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IV Meds – Week 2
Today, the home nurse visited. She changed my PICC bandage; the first one was giving me some sort of rash. The rash is small, little bumps only on my left arm where the line is located. It really doesn’t itch. Nurse seems to think it was the clear tape from my original bandage that was causing the irritation. We’ll see, I guess.
This first week, I have just been really tired. But today, I woke up with blasting headache at 5:30 a.m. when my sweet hubs, LM, headed to work. I tried to tough it out and then took a pain pill. By the time Nurse visited about 10 a.m., the headache was back at it. Ugh. I went outside to pick up the mail and water the little garden. Our tomatoes are still alive even though the temperatures are climbing into the mid 90s. By the time I came inside, I was not feeling well at all so laid down for a bit. Sitting up now, trying to have a snack. playing it by ear today!
On a side note, I am so grateful I am a teacher! I have been able to rest whenever I want and that has been terrific! I do have to work a bit in the afternoon this Thursday, but nothing too major.
Hope all is well out there in the real world, chickies! -B
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Happy 4th!
Happy birthday, America! Hoping all of you have a safe and fun weekend! As for me, I am not sure what today will hold. We actually have plans to go to a friend’s place out here in the country this evening, but who knows if I will make it. I still have to figure out how to wash my hair without getting the picc line wet – no bueno! And quite honestly, I hate to admit it, but I have not been feeling all that great these past 2 days. Very lethargic and stomach issues. I am guessing from the medication. Getting a power pack of 2,000 mg of rocephin daily. Hard core!
But tomorrow, we are heading into the Big City to stay at a kinda fancy hotel. 🙂 Very excited. This will be the vacation for us this summer. For reals. Between all the doctor and medication bills along with the new mower we had to buy, plus the new shop hubby is building, well. But please, I am not complaining!! We are very lucky to be able to do all of these things! I am just a little bummed that I can’t get completely into the pool while we are there now with picc. But I do plan of doing some foot dangling and maybe trying out the hot tub! Yippee!
I don’t think we will see fireworks although maybe at our friend’s place tonight. I am sure they will have plenty to blow up! And, even if I have to stay home, sometimes, you can see the fireworks off in the distance at the Big City if it is clear enough out. Although it is a good 20 miles away, it is flat enough to get a view at times. In the past, we have gone downtown to another friend’s place in the city and watched the awesome show from his upper decks at his townhouse.
I hope whatever you are up to today that you enjoy the activities. Celebrate!
Peace hobbits. -B
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The Cyborg
This is the nickname my husband has anointed me with now that I have my very own PICC line. Yes folks, step right up to see the show! I’m an official cyborg! My new little friend was inserted on Monday. Now, this is the first time I am doing IV antibiotics, and I hope it will be my last. I was anxious about the procedure but honestly, it wasn’t terrible. It took the doctor a whole 15 minutes to insert and stitch. Actually, most of the time I had no idea he was working on me. I felt the numbing shot, a tug here, a tug there and presto! Done. The doctor and nurses chatted while they worked and I kept thinking, come on doc, when are you going to get busy? Stop chatting and get this thing in my arm, for reals! Ha,ha and then he was done and gone. So the line is in my left arm since I’m mostly right-handed. The home nurse came yesterday. Now mind you, we live pretty far out of the city, in a double wide mobile home with, hmm, well we have six of our own dogs. Add in a few of my mom’s dogs(she lives on the same acre we own, so that makes 8 when the nurse showed up. Holy geez! Luckily, they all ran outside through the roof is door which I closed quickly behind them! Let’s just leave it at they had some great “yard time” yesterday. They were way more than ready to get back into the a/c when the nurse left. She is a small, petite lady and I really like her. I did my dose on my own today for the most part; my husband was very attentive at making sure there were no air bubbles in the line. I won’t bore you with the details of all the ins and outs of the pics….yet. Heading off to bed. The soreness and stiffness have had a hold of me for a few weeks now and today I have just been exhausted. I was still able to work in a few rounds of Candy Crush though so all in all, I feel like the day has been a Victory! Peace, munchkins. -N
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Medication anyone?
I will begin my 14th year of teaching this fall. Very cool. So, I am on summer break! Whoo hoo! And while, yes, teachers do work during break, it is still nice to have more freedom in my schedule. My Lyme treatment is still going strong, so having time to rest as needed is great. I have been on antibiotics since March 2013. My doctor changes my meds about every 2 months. Lyme bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, is one of the most complex and intelligent of the bacteria world. It can hide in the body when it is attacked by the immune system and or antibiotics. It can adapt to the antibiotics as well. Thus, the changing of the meds often. I should be starting a new round of antibiotics here soon. With the fatigue letting up a bit as well as the nausea, a few weeks ago my doctor was hopeful that I could maybe take a break from the antibiotics and allow my immune system to step up and do some work, but alas, no go. After bloodwork revealed that my CD57 cell count is still extremely low, I have to continue on meds. Lazy immune system! LOL
And while there is much controversy in how Lyme disease should be treated, etc., I don’t really care about the critics. I found my LLMD on MY OWN. I went to her out of desperation and because I was finally diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome after seeing at least 5 different doctors and specialty doctors no less. I chose her because she has an awesome reputation with CFS patients. The first thing she did, based on my symptoms, is test me for Lyme disease. No other doctor, including an Infectious Disease doctor, had even mentioned Lyme disease, and I tested full blown CDC positive after almost 4 years of trying to get an answer to my illnesses. So, yeah, I don’t care about the naysayers. They don’t carry much credit with me at all. Only the person who has basically saved me from worse is my hero! I will do whatever she tells me to as far as treatment goes.
Hope all is well in your world, hobbits! -B
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