Hillraiser Alert: Contribute by Midnight TONIGHT (Wednesday)

Above is a photo of Mom and I attending a local event to see Hillary Clinton speak. As you can see, we are both overjoyed to be there. I still plan on posting a blog with more photos, but this post needed to go out ASAP. After seeing Hillary Clinton speak, I am even more convinced than ever that she is who I want to be president.

The reason for this more urgent request for donations is two-fold. First, I had already planned to re-commit myself to raising money for Hillary after her great showing in the Pennsylvania primaries. Second, the following is currently stated on her website:

A group of our most active supporters have agreed to match new online contributions -- meaning any gift you give before the midnight Wednesday deadline will go twice as far toward helping us win.

This means that your contribution will be DOUBLED. Even if you can only contribute $10 that will become $20!! This is amazing.

My goal is to have our team raise $500 and we are more than halfway there! Let's close the gap before Wednesday night at midnight!

Thank you for your help and support!

Some slight confusion has arisen...and that is whether or not contributions made through my HillRaiser link will be doubled or not. I have not been able to verify this. To be sure that your contribution is doubled you may want to contribute directly at:

www.HillaryClinton.com

We won't have a tally as to whether we hit $500 or not (unless you tell me your contribution and I just add it in to the tally myself to see if we've reached out goal). If you contribute at any other time, you can always use my HillRaisers link.

Here is my Hillraiser link (a secure link that will ensure your contribution goes to our team!)

www.hillaryclinton.com/contribute/GNVS

I have provided a link below to an inspiring letter by Maya Angelou in support of Hillary Clinton for president:

http://blog.hillaryclinton.com/blog/main/2008/04/24/183910

Blessings,

Emily

Under Our Skin Premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival: An Historic Day For Lyme Disease

Last year I discussed the documentary-in-making called Under Our Skin: The Untold Story of Lyme Disease.

Well, not only is it done...it is premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival this weekend! It will be featured in a prime slot Saturday night. Along with the screening, Under Our Skin has been specially chosen to have a discussion panel Sunday night, which includes Amy Tan (who suffers from Chronic Lyme herself), a Lyme doctor, and Robert Bazell, chief medical correspondent for NBC news.

This is truly thrilling! Hopefully this film will shed light on this illness, which today stands where diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Multiple Sclerosis stood years ago. It is only a matter of time until we wake up--in the medical community and beyond.

Bravo to Open Eye Pictures. I encourage you to read the message below that I received announcing the premiere of this documentary.

For those of you who read my blog and are especially interested in Lyme, I encourage you to check out the 'hot link' at the end of this post and read about the director and his statement. His personal experiences with Lyme, how he dismissed his own twin sister's illness, and how he now sees the complexities and seriousness of this disease are amazing.

Blessings,

Emily

BRINGING LYME TO THE LIMELIGHT!

The Tribeca Film Festival is honoring UNDER OUR SKIN and the Lyme disease issue by hosting a special film presentation and "Behind the Screens" panel discussion with festival films representing "truth, clarity and responsibility." Only three films from the festival were chosen for this high-visibility event. UNDER OUR SKIN is one of these three films, and the only documentary.


Best-selling author Amy Tan will be part of the panel discussion, as well as the film's director Andy Abrahams Wilson and Lyme specialist Dr. Richard Horowitz. The discussion will be moderated by NBC Chief Health and Medical Correspondent Robert Bazell.

Sunday, April 27, 6:30PM
Directors Guild of America (DGA)
Theater110
West 57th Street (Between 6th & 7th Avenue)
New York City

Please don't miss this historic screening and panel discussion. The event may sell out, so be sure to purchase tickets in advance:


http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/filmguide/Under_Our_Skin.html

Lyme Log: Good News So Far...

Go Bicillin, Go! Kill the Lyme!


I love this cheer by my friend Marcy. I can just picture her with a set of pom poms! I'll remember to recite this in my head when I'm herxing.

