Growing up, I've been hit a few times with hayfever and other similar allergies. As I've grown older though, they've pretty well settled down. That is, until this year.

Sometime after Thanksgiving, the facilities crew at the office began decorating for Christmas. They set out several potted Poinsettias at various locations in the building, none of which were near my desk. When I noticed this, I said to my cube-mate Josh, "I'll be sick in a couple of weeks from these."

That couple of weeks have now elapsed, and I feel miserable. Just being in the same building as the horrid things, I started showing hayfever-like symptoms, starting with dry, red eyes. Now, my sinuses are in disarray, and I have had a <sarcasm>wonderful past couple of days</sarcasm> as a result.

Friday I went to work feeling okay, but a couple of hours into the morning and the sinus pressure started. After I went home that evening, I started feeling a little better. The next morning when I went in, I was feeling decent, but still had the sinus pressure. At the end of my 8 hour shift, I was ready to die from the discomfort. I ended up having to go back in for a couple of hours due to a technical emergency that only I could fix, and that ended up ruining me entirely.

I didn't get much sleep last night because of it: The sinus drainage into my throat has caused irritation therein, an it seems to have collected somewhere between my throat and my stomach, leaving what feels like an orange stuck in my esophagus. I woke up sometime around 8am this morning from a very light sleep, and my stomach started howling as if I were hungry. I knew I wasn't hungry, and that this churning was caused by the drainage.

I ended up going to the convenience store to get some soda and antihistamines. The latter seemed to have helped more than anything else, but I assumed the fizziness of the soda would help to break up the phlegm in my throat. I was wrong about the soda, so now I only have a bit of a caffeine high from it.

I have to go back to work tomorrow, then Tuesday I'll be flying back home for Christmas. I'm totally not looking forward to being cramped up in a pressurized aluminum capsule for 3 hours with this sinus crap.