Megan Jones was a 30-ish woman of medium height, with long hair, which she always kept pulled back in a ponytail. One would say that Megan was physically fit, though she was small-boned and some-what thin. She ate well, but had a high metabolism and could never seem to put on weight. She had red hair, steel-blue eyes and freckles surrounding her impish nose. Friends had chided her that if she were to put on a green suit, she would make a perfect leprechaun. She laughed and took it all in stride.
Megan worked in the Triage of the local hospital. As usual, she began this morning, her last morning of her work-week with her run. Then she would stop for her usual bagel and be off to her job. Once she got to the hospital, she headed for the locker room for her shower. But, before she could even disrobe, she began feeling nauseous. Then her head began reeling and the next she knew she was on the floor. Her thoughts were jumbled now and becoming sporadic … no … knows ..no ….. help …. what …
A nurse who was getting off duty walked into the locker room and found Megan on the floor. She called ER and ordered a gurney STAT! The Dr.’s were totally perplexed! Megan appeared fine, perfectly healthy! They all knew her and knew she ran and kept herself in good condition. Time was passing and they were about to send her for tests and x-rays when suddenly a nurse came running in! “Check her … check her for … for allergy! Allergy for peanuts! She has a serious allergy to peanuts!” Immediately the test was done. The results were conclusive! Peanut reaction!! They didn’t discover it any too soon either, because Megan’s pulse had just dropped and her system was beginning to shut down! Immediately, the nurse administered the life-saving medication into the IV and waited for it to bring Megan back to her healthy self!
The next morning, Megan awoke feeling like she had narrowly escaped death. When she expressed this to her friend who was there waiting for her to awaken, her friend gasped. Megan was startled, and began to cry. But her friend said, “no, don’t cry. I’m sorry. I thought you knew hon. You DID almost die.” She explained what had happened and Megan couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t think of what she had eaten that could possibly have had peanut butter in it. She remembered the bagel, but discarded the idea. She later discovered from the vendor that he had changed the type of oil he used to heat the bagels to peanut oil. Megan found another vendor to get her morning bagel from. She also asked him to give her notice if he decided to begin using peanut oil, thoroughly explaining to him her allergy. She also picked up a medic-alert bracelet with her allergy listed on it. She didn’t ever want to go through that again!