I just wanted to 'report in' after my first shot.

I meant to report in immediately, as so many of you sent good thoughts and prayers and also were slightly on edge as to how I was doing, but I actually had a frantically busy and exciting week with no chance to blog. (Okay, 'busy' is a relative term in my world.)

I will say that all of your good thoughts must have worked. Thank you thank you thank you! I loved the emails that came WHILE I was at the doctor telling me you knew how many minutes it had been since my shot and you were sending good thoughts.

The first shot came and went without incident.

The nurses or my PCP checked in on me every 15 minutes to make sure I was still breathing, set me up with a call button, and placed me in an exam room right next to the nurses station. They were extremely vigilant!

I wore my Davidson Sweet Sixteen T-shirt for good luck, and was even placed in Room 8 (my favorite number).

I hope these are all good signs that this is the right path!

Other than a sore toosh afterwards, which was easily remedied with an ice pack while watching Oprah's Big Give, I haven't had any problems. Thankfully that Epi-pen remains unused!

I'm heading for my second shot today (Friday).

At this point I am not herxing. In fact I have had a few of the best days I have had in a long time and have just been soaking it all in. There are many, many possible reasons why I could feel so well right now and only time will tell and help us sort out the variables.

I am off of the minocycline, which perhaps my body is happy about. Perhaps the dose of bicillin was so small that my body is reacting as if I am not on antibiotics at all and is happy to have a break from the Lyme die-off. Perhaps the bicillin simply hasn't made it into my system enough yet. Perhaps the minocycline itself was making me sick rather than just the Lyme die-off.

I plan to stick with 1/4 of a dose for now until we see how it builds up in my body (since the medication stays in the body for a month).

During this week of some reprieve from my usual level of crappiness, I have been able to go see Hillary Clinton speak (a blog soon to follow with pictures I hope)--which was absolutely AMAZING. We've been immersed in the PA primaries with a volunteer staying here, Mom working like crazy as a volunteer at headquarters, and staying up late to watch the returns Tuesday night. We've had fun and joy and excitement in our home in a way we haven't had in a very long time.

Now, the adrenaline is starting to fade and we're all pooped!

Today, I go for a shot and only have to stay for 20 minutes under supervision.

Sorry to be so slow in getting this update out to all of you. Although, you have been a bit bombarded by blogs lately so the decrease in "blog pressure" on my end may be a good thing!

To all of you who have been emailing, calling, praying, and sending good thoughts...you lifted me up so much and got me through. Thank you. As I fight his battle against the Lyme (and say Marcy's little cheer) I must remember the words in the card my friend, Marla, sent me before my first shot: "Whatever happens hold on to these thoughts...You are stronger than you imagine, braver than you know...and cared about more than words could ever tell."

In fact, these are wise words for all of us.

Blessings,

Emily

Lyme Log: First Bicillin Shot Friday Morning

Well, here I go...embarking on my new Lyme treatment starting Friday morning at 8:30 am!

I wanted to send out a quick blog update because I really have no idea how I will react to treatment--whether I will be MIA or whether I will still be up to computer stuff. I, of course, way overestimated how many folks I would get to email and how many blogs I would get written before treatment started! Ah, the story of my life.

I've been fighting for two months to get this all in place. I'm still waiting for the last little piece to fall into place--hoping that the bicillin will actually arrive at the pharmacy Thursday morning so it will be there for me Friday!

The pharmacy ordered a brand of bicillin not covered by Medical Assistance, so they had to reorder a brand that MA would cover. Can I tell you how many calls I had to make between MA, the pharmacy and the doctor to figure this all out? Good grief. This is how the whole process has been for the past two months.

I started wondering if perhaps God was trying to tell me something--like, hey, don't do this treatment?!

I hope I have chosen the 'right path' for me by persisting and fighting for the bicillin shots.

