Tick Tock

... Speaking of Hubby...

(wasn't he supposed to be a co-author of this blog with me? Helloooo! Where are you?!)

... Last Thursday afternoon, right after 5pm, he found that he was bit by a tick.

Great! Now what? He didn't think the tick could have possibly been on him for very long at all. But still. With all the nasty stories and in-depth info on Lyme we've researched ourselves and heard delivered from Lyme experts, we knew that to wait for treatment even a little while wasn't the best plan of action.

But, it was just after the doctor office closed for the day, and we were leaving for a weekend away in the morning.

We knew enough that to go to urgent care would just result in him getting the typical 2 doses of doxycycline - a "preventative" measure most doctors seem to be prescribing that - guess what?! - doesn't work. At all. It is really a worse plan than to not do anything. Hmph.

So, no. We didn't want that.

And we also knew that what, ideally, should happen is for him to be put on antibiotics for a 28 day course - even without the diagnosis. However, hardly any doctor does this. Only Lyme literate docs "believe" in this method of preventative treatment.

Hubby's doctor (who is my doctor) is not Lyme literate. He's a great guy, for all intents and purposes. Maybe he'd listen to our family's history with Lyme, recognize our concern, and throw Hubby a bone. But it was doubtful. Very doubtful.

So... we were kinda sorta freaking out, initially, about what exactly he should do.

I called a not-really-at-all-close acquaintance from church, who happens to be a homeopathic, Lyme literate doctor. Yes, it was of course after hours for her, but there was a number to reach her at at any time. I didn't exactly reach her even there, but I left a message. Yes, you may remember us from church. No, we're not your patients. Would you possibly have any recommendations for us at all? Please and thank you very much.

I never heard back from her. Not surprising, considering that we aren't her patients. But, it was worth a shot.

I emailed another Lyme literate contact I have. She wrote back with a suggestion to see if Hubby's doc, in the morning, would possibly provide him with a week's course of antibiotics. Beyond that, ????...

So, that was the plan. Stop freaking out now, and call the doctor in the morning.

The next morning, after I had woken in the middle of the night to think on things a bit, I asked Hubby if he still thought we should call the doctor. My feelings were that, just as the 2-dose course of doxycycline doesn't do you any good, so too would a 1 week course not be beneficial. 2 pills or 1 week of pills - both, I figured, would be enough meds to prevent your body from making antibodies against Lyme - thus making any future Lyme testing return negative, but not enough meds to actually kill the disease if, in fact, it exists.

Furthermore, since we know when he was bit, we can simply watch for the bullseye rash to appear (assuming, if it's Lyme, that a rash will appear, as often it doesn't, even with the disease), as well as flu-like symptoms within the next few weeks. Because we've been through this with Sweetie, and we know better what to watch for and what to insist follows through as a treatment plan, if need be, it seemed best for him to just wait it out. If symptoms crop up, and he gets an appropriately long, appropriately strong dose of antibiotics at that point, that in itself would be soon enough to get the Lyme wiped out. The earlier Lyme is caught and treated, the better, yes. And this plan to wait will get us to the appropriate results soon enough to take care of it, I feel.

Hubby agreed. Fine. No. Let's not call the doctor.

And so, we wait. It's now been a few days and all seems well, so far. Mind you, we just moved, and we just had a whirlwind weekend away, and he's off this week trying to settle us into our new home... and all of this is stressful enough. So, yes, he's tired. Yes, he had a headache yesterday. Yes, he kind of feels blah. But all of this seems par for the course of our crazy lives of late. No particularly worrisome symptoms specifically related to the bite have yet cropped up.

Here's hoping it stays that way.