Living with Petroleum Allergies in a Chemical World – Rock Bottom
/
By Steven Neil
A week following the food tests, My allergist tested my reactions to common allergens such as grass, weed pollens, dust mites, dog and cat hair, etc. Not surprisingly, I had the following thirty allergies:
Molds:
1. Alternaria alternata
2. Aspergillus fumigatus
3. Candida albicans
4. Cephalosporium
5. Helminthosporium solani
6. Hormodendrum
Weeds:
1. Lamb's Quarter
2. Plantain
3. Russian Thistle
4. Sagebrush
5. Ragweed
Inhalants:
1. Cat Dander
2. Cat Fur
3. Dermatophagoide farina (Dust Mite)
4. Dermatophagoide pteronyssinus (Dust Mite)
5. Dog
6. Feathers
Trees:
1. Acadia
2. Alder
3. Ash
4. Birch
5. Cedar
6. Cottonwood
7. Elm
8. Maple
9. Oak
10. Pine
11. Russian Olive
Grass:
1. Kentucky Blue
2. Timothy
Wow, seventy-five allergies, not including the sun, heat, or stress. At long last, I could see what I was facing and begin to understand what I needed to do to get back to a semblance of a normal life.
It was at this time that L&I scheduled a physical for me to evaluate whether I qualified for disability due to my allergies. I do not know what it is like in other states, but Washington assigns you an employment specialist when you have been off work due to an industrial injury for the length of time I was. The specialist is not there to help you find a job, promote retraining, or look out for the injured party in any way. Instead, they are there to dig as deep as possible to find three companies that would hire a person with the medical issues that the injured party has. The counselor is not concerned whether the company would employ the wounded worker, just that they might consider hiring someone with those conditions. My counselor told me he had to contact a lot of companies to find three, but in the end, he did find them.
According to his research, I could get a job in an office as an office manager. I asked him how he came up with office manager since I had never been a manager, had not worked in an office for over a decade, am allergic to paper, cubicles, cleaners, and multiple other items I would encounter in an office setting. He answered that the employers he asked were just interested in my BA degree in Organizational Management. So, I guess all the times I had applied for office jobs in the past and was never even interviewed for the position was irrelevant; I just needed a degree to get a job according to L&I.
The actual physical was short, fifteen minutes at tops. The doctor asked a few basic questions, confirmed some dates and conditions, and silenced me when I tried to elaborate on any details. The doctor was unfriendly and unconcerned about me, and at the end of the exam, he got up and walked out. And that was that.
Two weeks later, I received L&I's decision concerning my condition. According to them, based on my dermatologist's prescription of CellCept and the career counselor's ability to find three companies willing to hire someone in my condition, my claim was terminated. I was not disabled, did not require retraining, nor continued coverage for my medical bills or L&I payments. I received the notice of my L&I cancellation on the day I should have received my two-week paycheck. My cut-off date was two weeks before.
So, there I was, no more L&I pay, no more insurance coverage, no job, and with seventy-five allergies still afflicting me. This point indeed was the bottom of the barrel, meaning I had no place to go but up.