Anyways, the scoop is that the shots will take place once a week as long as I am tolerating them. We will start with 1/4 of a dose (they come in already measured syringes with a full dose) and work up from there. Bicillin is basically a long-acting form of penicillin that is injected in the muscle. This method is more aggressive than oral antibiotics (which I am doing now), but less aggressive than IV antibiotics, which we know my body could not take. The other advantage is that with the injections, we bybass my stomach which has taken quite a beating from the minocycline. Bicillin stays in the body for about a month.

One other advantage is that I will get a shot, have time to 'dump' the Lyme toxins into my body and then hopefully have some time to detox a bit and clear out the toxins before the next shot. With the regimen I am on now, I am putting antibiotics in my body five times a week and I seem to herx continuosly and be unable to detox. Hopefully, with the bicillin shots being once a week I will have a little time to clear out the lyme die-off.

There are many, many different antibiotics used to treat Lyme. Some people even use a cocktail of different classes of antibiotics all at one time. I chose the bicillin based on talking to other people with Lyme and hearing personal experiences, as well as talking to my Lyme doctor. It's pretty much a crapshoot trying to find the antibiotic that will work for each individual patient!

I'll be camping out at the doctor's office from 8:30 am until about 10:30 am on Friday to make sure that I do not have any reactions or such (keep your fingers crossed, send good thoughts, say your prayers! :)) Thank goodness for iPods!

I will hopefully still be able to blog a bit after the injections start, but I just don't know! Although, Anne and Scott caught the most classic Freudian slip in my blog about the Herxheimer reaction. I wrote that a herx can cause a 'drop in blog pressure' instead of a 'drop in blood pressure'. Both Anne and Scott thought this was quite fitting--as they expect me to blog less and have less pressure to blog when I am herxing! I didn't even catch the typo until they pointed it out.

So, I'm trying to take the pressure off of myself to blog if my blood pressure is dropping...but I'll miss blogging for sure, and would certainly rather be blogging than herxing.

Thank you to all of you who have been my cheering squad through this all. Wow! Humbling. You've been so supportive. I have to laugh a bit though because so many folks have said they are really 'excited' for me about this new treatment. I have to admit that I'm feeling more terrified at the moment than excited!

I try not to ask for too much in the good thoughts/prayer department, but my new counselor says I need to put it out there. So, I guess I feel like I really have a lot riding on this next step-- whether we can find a treatment to work for me, one that I can tolerate, and one that can give me some quality of life back. I feel like I have a lot of my sense of hope riding on these little syringes ready to inject long-acting penicillin into my body.

Blessings and I'll be in touch via blog as I am able,

Emily

Easter At D and A's: Meet the Family

My stay at D and A's overlapped with Easter, which is the first holiday I have spent with the entire step-family since Christmas 2005--a pretty big deal! So, this is the first time I have ever posted any pictures on my blog from Dad and Abbie's house or of my step-family. I forgot to take a picture of the front of their house to go with the outdoor pics! Oh well, next time.

This top picture is of 'the whole crew'. I'm sitting on the floor with my step-sister, Meredith, (and Asher, of course). Dad and Abbie are in the middle. Meredith's husband, Jon, is on the right (and no, we can't ever get him to smile any other way). My step-sister, Monica, and her husband, Bill, are standing on the left-hand side of the photo.

Here is a photo of the step-siblings--Meredith, Monica, and me.

Abbie with all her girls! Meredith, Monica, Abbie and me. Oh, and Asher who is not a girl, but counts as a family member and really, really likes to have his picture taken (can you tell?)!

Another shot of the three step-sisters.

The funniest moment of Easter had to have been Asher's antics. Abbie and Meredith were cleaning up the dishes when suddenly we heard a very loud noise of clanging and clattering dishes. It turns out that while no one was paying attention, Asher must have decided to check out some of those tasty Easter dishes in the dishwasher. The only thing we can figure out is that when he backed away from the dishwasher, his collar or leash caught on the lower rack, he got startled, tried to get unstuck, and pulled the lower rack of dishes with him! Thankfully the only casualty was one broken plate, which can easily be replaced.

