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Are You Sure That’s Still True?

Have you ever believed something about yourself for a long time and then found out it wasn’t true?  It’s surprising, right?  In certain instances, it can be painful, too.

I recently was presented with one of those surprises. Something I had believed about myself since I was a kid was not true. Luckily, it was a positive finding that could be helpful one day.

Let’s go back to 1965. That’s a way back!  LBJ was the President. The U.S. was becoming ever further entwined in the Vietnam war.  The Beatles were at the top of the charts.  Cars got an average of less than fifteen miles per gallon, and the gas that filled their tanks cost 31 cents per gallon.

And back then, a ten-year-old me got sick with some sort of virus. Neighborhood physician, Dr. John Cionci, prescribed penicillin. Upon taking the medicine, I broke out in hives.  Dr. Cionci then declared that I was allergic to penicillin. It went into my medical charts at his office and has been a check-off on every medical form that I have filled out over the past five and a half decades. I have carried a medical alert card in my wallet and worn a necklace with a PENICILLIN ALLERGY pendant at all times.  The use of penicillin could potentially be harmful or deadly to me.  If there was something I knew about myself, it was that I was allergic to penicillin.

Since the early 90s, I have been treated for allergies to airborne particles such as pollen, mold spores, dust, etc.  At one time, I tested as allergic to everything(!) on the hit list except for Bermuda grass. So, I have spent a lot of time in allergists’ offices. A few years back, my current allergist was examining me and noticed my necklace. He asked me about it, and I told him the story. Then, he informed me that the majority of the people who were diagnosed decades ago with penicillin allergy actually are not allergic to penicillin.

The doctor encouraged me to be tested for it, which could be done in his office. There could be a time in my future when having access to a penicillin-based medication might be the best treatment for an ailment. That made sense, but I put off having the testing done because it would take a couple of hours. Then the pandemic hit.

Finally, last week I had the testing done, and guess what? I am not allergic to penicillin. So, off came the necklace, and I removed the medical alert card from my wallet. I notified my general practitioner’s office, and would have let Dr. Cionci know as well. However, he died in 2008 as per the Philadelphia Inquirer, which also noted that he had “mended his ways” after having been found guilty of mail fraud for having received insurance payments for fake accident victims. (That was another surprise to me.)

Now I’m wondering, what else that I know to be true about myself is not really true? That’s going to take some thinking.

And how about the “truths” that I hold in my mind about others? I often keep impressions of people in my mind based on long ago interactions or behaviors. This is particularly so regarding individuals for whom I do not have the highest regard. My perspective of those folks may have been accurate at one point, but people change … often for the better. And sometimes I have been just wrong in my initial perceptions of individuals.

Back when I worked at the B. Dalton bookstore in Philly, there was a fulltime cashier, I’ll call her Connie, who didn’t seem very engaged or inclined to do a good job. At least that’s how it seemed to me as a co-worker. Thus, I was shocked when she was promoted to become the head cashier.  I then witnessed what to me appeared to be a transformation. Connie showed herself to be a dedicated and hardworking leader of that unit. My perceptions of her were incorrect, and fortunately the store manager could see her differently.

This penicillin thing has made me take a step back.  I need to take a closer look at myself and my own truths. And I need to be doubly thoughtful about what I consider to be truths regarding others. I am glad that my allergist encouraged me more than once to have the testing done. It has helped to open my mind.