Tuesday, June 19, 2012

One Up, One Down

Today was Sweetie's check up appointment with her LLMD. I was happy to report to her that Hubby and I have seen a definite spike in Sweetie's energy level. I told her all we've been doing lately, and about Sweetie's recent week of not feeling so great. I mentioned the "elbow pit" pain Sweetie had a couple weeks ago, the tightness in her chest she felt a few times in a week about a month ago, and - oh yeah - the fact that Sweetie reported to me right after her last appointment that she feels like throwing up every day! But all these negatives have passed her by, at least for now. And all in all, Sweetie has been dancing, moving, shaking, talking and alive! So good for us to see!

The doctor was happy to hear of this energy improvement, and took it as a definite sign that the Augmentin is working for Sweetie. I knew, going into this visit, that even though I had good things to report, we'd still be looking at about a month more on the meds. I was wrong. Good news = two more months on this antibiotic! I guess, the point being, now that we know this is the right antibiotic for her at the right dosage, and we can finally see some definite improvement, we need to give it a couple more months to really do its thing of killing off as much of the Lyme as possible.

Okay, then. Summer #2 of medicated Sweetie. We can do this!

And when those two months have passed, it'll be on to the herbal supplement portion of our program. Stay tuned...

So. Sweetie is on an upswing. Yay! In other news, we spent Father's Day Sunday at... wait for it... urgent care. Waiting to see the doctor, reporting flu-like symptoms that had been smoldering for Hubby and finally came to a head Saturday evening, and a strange rash that had appeared opposite from where he was bit by the tick just over 2 weeks prior.

Classic symptoms. Classic timing. Seemingly classic case of Lyme Disease. 3 weeks of Doxycycline was prescribed (I got it pushed to 4 weeks), labs were drawn (for Lyme and 3 other co-infections, as well as a blood count), and the rest of Father's Day included plenty of rest and quiet time for Hubby as he willed himself to feel better. Not quite the Father's Day he, or we, were wanting, but good to get some answers.

He's back to work today, after spending yesterday at home sleeping and gaining back strength and an interest in eating. By last night he was much more like himself. I'm glad he's back to work, but really hoping he takes it easy today and is truly feeling much better soon.

Even though we are bummed to get this diagnosis (well, technically, we don't yet have the lab results, so no official diagnosis yet. But, as I said, the doctor and we agree that it sure does seem like Lyme), we feel lucky that, this time around, we knew when he was bit and what to watch for for symptoms. Sweetie got the flu symptoms last year, but we were nowhere near as Lyme-savvy as we are now, so didn't even consider that she was experiencing anything other than the flu. It wasn't until 2 or 3 weeks beyond that that we finally figured her lingering headaches were fishy and took her in to see the doctor.

So, Hubby will be okay. We caught this early enough for him and got him the treatment he needs to kick this Lyme to the curb. He and Sweetie will be sharing probiotics for awhile, and reminding each other to take their medicine. What a fun father/daughter bonding experience! (ha!) But, in the end, he'll be just fine.

And Sweetie? Yeah, she'll be okay too. It's a tougher road for her. A long, winding road that seems to be smooth for now. Time will only tell if we'll run into anymore obstacles along her journey or not. Something tells me, despite her improvement, we still have twists and turns to discover. But, yeah. Through it all, she'll be okay too. She'll be just fine.

She'll be great.

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