Blessings,

Emily

My Chariot Arrives

Not even snow could stop my chariot from arriving! :)

I was not kidding when I said that Dad was going to drive around to the back of the house to get me each day for lunch and dinner!

He does love his vehicle and it must be a Buick. I bet this day he had the seat warmer on for me too!

The neighbors must have thought we were crazy! Also, the grass wasn't too happy about all that driving on it!

Next time I stay there, maybe it will be warm enough for me to drive the tractor around the house?

Blessings,

Emily

Catching Up...

I have a LOT of catching up to do on my blog! So the next few blogs will hopefully bring you up to speed on recent (and not quite as recent) happenings! I'm still blogging about things in March. Oops.



I'm hoping to get caught up before I start my new treatment on Friday (prepare for the worst, hope for the best?)



Blessings,



Emily

At D and A's: The View

Aaah, nothing like the mountains and valleys of Pennsylvania.

Here are a few pictures of the view out at D and A's house. This first picture is of the golf course, which they can see from the backyard and living room. We had a couple of warm days (before the Easter snow!) and the golfers were already out!

Dad and Abbie have a ranch house which is built on a very sloped lot. So even though I was staying in the basement, this is still the view I had of the surroundings. The basement has sliding doors which open out on to a patio and in to the backyard. This picture is a more of a panoramic view (golf course on the right).

The ski slopes, as seen from their house. And, which I have never skied on in my life!

I love how quiet it is out where D and A live. I also love being able to see the mountains so well. Although, I don't like that all of the farmland around here is quickly disappearing in favor of new housing developments. Our house used to be surrounded by cornfields on all sides and our view of the mountains and sunsets unobstructed. I know, I know, I sound like a little old lady, but I really miss 'the way it was.'

Dad and Asher hanging out in the backyard. When Asher is lucky (and no other dogs or traffic are in sight) he gets to run loose in the yard, which he loves! And of course, he likes to leave his toy at the bottom of the sloped yard for Dad to go chasing after.

Blessings,

Emily

Lyme Log: What IS This Herx Thing?

What exactly is this herx and herxing I'm always talking about?

Last night, as I had a quick chat with my friend, Marla, and when the topic came up we both realized I had better just blog it baby!

Now is the perfect time to explain to you what this is, as I have the term on my mind a lot lately in anticipation of my new treatment which starts on Friday. I'm wondering how badly I will herx.

So here it is: Herx and herxing are just lingo or slang used by us Lymies in place of a much bigger term. I'm going to give a couple of definitions from my handy little book Coping with Lyme Disease: A Practical Guide to Dealing with Diagnosis and Treatment.

The Jarish-Herxheimer Reaction: Also called the Herxheimer Reaction. This typically refers to an exacerbation of symptoms or new onset of symptoms shortly after starting antibiotic therapy due to a flaring of the immune system in response to the killing of the spirochetes.

Now, I guess you'll be saying, "And what's a spirochete?"

Spirochete: A type of bacteria with a slender spiral shape.

Okay, are you following so far? Or have you fallen asleep already because it's still Monday and this is just too much for a Monday, for crying out loud!

Lyme itself is a bacteria shaped this way, so we often speak of the Lyme spirochete.

Now, a little bit more about a Herx and what happens to my poor body when I give it antibiotics. I really love this explanation from the book:

Many Lyme patients who are in the early disseminated stage and beyond will, once placed on antibiotics, experience a period of worsening symptoms--sometimes dramatically--soon after the antibiotic regimen has begun. This is called the Jarish-Herxheimer reaction and is not only to be expected but is actually a good sign that the drug is hitting its target.

. . . the Herxheimer reaction (as it is commonly called) occurs when the spirochete, attacked by the drug, gives off toxins and causes the immune system to overreact. It's as though a bomb were dropped on the spirochete, breaking it into ten pieces. Suddenly the body has to fight ten times as hard for a short period of time to eliminate it. There may be varying degrees of Herxheimer, with additional rashes, headaches, chills, fevers, and lowered blog pressure. This is a normal and expected reaction.

