vodka and lyme

[jazzfish]

Well, ever since our last episode . . .

A red splotch with a darker center appeared on the back of my knee Wednesday morning. I figured it was just a spider bite. We loaded into Liam's car and headed off for Origins.

The stupid 24-hour bug refused to go away, at /all/. This made my days consist primarily of running Fluxx tournaments with a steadily increasing fever, and then going back to the hotel room to collapse for awhile and let the fever drop a bit. Then repeat in the evening. On the bright side it was totally non-contagious.

I'd been wearing pants so the splotch wasn't really noticeable. Neither was the one that had appeared along my collarbone. On Satyrday Emily noticed that the original one had gotten substantially darker, larger, and generally more unhappy-looking. And we put a few things together and realised that I probably had Lyme disease.

Came home yesterday and went straight out to the doctor, who agreed with our diagnosis and gave me a three-week regimen of antibiotics. The fever broke (for good, it seems) last night. Now I'm just exhausted pretty much all the time. No work today or tomorrow, maybe not Thursday either.

Seasons change with the scenery
Weaving time in a tapestry
Won't you stop and remember me

I /do/ have two mostly-full bottles of vodka in the freezer, but I hate vodka.

Many many many thanks to everyone who took care of me this week, especially Emily for being Emily, Liam for getting orange juice and a sweatshirt (Ohio State yay!), and Carol for running the Stoner Fluxx tournament at midnight so I could go home and collapse.

?skip=425. 'Bout average, I think.

Comments

[tirani.livejournal.com]

If it is Lyme, you are going to be exhausted for a couple of months. It has taken me over a year to get back to anything approaching what my energy level was like before I had Lyme. Best of luck to you :/

[jazzfish]

. . .

Well, crap.

Thanks for the warning.

[tirani.livejournal.com]

Don't be too terribly surprised if you go through period of memory loss and fatigue over the next 3-6 months. The fall after I had Lyme (Caught it at Gathering of the Tribes, Spring 2005), my husband would still occasionally look at me and say "We had this conversation two days ago, do you remember that?" And for the life of me, I did not. But the infectious disease people swore there was nothing wrong with me. Take lots of notes and try not to overdo it too much. I was worse when I pushed myself too much and didn't take the time to rest.

I've never been more jaded about the care I received from the modern medical establishment than their treatment of the aftermath of Lyme in my system.

[jazzfish]

I'm actually more afraid of getting used to the wooziness and tired than I am of having them. Of the idea that it might /have/ to be like that all the time. I refuse to let this crap dominate my life.

I was worse when I pushed myself too much and didn't take the time to rest.

Yeah, 'bout that. I'm not even sure I know /how/ to not do that. It all feels like slacking to me. Puritan work ethic, combined with self-loathing for having taken so long at college and a fear of being fired.

I've never been more jaded about the care I received from the modern medical establishment than their treatment of the aftermath of Lyme in my system.

It's been a dozen years since I've had to deal with them at all, and over twenty since I had to in any significant way (and that was the mil-docs), so I don't really have much opinion at all. I've got a pathological hatred of medical insurance companies, but that's not the same thing.