Mangoes are evil.

I can attest to the reality of mango allergies — over Christmas break I purchased some very nice-looking peach-mango salsa. Just a few bites and my throat started to swell shut. I sat there and coughed and gasped while my husband pulled out the Benadryl. The Benadryl knocked me out and I crashed on the couch for about five hours. Every now and then the noise level would swell and I’d pry open my eyes and tell the kids to go to bed. The first time was about 6:30, so they just giggled at me.

Moral of the story: if you’re not used to mango, have some Benadryl on hand.

And, this is a lovely diary, Ardis. This is the first chance I’ve had to read it, and it’ll be a great read.

It’s not at all surprising to me that mangoes and poison ivy are close relatives.

Mango and poison ivy are cousins; an oil in the mango skin and pit is very similar to the afflicting oil from poison ivy. Contact with the oil can cause “type IV contact dermatitis.” Ouch. Ouch. I’m going to lay awake tonight remembering that time my face swelled up and then fell off via the open, running blisters. Also: how much I like fresh mango and how lovely Minas Gerais, Brazil was when all the mango trees were covered with fruit. My eyes are itching already.

I am glad to hear Sister Rossiter found relief so quickly; I did not. (Alternately: I’m a wimp.)

To make it all more exciting, I was newly arrived in country and so did not speak Portuguese well enough for an emergency room. My companion got me admitted, gave me a blessing, and went home (as he had been instructed by the office staff). The doctor spoke soothingly but all I got out of the conversation was “staphylococcus” and “meningitis” and “might die.” (I knew what meningitis was and was in considerable pain, so “might die” seemed plausible.) I dutifully wrote a letter to my parents on toilet paper.

I didn’t know I was allergic go mangoes and neither did the doctors. They kept me for fifty-three hours while they monitored my condition and waited for cultures to grow (and gave me antibiotics).

Mango season continued and I itched and had rashes but only had to go to the doctor two or three times after that. It wasn’t until after the mission that I figured out the mango connection. I am now pretty sensitized, so being in the same room when someone cuts a mango can be enough to give me a rash.