Got it? :)

For me, even baby, baby doses of antibiotics cause me to become very sick, which has been one of the signs that has kept us believing that I do indeed have Lyme, because other folks would not react this way to a small dose of an antibiotic. Think about how you take antibiotics for a sinus infection or strep throat and do not have a Herxheimer reaction.

Unfortunately, because my Lyme disease was left untreated and undiscovered for so long my body is like a factory for the Lyme spirochete. So, those bombs going off in my body? Well, that description couldn't be more right on.

Bottom line: I have to feel worse in order to (hopefully) feel better. That's the nature of the Lyme beast. That's what makes enduring the treatment so difficult--knowing how sick I will feel and having no idea how long I will have to do this before I see significant results (if ever). It becomes not only a physical battle but an emotional and spirtual one as well.

Because my Lyme Disease has manifested as Autonomic Nervous System dysfunction, my herxes tend to be filled with an exacerbation of all of the ANS symptoms I experience on a daily basis, such as pounding heart, tachycardia, sweats, shakes, nausea, tremulousness, shortness of breath/air hunger, near fainting and an inability to be upright at all.

I also experience extreme malaise, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, night sweats, etc. Sometimes I am so exhausted that I do sleep, while other times I feel too sick to sleep. Activities that are already a challenge for me such as being on the computer, concentrating, watching TV or listening to a book on CD become more difficult or impossible. Sometimes the most I can do to get through is listen to some quiet, soothing music. I am also always a beautiful shade of ghostly white, but when I'm really sick my pallor changes to a nice ashen color! Beautiful!

So what exactly is malaise?

Malaise: A feeling of general discomfort or uneasiness, an out-of sorts feeling, often the first indication of an infection or other disease.

The difficult balance is to treat the Lyme disease aggressively enough to 'beat' the spirochetes, but not to make me so sick that I end up in the ER calling 911 like I did the first time I tried antibiotics and increased too quickly! It's been an extremely difficult balance to strike!

I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion. These two illnesses of mine are a complicated and crazy world! In the past few months I have heard the words: Complex, Complicated, and Challenging to describe my case more times than I care to count! And those three C's aren't for taking my CCCs to become a speech pathologist, Marla! :)

I also want to clarify one point that seems to cause confusion (especially to for Dad!). We are operating under the assumption that my Autonomic Nervous System Dysfunction was/is caused by Chronic Lyme Disease.

This is why, over the past couple of years my treatment has focused more on antibiotics than finding medications to treat the ANS problems. We are trying as much as possible to control the ANS problems, but since most available treatments have failed for me we hope that as we kill off the Lyme raging in my body, improvement in ANS symptoms will follow.

That's the plan that we're sticking with for now. And now you know all the lingo.

Congratulations! You are now an expert in Lyme and ANS Dysfunction! (Well, not quite, but you're on your way!)

Blessings and Happy Monday!

Emily

A Triumph: Itzhak Perlman in Concert

"His presence on stage, on camera, and in personal appearances of all kinds speaks eloquently on behalf of the physically challenged, and his devotion to their cause is an integral part of his life."

--From the biographical information on Itzhak Perlman in the concert program--

Triumphant. I cannot think of any other word to describe how I feel about having made an outing to see violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianist Rohan De Silva in concert April 1st.

I wish I had been given the energy to write this blog sooner--when the triumph felt fresher. Oh how quickly the triumph seems to fade when I become absorbed again in the daily medical grind. Perhaps just writing about it now will summon up the feelings again. For those two hours, even though I didn't feel 'well', I felt that I had taken just a little time out from being sick. I tried to let myself be transported out of my world and into the world of Perlman's musicianship.

