2008 sucked, didn't it? It certainly was a year to forget in my book. I found out I had Lyme disease, got hit by a cab while riding my bike, buried grandparents, watched my retirement accounts dip 40%, lost my job and felt like crap most of the time. 2009 couldn't come fast enough.
Actually, while it's really easy (and very human) to focus on the negative, I've always somehow been able to see through it and find the positive. Over the last year it's sometimes been very, very challenging to track it down, but there have been a few rays of light. I get to see my wife and daughter more, I found out who my real friends are while at the same time discovering some new ones, I eat better and even though I was fitter before, I think now I live a healthier life. I've also faced up pretty well against some extremely challenging circumstances... or at least that's what my therapist tells me :)
What's lined up for 2009? I'm not sure. Of course, I hope it's an overall improvement in my health (and my bank accounts), but I also know that Lyme takes time. I'm doing damn near everything I possibly can to speed things along, but if 2008 taught me anything it's that there's no quick fix to it. I've also come to accept that sometimes doing everything I can may not be enough. I can't will or plan or organize myself to health again. It will either happen or it won't. And while this is a frustrating concept to accept — especially for someone who's use to being in complete control of his body — I've started to become comfortable with taking my hands off the wheel a little and letting fate drive for a bit.
But enough of this. What happened in December?
If I only had a brain
My LLMD wants me to start IV treatment and I'm pretty sure that's where I'm headed (more on that below), but I wanted to make sure that we triple checked any other possibilities off the list first. Since brain fog is my number one complaint I asked him to hook me up with a Lyme-friendly neurologist to make sure that there's nothing else going on up there besides Lyme. He did and I wrote about my visit with her here. She asked me to get a SPECT scan which I had done up at Columbia University Hospital on the 16th. I get the results tomorrow. I don't expect them to be anything groundbreaking.
Gettin' ma herb on
I already wrote about this too, but I started to slowly incorporate some Chinese herbs into my treatment. I was highly skeptical, but after I started to ramp up I got what felt like a fairly good herx off of them. I guess there's something to it. I plan to continue.
Prepping for a PICC
As I mentioned, my LLMD (and the neurologist) think that since I seem to have plateaued with the oral antibiotics that I should try a round of IV treatment. I literally can't believe that it's come to this, but I don't seem to have a whole lot of choice. I mean, yes, I have a choice, but I don't hold a lot of confidence in things like rife machines and such. Perhaps an IV will be the thing that gets me over the hump.
The general plan is to do 12 weeks of IV Rocephin. I would shoot up once a day, every day at home on my own. A nurse would come by my house once a week to change the dressing on the PICC. If the Rocephin's not working my LLMD mentioned there are some other options to try, but that he's had great luck with it for neuro symptoms.
The first step in kicking this off is to query Aetna (my insurance company) and see how much they're willing to pay for. I'm hoping for 1/2, but am only expecting 1/3. We'll see. I'll know more about that this week too.
Looking forward
One of my hesitations with the IV is that it's been a comfort while doing the orals to know that there's always a bigger hammer out there to use on my Lyme. I feel that if I go for the IV that I've sort of reached the end of the line when it comes to viable, realistic options. Yeah, could go all herbal or try to incorporate some other types of "alternative" treatments, but they're even sketchier than the IV.
I say "sketchy" because, truth be told, nobody really knows what's going to happen with the IV. In fact, nobody really knows what's truly causing my symptoms. Yeah, I tested positive for Lyme, but nobody can objectively say what the mechanisms that cause my symptoms are. It could be Lyme, but they could be viral related. Or they could be Candida at this point what with all the antibiotics I've been ingesting. Nobody really knows. It's all a fucking crap shoot.
But... fingers crossed and all that stuff. Hopefully I'll respond well and be able to close this chapter of my Lyme issues. Stay tuned for more. I'll post my chart for December real soon.
Oh, and happy New Year to everybody and thanks to all the people (strangers mostly) who've emailed me their well wishes and given me support over the past year.
Happy New Year!
Best wishes on the PICC.
Posted by: Joe | January 05, 2009 at 12:44 PM
Joe,
Thanks, man!
/CT
Posted by: Chronic Triathlete | January 05, 2009 at 11:23 PM