Raw Spewage

Updates from the battlefield ... fighting and winning against Lyme disease. Lyme bacteria rarely travels alone, by the way... so not only am I infected with Lyme bacteria but it brought along friends Babesia and Bartonella. It's one big keg party in here. But guess what? The party is OVER, boys. I am hammering you with IV meds and you are making me so ill as you fight back... yeah, you SUCK. But my meds are bigger and better and kicking your little bug asses to the curb. I win. =)

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Location: Palo Alto, California, United States

Writing has always been the best way for me to communicate my thoughts. And since my thoughts spew forth as raw, scattered, and random musings... the term "Raw Spewage" seemed quite appropriate.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Ugh. And more ugh. And The Cat smells.

Here's the long and short of it: ever since last Thursday's doctor appt, I have been flattened. I started to come out of it a bit on Sunday but a whole bunch of other unpleasant symptoms reared their ugly heads that day so... yeah.
It sucks.
And by flattened, I mean that I have to lay down every few hours and sleep. TV, reading, computer -- all of those things are just too much for my brain and PFFT I am done. The sleep is a deep, dreamless exhaustion.
So how did I get into this state?
A foot bath. Yes, you read that right. A FOOT bath.
I still don't have much energy but I will try to explain this because it is really important to understanding how even seemingly benign things can be devastating to a Lyme person...
My system has a hard time ridding itself of toxins and waste... and considering the huge load of bacteria and virus I am carrying around, this is essential to make sure we deal with. My doctor has an ionized foot bath that he uses with salt and the salt draws out toxins and helps to balance the pH in your system. I have been getting one of these a week on the lowest setting and I am tolerating them well now. My past appt, however, one of the Helpers did not ask the doctor to be sure what setting to use... and instead put it on Mode 2.
Not good. Not good at all. All my bells were ringing as warning but I thought they had checked so... anyway. About 15 minutes into it my feet were burning so badly that it felt lke they were on fire. Cold water did not help. 20 minutes into it, I started crying and said "I am done" and pulled my feet out.
I think I wrote something about being trashed in a previous blog... well this is why that happened.
Today is Tuesday and I still have not been able to right myself after that. It can take me a week sometimes to get stabilized. And all I can do is allow my body to heal -- the bath in and of itself is not a bad thing -- it is actually a GOOD thing. Getting rid of toxins? Crucial.
But like everything else in my life right now, it has to be done slowly or else my system crashes.
I do not remember much of the days since last Thursday. This weekend passed in a blur because I slept so much. The Child had Spring Break last week but she was with her Dad so she didn't see the ugliness...
And to add insult to injury, some of my symptoms got WORSE. From the hips down both of my legs now feels as if I have my legs in cold water. Ew. Not to mention also feeling like I am wearing a pair of hairy pants -- and no, that is not because my legs are hairy... it is this weird sensation thing. Kind of like having my legs encased in static, I guess. It's nasty.
I also have this weird sensation that I call the "Barbie Leg". When I played with Barbies, I always had one whose leg would pop out and just flop around. Well, my leg isn't "popped out" but it FEELS floppy and well, like that stupid Barbie leg. I can still walk and sit... it's just a horrible sensation.
And EVERYTHING is too much right now. Vision? Yeah, sun is too bright, lights are too bright, TV too bright, etc etc. My senses are way fried. Even my hearing is extra sensitive -- it hurts to talk on phone. To watch TV. To hear music that is too loud. Etc.
Okay. Am about fried again. The Child is here and last night when I helped her with math? Oh yeah that depleted the last minute granules of brain I had left.
And to make matters worse, The Man has these huge important meetings right now that he cannot miss so I HAVE to deal with dinner and homework and life.
Sigh. I think Lyme can really defeat you if you let it. It takes all my guts and strength to force myself to dig down and grab what I need to do the stuff that must be done. It's not easy. Not at all... but it's what I have to do. But... I have great doctors. Gratitude for that ... such gratitude. I see one of my doctors every week. He has called me just about every day to check on me since the horrible foot bath mess. He has been such a source of comfort... letting me know that yes, this will pass. Yes, he has other people who are in much worse shape than me. Yes, things will balance out.
Such comfort.
Anyway, I can't muster anything funny right now... well, other than the fact that The Cat's butt is quite stinky and vile right now.
Seriously. VILE.
And he weighs 20 pounds so the chances of me wrangling him into a bath are NONE. I posted the question to one of my friends on Facebook and his response was a riot... he said to "Put him outside for a day and hope he fixes the problem himself? Cats have a strong sense of shame. Act disgusted and disappointed. He'll probably pick up on it. Given a day outside to reflect, he may see the errors in his ways and correct them. "
I laughed so hard at that.
People are funny.

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