So we got home from Hawaii and went right to work treating Brian's Lyme. Since finishing school we have had a pretty mellow routine of just work and whatever else we feel like doing, that mellow life is no more. In exchange our days are now filled with doctors appointments (which require driving to midway), counting pills, detox baths, talking with the insurance, finding foods Brian can keep down and are also healthy and in line with our new diet, getting lots of resting, drinking water bottle after water bottle, sleeping, and going to the pharmacy and health food store for supplements and medication ( we are gonna be on a first name basis with those people soon). Basically no matter how hard we try to not let this disease control out lives it is still making life complicated.
It has now been 5 weeks since he started treatment and no 2 days are alike. New symptoms have arisen and old symptoms have returned and are worst than ever. Some days are better than others and some days we are able to control symptoms and other days they control us. End of week 3 we spent some time in the ER trying to get Brian hydrated and able to eat and drink again, luckily that is all he needed in addition to some nausea medicine and we were able to get him drinking water and home again.
Even with so much time spent researching this disease I still do not feel prepared to take on everything that is happening. Each case is so different and there is not enough information to be able to prepare for what to expect or know how to prevent things from happening. We just try to stay ahead of the "next thing" and keep pace with what is happening and not let it get ahead of us and out of control.
We have opted for a traditional and naturpathic approach to this. We are killing off as much as we can with the antibiotics while trying to support and protect his immune system and organs. Through trial and error we have adjusted his medications and gotten him to a better place since that day in the ER. When I read that treatment was often harder than the disease I didn't really understand. Brian and I have been dealing with this disease unknowingly for the past 5.5 years, there were good days and there were bad days and then there were really bad days and some times were were just happy to get a bad day cause that was better than what we'd been dealing with. I couldn't imagine things getting worst than those days. But they were right... treatment is certainly the hardest part of all of this. The die off of this bacteria is so toxic to your body, and causes so many problems. Its hard to stay on top of detoxing it all out as quickly as it can die off some days, and once you get to a point you feel too sick to want to do anything. Brian thinks I have wacky ideas sometimes on how to detox and cleanse but so far each and everyone of them has helped. (so grateful for the internet and its endless knowledge and ideas).
The one huge positive in all of it (cause you have to find a way to stay positive) is that when Brian is feeling better and when we do have better days he is the funniest, happiest person to be around. I love to see that happy boy come back! It reminds me how often we take our health for granted and don't appreciate the good days we have the majority of our lives. It makes simple things like getting out of the house exciting.
I came home from work last night to Brian cleaning up in the kitchen with a huge smile. He was finally feeling good enough to do something and wanted to be productive and clean up that mess since he knew upon getting home that would be the first thing I would do, but instead we got to make dinner together and have a quiet night relaxing. Its nights like last night that remind me that we will get past this. We are told the first 30-45 days are the worst. And we are at day 36 so hopefully that means we are getting through the worst of it now and will soon have his treatment stable and have more consistent days.
I just keep reminding myself that some day I will get my gym buddy back and how good it will feel for him to run beside me. We'll never take moments like that for granted again.
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