I saw the image above this week, and it made me stop and actually ponder it. The fact that I was even pondering it made me laugh. I mean, I actually questioned whether or not living my life as it is or being abducted by aliens would be easier at this point. At least I had a good laugh about it all!
Here is the latest update . . .
Physical Health:
We had a virtual appointment with my main doctor (functional medicine chiropractor) this week. It was the last appointment of the 10-month program I purchased at the beginning of March. I updated him on how my treatment for Lyme was going. I have been able to work my way up to 40% of the full dose of the treatment protocol, and he was impressed. I informed him of the physical side effects I have been experiencing (mild face rash, headaches, fatigue, abdominal and back pain, and urinary pain, to name a few). He knows that I have a high pain tolerance since I am used to being in constant pain, so I reassured him that I am using his parameters to determine the rate at which I increase the dosage. (Apparently, he usually tells patients to slow down treatment if they are experiencing a 50% increase in side effects or symptoms. However, for patients like me who are used to being in pain and living life with an enormous amount of symptoms and side effects, and therefore, will not even register an increase, his instructions include slowing down when there has been only a perceived 15% increase in side effects or symptoms since 15% for us is around the same threshold as 50% for people who are not used to enduring as much on a regular basis.)
He decided that he is going to have me stop increasing the dosage when I get to 50% of the full dosage. At that point, I will try to decrease the days between treatment. Once I am able to increase to 50% of the full dosage and decrease the days between treatment to either 0 or 1, then I will complete 21 full days of treatment. I didn’t ask why we are not trying to get to the full dose, but my guess is that he doesn’t think my body will be able to handle the full dose at this time, and we will probably come back to Lyme at some point in this journey once we can treat some other items on the list.
Since it is the end of the 10-month program with this doctor, we discussed next steps. My husband and I continue to believe that this doctor is the right doctor for us right now. His knowledge about pertinent topics and experience with patients like me is so much greater than most of my previous doctors. Instead of purchasing another 10-month program, we have purchased a bundle package of 10 appointments with him that we can use as we see fit throughout the next 24 months. Since my body requires us to move slowly throughout this process, this was the option the doctor recommended for us to save a little money, and we agreed. (We will probably use the allotted 10 appointments in 12 months rather than 24 months, but we will still save money with this approach.) However, this plan does remove the direct messaging feature with him between appointments. I don’t currently use the direct messaging feature very much since I am very good at managing my own care, so we are hoping that this plan will work for us and save us a small amount of money. If not, we can make a change.
Home Environment:
We also updated my doctor on the home mold situation once again. Basically, there are no right answers. All of the experts believe that our home is built well and safe for most people. The question is what environment is needed for my body to be able to heal. After discussing the latest with my doctor, he decided that we have been dealing with this situation for long enough (10 months), have endured through enough unexpected and weird complications, have spent more money than we should have had to spend on our home so far, and have taken enough steps for now to try to ensure a safe environment. Therefore, he wants us put this issue on hold for the next 6 months, and then retest our home environment at that point.
My husband and I may or may not have had a dance party in the kitchen when my doctor made this decision.
Emotional Health:
My husband and I are in the middle of our 2 weeks of holiday PTO time together. We have been busy with all that is required of us as we live alongside a chronic illness, but we have also been able to fit in some rest and fun. We had a date night of driving around our area and looking at holiday lights. We also have been busy completing jigsaw puzzles when I have been feeling well enough to participate. We were also able to wear masks and attend 2 of the 3 family Christmas gatherings. We couldn’t attend the entire time, but we were really glad that we were able to attend even for a little while. And, we were especially grateful for the support of my family members who were all more than willing to wear a mask to keep me as safe as possible.
One sad note . . . We found out over the holiday weekend that the wife of someone we used to know passed away from cancer 2 years ago at a young age, and we didn’t know until now. We were shocked. It also hit very close to home for us. We both took some time to support each other and move through our feelings. Death is a topic that my husband and I discuss on a regular basis given the situation we are in, but we also try not to dwell on it and live life as much as we can given our parameters. Even so, we are not always prepared for the timing of the topic when it hits us in the face.
Brutal. Side effects from treatment. Constant home environment confusion. The topic of death hitting us in the face when we least expect it.
Beautiful. A doctor who is knowledgeable about my situation and seems to be in it for the long haul. A 6-month break from dealing with the home environment situation. Dance party in the kitchen. Holiday PTO fun. Puzzles. Family time.
Just another day of . . . This Brutiful Life: The Brutal & Beautiful Moments of My Life.
This Brutiful Life 