore throat) dismissed measles, scarlet fever, and the like. By process of elimination, it’s definitely an allergy caused by: a) the antibiotics I was taking, b) our new laundry detergent, c) Hungarian food. However other possible suspects could include the following atypical items I introduced into my routine over the past couple of days: 1) papaya, 2) ginger beer, 3) The Fratellis CD I picked up from HMV, 4) Connie Willis’s Doomsday Book which, coincidentally enough, focuses on a time traveler trapped in the 14th century at the time of the plague.

In the end, the doctor told me that he had contacted the hospital’s dermatology department and that they would give me a call later in the day to check me out and run some tests that would either confirm or eliminate penicillin as the culprit.

I headed home and re-washed all of my clothes (just in case), read, and, of course, waited. Until about 2:30 p.m. when, fed up, I just hopped back into my car and drove to a clinic where I was seen in less than ten minutes (Which may not sound all that impressive but I come from Montreal where seeing an emergency room attendant can take anywhere from two hours to two days) by a very nice doctor who asked me a couple of questions, took a look at my rash and determined that, given the timing of the medication and the “classic appearance” of the flare-up (sort of the Clark Gable of rashes), it was all but certainly a reaction to the medication. So it looks like I can eat Hungarian food, drink ginger beer, and listen to the Fratellis while reading Connie Willis. I wish I’d known sooner as it would have saved much aggravation. And laundry.

Approximately 65 000 more visits to 750 000!

And finally, for all those of you keeping track of these things, Missing pulled in our best numbers since our season premiere.

Today’s pics: an improvised pillow, in the shadows Marty G. wheels and deals, Lawren sets up shop in a vacant office.

Today’s mailbag:

Anonymous #1 writes: “…it still doesn’t explain why they aren’t using a military CMO with active duty experience”

Answer: For that matter, why aren’t all the department heads and off-world teams made up of military personnel with active duty experience? What is McKay doing on the Atlantis first-line team? Heck, what the hell was Carson doing in the position?

Anonymous #2 writes: “ Keller may well be some kind of book read wunderkind but she does not seem to be in the least the kind of person that would have ever willingly have pushed herself out of her comfort zone in the past.”

Answer: The fact that she joined the Atlantis expedition would contradict your last statement. As for being nothing more than book read, she demonstrated the coolness under pressure that got her the position in Adrift, saving Weir’s life as the situation deteriorated around her. Of course she wasn’t being chased by cannibals at the time.

K8T writes: “We had stir fried noodles, stir fried beef rice noodles (chow fun), homemade steamed dumplings (a lot like the dim sum shrimp dumplings but with pork), and savory fried dumplings with pork, Chinese sausage, and kohlrabi filling.”

Answer: Tell mom I’m coming for dinner.

Jen writes: “Well, if you get tired of packaged soy products, maybe you could tempt your palate with drinks like “Christmas Ham Soda” or “Jelly Doughnut Soda”. Interested?”

Answer: Veeeery interested. I tried to track down the Jone’s Turkey and Gravy soda last year to no avail.

Anonymous #2 writes: “Gateworld has said that Travelers rebounded. How is point one a rebound?”

Answer: The exact number had it only a shade (0.01) off Reunion’s number.

Dreams-of-skies writes: “Hey…would you mind if I copy/pasted some of the answers about Season 4 you’ve given to show SG fans I know who don’t get to see your blog?”

Answer: People already do so go nuts.

Semisweet writes: “I was wrong to voice my concerns about how Keller was being portrayed here on your blog. This is not the place to do that kind of thing.”

Answer: If I objected, I wouldn’t have approved the comment. So long as the opinions expressed are respectful, you’re welcome to criticize to your heart’s content.

Irulan writes: “First, as somebody else pointed out, Keller’s been in Pegasus for a while and been through quite a bit.”

Answer: Depends what you mean by “a while”. And in those instances in which she was pressed into action, she delivered.

Irulan also writes: “…how many of us would still have the CMO job after completely freaking out?”

Answer: She demonstrated she was fearful in the face of danger? So what?

Irulan also writes: “…how many other candidates could they have had for this position? Let’s see, off the top of my head we have Dr. Cole (been around for quite a while), Dr. Biro (in Atlantis since day one), Dr. Lam, any of the other SGC doctors, Dr. Frasier (death is never the end in SciFi), Simon (and yes, I know he wouldn’t take it), or any doctor who has ever been in charge of a field hospital or Emergency Department.”

Answer: And what little we know of them somehow makes them the better candidate? If it was simply a matter of picking names out of a hat then, yeah, I see your point.

Elizabeth writes: “Oh man, I just reread the comment I posted earlier. Yikes. Sorry, I know the Wraith feed through their hands but what I meant was can they feed off the person through the person’s hand or does it have to be near the neck? And I just realized that you won’t probably answer this because this might spoil a part of The Seer. And you probably can’t decipher what I just wrote anyways.”

Answer: Have you been drinking?