...Asked twice a day.
Other than this question, you'd have no idea Sweetie was anything other than a healthy little girl.
And, by all rights, she is a healthy little girl. (Knock on wood) our whole family has not yet been felled by the dreaded flu this year. I'm still getting over a bad cold from more than a week ago - but both Hubby and Sweetie has managed to avoid it. She's only missed one day of school for illness this year (and, yes, that was a Lyme day). Sweetie is, by and large, one healthy kid.
One healthy kid that we ask twice a day, "Did you take your medicine?"
Before school in the morning or leaving for adventures on the weekends - "Did you take your medicine?"
Before bedtime every night - "Did you take your medicine?"
Every single day, twice a day, for the last 9 months or so - "Did you take your medicine?"
The medicines have changed some over those 9 months, but always the question remains - "Did you take your medicine?"
No matter how normal and healthy and average and regular my Sweetie seems - to us, to her, to everyone around her - we are oh so lucky to get this twice-daily reminder that, "well, yeah, she's only normal and healthy and average and regular because she takes her medicine as prescribed."
Take away her medicine, and we're back to the vomiting. Back to the threat of the "just cyclical vomiting" becoming something so much worse than "just cyclical vomiting."
And that's truly how it seems to me. As long as she's taking something for it, her illness stays away. Take the pills away, change it, lessen the dosage, whatever - and the Lyme is only so happy to show its ugly little head again.
Currently she's on the herbal supplement Wormwood Combination. This, after being on the herbal supplement Artemisia for a month or so. The switch came about because I only attempted to refill Sweetie's Artemisia once she took her last pill of it. Only her doctor's office - which is the only place around who had it - was closed that day. I had to get Sweetie something, though, so I went to the local health food store - a store run by a kindly older guy who's been managing his own Lyme disease for years now - to see if they carried Artemisia. Once I told the owner what I needed and why, he directed me to the Wormwood Combination, as they didn't carry the Artemisia. I bought it, and email Sweetie's doctor about this new supplement before giving Sweetie any. Turns out Sweetie's doctor was very pleased with the Wormwood purchase, and she advised me of the correct dosage for Sweetie. As it happens, the Artemisia I had planned to get at the doctor's that day was no longer being produced by that company the office used, so we were going to have to switch Sweetie to something else anyway. It all works out in the end.
So, now Sweetie's been on the Wormwood (1 pill in the morning, and 2 pills at night for her) for the last month or so, along with her ever-present Immune Boosting gummy (over the counter) we've had her take for a year or more now. And we've also reintroduced a Vitamin D3 capsule into her daily arsenal of health-boosting pills, as Sweetie's D3 levels were low when checked last March. She should have been on this continuously since then, but we ran out at one point and didn't have the funds to restock at the time - then forgot - and so it goes. Now we are restocked and on the right path again!
One supplement we have let slide, finally, is Sweetie's probiotic pill. We had a large supply of the probiotic left after Sweetie stopped taking the antibiotic. So she continued with it for at least a couple months after switching to the herbal supplements. But now the supply is gone and we, intentionally, haven't restocked. We figure we've done what we needed to do to keep her gut flora as healthy as could be while on the antibiotics, and for a time afterwards, and now she can be done with at least that portion of her daily regimen. It's been awhile now that she hasn't taken any probiotics and she's been well and feeling good. Thank goodness!
We continue to watch what she eats, but are nowhere near as vigilant as we probably should be. We do buy a gluten free bread for her school sandwiches. And if we notice she's already had a few "bad" snacks in a day (gluten/sugar), we may forbid her to have another. But for the most part, she eats what she wants and what she's given, which isn't so bad compared to the junk "most" kids eat, and she feels good. Or at least she claims to, as that's what Sweetie does. But, no. I believe her now. She feels "great" and I've seen no signs of her keeping secret any sickly feelings she may encounter. For the most part, she really is good.
Like I said, if it wasn't for that pesky little daily question we need to ask and she needs to deal with every day - "Did you take your medicine?" - you'd never know that anything's wrong with her at all.
Only 3 more months of this particular dosage of medicine and then... continued medicine, but we'll attempt a smaller daily dosage and see how she takes to that.
Keep taking your medicine, Sweetie, and you'll keep being the picture of health that you appear to be.
Be thankful for these supplements that keep you feeling as well as you do. I know I'm thankful for them every single day.
