The Lesson Is - Wash Your Hands After Touching Pepper Spray and Don't Be Afraid to Trust Just a Little
A few nights ago I came home a little late after another night out carousing (which in actuality was dinner out with coworkers and then a little quick grocery shopping) and found that the elevator in my apartment building is not working. Now there is a second nicer and larger elevator RIGHT NEXT to the other small broken one, but we are not allowed to use it. The story is that the second large elevator is just for our very very important tenant here (the current President's uncle, and previous President's brother). He lives in a multifloor apartment all around my apartment.
So I come home a few nights ago and the guards motion to me that my elevator is broken...and it becomes clear that I cannot use the second elevator, and instead I am shown to a stairwell. A deep dark cement stairwell that is scary. I proceed up the 6 flights of stairs with not ONE SINGLE LIGHT to guide me. It was dark and creepy - so in addition to carrying my bag and groceries and massive gallons of water, I also had my pepper spray out and my finger on the trigger, safety off. As per my usual routine, I spent the next two hours on the computer, and then my right eye started to itch. And itch. And I rubbed it. And it itched. And then it started to hurt. A lot. And so I went in the bathroom to find out if something was in my eye and what I saw in the mirror scared me! I started to cry and called my boss, then called a coworker (it was midnight at this point) and discussed going to the emergency clinic. My top and bottom eyelids of my right eye had puffed up, swollen as if sting by bees! The swelling was so severe that my right eye was barely visible between the lids and it hurt to blink and tears were flowing. So I did what any 33 year old alone in Azerbaijan after midnight would do - I called my mom. I got on the webcam and she put me on speakerphone and had a nurse come to her computer workstation while I held the webcam up to my swollen face. The nurse did as good of an assessment as she could under the circumstances, and advised me to take allergy medicine, advised me to go to the clinic (which I didn't want to do at that hour unless absolutely necessary), and we ran through the options. If my lips started to swell then I was in bad shape and needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. But after talking to some loved ones and starting to calm down, the allergy medicine started to feel like it was working, my boss kept checking in to make sure I was okay, and I called Ben on the webcam to show him my puffy face and tell him of my scare. My mom then got back on to tell me the nurse had another theory of what it was (instead of a terrible allergic reaction) - she said that the symptoms and the look of my face were consistent with exposure to tear gas or pepper spray. PEPPER SPRAY. While the true reason for my temporary facial attack that left me puffy for a day (and gave me a triple chin directly beneath my right eye when I smiled) may never be known.....it does seem like the likely cause was my own damn pepper spray.
That was 2 days ago.
Last night I got home again late (I go out a lot) and I approached my building and it was the same deal - broken elevator and dark scary stairwell. This time I asked the guard through my expert pantomime skills and the ever-useful Russian word for "Please" if he would walk me up the 6 flights to my apartment in the dark. He was a different guard than the night before and very sweet, and although we couldn't really communicate he got the big industrial flashlight for us and walked me up the whole way. At the top of the stairs he put the number to the security desk in my phone in case I needed help or if I wanted to go out of the building at any time but was too afraid to go downstairs in the dark.
That was last night.
Tonight I got home again after 9 p.m. (cause, well I go out a lot) and again the elevator wasn't working. I asked a third guard if he would walk me up the stairs, and this one brought me onto the forbidden big second elevator! Very exciting. There was just one catch - that elevator only stops at certain floors....so we went to the 9th floor and had to walk DOWN 3 flights to the 6th floor. These 3 floors were the scariest flights of uneven cement steps in complete and total darkness- and this guard had no flashlight with him. But he bravely went ahead of me and took my hand and he literally GUIDED me slowly down these uneven stairs while holding my hand. He also only speaks Russian and Azeri so the whole production was an exercise in trust for me really. Though in the darkest moments of our climb together I was very thankful to have him there, though I had the pepper spray in my hand just in case.
And tonight, I washed my hands afterwards.
So I come home a few nights ago and the guards motion to me that my elevator is broken...and it becomes clear that I cannot use the second elevator, and instead I am shown to a stairwell. A deep dark cement stairwell that is scary. I proceed up the 6 flights of stairs with not ONE SINGLE LIGHT to guide me. It was dark and creepy - so in addition to carrying my bag and groceries and massive gallons of water, I also had my pepper spray out and my finger on the trigger, safety off. As per my usual routine, I spent the next two hours on the computer, and then my right eye started to itch. And itch. And I rubbed it. And it itched. And then it started to hurt. A lot. And so I went in the bathroom to find out if something was in my eye and what I saw in the mirror scared me! I started to cry and called my boss, then called a coworker (it was midnight at this point) and discussed going to the emergency clinic. My top and bottom eyelids of my right eye had puffed up, swollen as if sting by bees! The swelling was so severe that my right eye was barely visible between the lids and it hurt to blink and tears were flowing. So I did what any 33 year old alone in Azerbaijan after midnight would do - I called my mom. I got on the webcam and she put me on speakerphone and had a nurse come to her computer workstation while I held the webcam up to my swollen face. The nurse did as good of an assessment as she could under the circumstances, and advised me to take allergy medicine, advised me to go to the clinic (which I didn't want to do at that hour unless absolutely necessary), and we ran through the options. If my lips started to swell then I was in bad shape and needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. But after talking to some loved ones and starting to calm down, the allergy medicine started to feel like it was working, my boss kept checking in to make sure I was okay, and I called Ben on the webcam to show him my puffy face and tell him of my scare. My mom then got back on to tell me the nurse had another theory of what it was (instead of a terrible allergic reaction) - she said that the symptoms and the look of my face were consistent with exposure to tear gas or pepper spray. PEPPER SPRAY. While the true reason for my temporary facial attack that left me puffy for a day (and gave me a triple chin directly beneath my right eye when I smiled) may never be known.....it does seem like the likely cause was my own damn pepper spray.
That was 2 days ago.
Last night I got home again late (I go out a lot) and I approached my building and it was the same deal - broken elevator and dark scary stairwell. This time I asked the guard through my expert pantomime skills and the ever-useful Russian word for "Please" if he would walk me up the 6 flights to my apartment in the dark. He was a different guard than the night before and very sweet, and although we couldn't really communicate he got the big industrial flashlight for us and walked me up the whole way. At the top of the stairs he put the number to the security desk in my phone in case I needed help or if I wanted to go out of the building at any time but was too afraid to go downstairs in the dark.
That was last night.
Tonight I got home again after 9 p.m. (cause, well I go out a lot) and again the elevator wasn't working. I asked a third guard if he would walk me up the stairs, and this one brought me onto the forbidden big second elevator! Very exciting. There was just one catch - that elevator only stops at certain floors....so we went to the 9th floor and had to walk DOWN 3 flights to the 6th floor. These 3 floors were the scariest flights of uneven cement steps in complete and total darkness- and this guard had no flashlight with him. But he bravely went ahead of me and took my hand and he literally GUIDED me slowly down these uneven stairs while holding my hand. He also only speaks Russian and Azeri so the whole production was an exercise in trust for me really. Though in the darkest moments of our climb together I was very thankful to have him there, though I had the pepper spray in my hand just in case.
And tonight, I washed my hands afterwards.
posted by K. at 2:47 PM
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