Lyme Takes Time

So sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted in my blog, but the last few weeks have been very challenging physically. Although I continue to have “herxing” with my Lyme disease about every 3-4 weeks that last 2-3 days, I also had hip pain that increased to the point that I was walking with a cane. I didn’t have the motivation or energy to post on my blog.

I have visits scheduled with my Lyme doctor about every six weeks, and I get an infusion of various vitamins and supplements to fight the disease and support my immune system. My doctor’s office has a back room that contains about 20 recliners for patients to sit in while doing their infusions.

It’s a very pleasant and peaceful place, and the scenery helps take your mind off why you’re there. A new nurse had started just a few days before my last infusion. Inwardly, I sighed and clenched my teeth because my veins are notoriously bad for getting blood or inserting IVs. I’m what the medical profession calls a “hard stick.”

So I prayed…through three sticks…without success. The nurse was more upset than I was. She finally got the doctor who showed her a few “tricks” for “hard sticks”, and he got right in without pain. Woo! Hoo! Prayers answered!

A rather young couple sat across from me getting their infusions, and witnessed this. The woman said, “I’m glad I’m not the only one that has that problem.”

“Yeah,” I told her, “it happens to me a lot. I know it’s not the nurse’s fault; it’s just the way my veins are made.” We both had been stuck more times than we could even remember. I asked if they both had Lyme, and they said yes. The woman said, “But that’s not the worst part. Our little girl has Lyme disease, too.”

“How old is your little girl?” I asked.

“She’s only 13. She really hasn’t had a normal childhood.” I thought what I was doing at age 13 and how concerned I was about my looks and my friends, and I didn’t even give my health a second thought. My heart went out to them. Then she said something that startled me.

The mom said, “The doctor believes she got Lyme when she was in utero with me…in my womb before she was born.” Even someone like myself who keeps educated about Lyme and related co-infections was shocked and so sad to hear that Lyme can be passed to our babies in the womb. The more I learn, the more insidious this disease becomes.

Although I struggle with the symptoms of this disease, God always seems to find a way to show me how thankful I can be. He is providing doctors, nurses, and a supportive husband to help me through this disease. It would break my heart if I had to watch my child battle Lyme (because of the many unknowns), and I pray for all parents who have a child with Lyme.

Although I have two grown children with Crohn’s disease, that disease has some predictable patterns and many medicines available to keep patients in remission.

Going back to my hip pain , I talked to my Lyme doctor about how quickly my hip had deteriorated when I had this last visit in late April. I had visited two orthopedic hip specialists in late December. Although I had arthritis in my hip, an arthritic cyst, and a

labral tear, neither said I was ready for hip replacement surgery. They recommended I go back to my pain control doctor to see if the pain might be coming from the degenerative discs in my lower back.

I will write more about my hip deterioration in my next post, and whether it was related to my active Lyme. So stay tuned….I promise I will post again within the week.