Allergic to what?

So funny story. Friday Sam was working at the fire station and they went to the market to pick up lunch. Sam and his captain both bought a mixed fruit salad.

Later that day.....

as everyone was eating lunch Sam's captain mentioned that the kiwi in his salad wasn't ripe and wasn't very good. Sam's kiwi was at the bottom of the bowl and when he got there, he thought he'd try it, to see if his was any good. One taste, not even a real bite, told him it wasn't ripe, so he spit it out.

1 to 2 minutes later....

Sam noticed his mouth starting to get itchy, and then he got a big lump in his throat, and his eyes started watering and itching!

I called him while this was happening and he and his coworkers were googling kiwi allergies to see what they should do. The funny thing is that I think Sam might be a hyperchondriac. He has "chronic" shoulder pain, and he keeps getting this "weird" achy pain in his side which makes it hard for him to breathe, and he's pretty sure his ribs pop in and out on their own. He always has "severe" colds, which he's certain has turned into something worse. The only thing I know for sure is wrong is that he's starting to go deaf from listening to his mp3 player so loudly I can clearly hear it from a few feet away - okay so I'm exaggerating, but just a little. He really is going deaf.

So for everyone that knows a hyperchondriac - here's my advice, go along with it as long as it doesn't cost you money. Anytime Sam wants to go to the doctor for these "symptoms" I convince him to wait another day or so. Or I tell him to go see the chiropractor, which works because he really DOESN'T like to go (I think it challenges his sense of manliness). So far these tatics have worked for us, I hope they work for you too. I'm sure there's a family help line out there and here's links to helpful websites: http://www.webmd.com/ and http://www.allergizer.com/ .

And sweetie, if you're reading this, I really DO believe you have an allergy to kiwis.....