Amazing, amazing, amazing is all I can keep saying about Perlman. I felt honored to be in the presence of such a master of the violin and musical genius. I felt honored to be in the presence of a person with a disability who does not hide behind it. I felt triumphant that I went to the concert. I felt in awe of hearing music performed live again. I forgot how different it sounds when not played through stereo speakers! I felt proud of myself for asking for the accommodations needed to go to the concert. I felt overwhelmed that my body cooperated just long enough for me to go to the concert. I felt humbled by the efforts of the staff to make this concert accessible for me.

With much encouragement from friends, I called the accessibility manager and worked out all of my needs in advance. After 10 years of being sick I finally asked my doctor for a handicapped parking placard. After all of these years shouldn't I be used to 'being sick' or 'being a person with a disability'? Yes, maybe. But I'm not. And asking for what I need and accepting the truth is still difficult. I'm trying to view the parking pass in a new light--The Golden Parking Pass--as Jeannine calls it.

The accessibility manager was incredible. Lisa offered to do anything, and I mean just about anything, to make it possible for me to attend this concert. Mom took my fold up reclining chair to the theatre ahead of time, and when I arrived at the concert--there it was all set up for me! I even had my own 'private potty' in the tech room that I'm not supposed to tell anyone about! :) (So I didn't tell you!). After the concert Mom made a quick run to the car, while the staff waited for her phone call that she was parked out front. They carried my chair and all of my pillows out the car for me! I was able to do the short walk in and out of the theatre which was really exciting. The next day after the concert, Lisa called to see how I was feeling and to tell me to keep in touch so that I could come to future performances.

The biggest bummer was that I couldn't see a whole heck of a lot from the reclining position. But, I could listen. And that was amazing enough for me. I could see a lot of the head of the person in front of me and as much of the ceiling as I wanted to, but not too much of Itzhak. (I'm used to staring at the ceiling anyways!). We did bring our opera glasses, so I sat up a couple of times so that I could see Perlman and his joyful way of performing music. All of the handicapped seating is in the very back of the theatre so it's a LONG way to the stage! I felt bad for Mom having to sit so far back because of me, but she didn't mind. Plus, the handicapped seats are half-price! :) As always, Mom goes above and beyond to make these things possible for me.

Sometimes, after years of asking for what I need and the sting of being treated unkindly so many times, it's difficult for me to ask for what I need. And it's still difficult for me to feel or look 'different'. Somehow, this night I did not care. Seeing Perlman in concert beat worrying about any of those things. The whole time I was at the concert I just kept thinking, "Am I really here? Have I really just done this?"

Even though I had hoped my new Lyme treatment would have started sooner, I feel that perhaps I was given the gifts of this concert, being able to watch the Davidson basketball games, and staying over at Dad and Abbie's house for a week in preparation for this next step. I'll have these 'good things' to hold on to when I'm herxing again.

I hope last week's experience will give me the courage to try again to attend another performance. At intermission, when I told Lisa I couldn't see the stage, she said, "Well, just give us the dimensions of your chair and we'll build you a little platform to put it on. Then you'll be able to see." If that's not above and beyond the call of duty, I don't know what is!

Yesterday, our neighbor, Scott, (Miss Alexandra's dad!) stopped over to say "Happy half-birthday!" I said, "It's my half birthday? Do we celebrate those?" I knew he must have something up his sleeve! He said had been listening to NPR and he had just happened to stop over at the office and pick something up for me. It was a CD of Itzhak Perlman and Oscar Peterson called Side by Side with...drum roll please...Itzhak Perlman's autograph! (This was one of the gifts out local station was giving out as part of the spring fundraising drive.) I'm still completely overwhelmed by this gesture and the thoughtfulness this family continues to give me. Last night I played the CD through more than two times. The 'lift' couldn't have come on a better day--and listening to the CD was a way to remember that people are 'in my court' AND that I saw this performer in concert.

Now, I will always have this 'little something' to remind me of this amazing artist and of what became to me, a triumph on so many levels.

