#cvid

Blue Lannigan is seventeen, he has two brothers and they live with their mum, but it isn't a good place to be, she is a drunken, abusive mess and Blue has been able to shoulder the most of the burden of keeping the family afloat in the crappy apartment, in a bad area, however, when the abuse turns on his younger brothers, he knows it is time to leave.

Unfortunately for Blue and his brothers, they have limited resources and only a small amount of time to pack, so with everything they own in a rucksack and bin bag and head on a bus to the Lake where there are bound to be some empty houses where they can shelter temporarily. The only piece of luck they have is someone passing by who believes that Blue is heading the same way he is, but someone who doesn't notice the two young boys who are also tagging along and this takes some time and hardship off their journey through the middle of the night.

The three brothers eventually find somewhere and they hole up for the night, just the next day, an unexpected visitor turns out to be someone Blue knows, but also someone who may be able to help them, so as over the next few days, a makeshift partnership is agreed and life starts to fall into an oddly comforting routine, that is until a supermarket trip is needed and an uncomfortable confrontation ensues leaving Blue in handcuffs, his brothers taken away and a return to a system he has been dreading for them all, not to mention losing his job.

What? You're a VOICE ACTOR? I am! Guess what!

I narrate a series called University of Sorcery, a really fun, fast paced, intriguing magical school series that focuses on characters with disabilities. I co-narrate the series as Emma, a sexy fae sorceress who has Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID) and saves the world anyway. Wow does that sound interesting but you don't have money to invest in a series right now? GUESS WHAT! IT'S FREE ON YOUTUBE!

Allergy and immunology are almost always combined together into one specialty.  Basically, for anything that is off with your immune system, this is where you go.  I’m going to write this guide as for a first appointment, but you’ll probably have regular follow up appointments after that are pretty similar.

The first thing they do at these appointments is weigh you, and then take your vital signs (blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation with that little clip on your finger).  This is the nurse’s job, and they’ll also typically ask what medications you take and what brought you in for an appointment today.

Then you waaaaait for the doctor to come in (most allergists I’ve seen are usually behind schedule, but it’s often because they’re spending as much time as needed with each patient.  So bring a book!)

The doctor will look in your ears, nose, and throat, and listen to your heart and lungs with the stethoscope.  They’ll also look at your skin to check for any rashes or color changes.  I’ve never been asked to put a gown on for an allergy appointment, so they’ll probably just look at your face and arms, unless there’s another area you know has a rash.

Interspersed with being examined will be lots of questions.  They’ll ask you about symptoms, what makes them worse, what your home is like (to identify possible environmental allergens), how often you get sick, if anyone in your family has allergies or immunodeficiencies, and a bunch more related things.  And YOU should get to ask them all your questions too!

If you’re here because you suspect you’re allergic to something, they’ll probably schedule allergy testing for you in the near future.  If you don’t regularly take allergy meds, it’s possible they’ll do skin tests on the same day, but not likely.  There are all kinds of skin tests for allergens (which I am planning to write about) and also blood tests.  Actually, you’ll probably be sent to get blood drawn regardless of what you’re here for- it’s a good way to measure a lot of immune system things.  You’re also pretty likely to be prescribed some medications, such as for allergies or asthma.  This is also where you get your first epipen if that’s something you might need!  I got a choice of what kind I wanted and they let me try out the training devices, which was nice.