I only told a couple of people ahead of time that I had bought tickets for the concert because I couldn't face not only how I would feel if I had been to sick to go to the concert, but then telling folks it hadn't worked out. So, I'm very excited to tell you all now that I did it!!!!

Time to listen to my new CD again. And program my alarm to wake up to one of the tracks on it!

Blessings,

Emily

Lyme Log: Hurray! I Passed the First Test for Penicillin!

Hello All!



Thank you so much for your good thoughts and prayers. I think they worked, even if the blog got sent out through Feedburner after the appointment! :)



So, we headed out of town on Monday with the handy GPS system to 'help us out'.



I was negative for penicillin allergy on the skin testing.


I am now doing the 5 day 'oral challenge', which involves taking itsy-bitsy amounts of penicillin over a 5 day period. Yesterday, I took 'a few grains' of penicillin three times a day. To do this Mom was in the kitchen crushing the pill with a rolling pin! Thank you Scott for the last of your wonderful applesauce we had in the freezer to use for just this purpose--taking grains of penicillin!



Today, I'll take 'a pinch' three times a day, then 1/3 of a pill, then 1/2 of a pill, and then finally a whole pill by Day 5.



I'm just watching for a rash and if all is clear after five days, I will get my first bicillin shot next week.



Finally, it seems our plans to try this antibiotic are on the right track, after a few monkey wrenches have been thrown in along the way!



By the way, that GPS system? Oh good grief. Not excactly a smashing success. I got so many laughs, though, when three women friends told me how much their husbands just love their GPS systems.

I still think I'm in favor of a plain old map. That and following the BIG BLUE signs that say 'H' for Hospital! We're looking right at the signs that say 'H' with an arrow pointing straight ahead and the GPS system is saying 'Turn Left on Poplar Street' or some such thing. When we didn't turn left where it told us to go it kept saying, "Recalculating" and then sending us on some other ridiculous route.

Oh well. I'll let Dad try to calibrate his GPS system for the next trip. I'm just very pleased that it looks like, medically, we're finally getting things moving.

Blessings,

Emily

Lyme Log: Good Thoughts for Penicllin Testing

Tomorrow (Monday), Dad and I are heading down to a larger medical center so that I can get allergy testing done for penicillin.

For some reason, most allergists have done away with allergy testing for penicillin so we have to travel somewhere that has the 'magic ingredient' needed. Oh, and I get to be in pediatrics--which always cracks me up. Why do they always stick me there?

By the time most of you read this blog, I will probably be home from my appointment (which is at noon), but I really feel the need to write tonight and ask for your good thoughts no matter what time of you read this blog.

I have a lot riding on this test little bitty test.

Last time I wrote a 'Lyme Log' (March 4th) I was waiting to figure out the next step in treatment, since the current plan is not working very well. I don't have the energy or strength right now to catch you up to speed on what has taken place since that last blog entry...but what a rigmarole the whole thing has been! Most all of my energy has been going into trying to get this new plan into place.

My hope is to be able to get bicillin injections to treat the Lyme. If I test positive for allergy to penicillin, our best laid plans will fall through and we'll be back to square one trying to find a new treatment plan. I am trying not to even let my thoughts go there. If you hear a very loud scream coming from the direction of PA tomorrow afternoon you will know it is me, and I've tested positive for penicillin allergy!

So I figured it couldn't hurt to ask for some good thoughts to be sent my way that things will work out as they are meant to; that whatever happens will be for my highest and best; that whatever the outcome I'll be able to pull it together to take the next step.

I think Dad is most looking forward to using his new GPS system. I know he really wanted to surprise me with his new toy when he showed up at the house tomorrow morning to pick me up, but he's terrible at trying to disguise these things. He kept asking for the address so he could print directions--which he never does and Mom always takes care of for him--so I knew something was up. I called him back and said, "You just wanted the address because you got a new GPS system didn't you?" I ruined his surprise though. He's a terrible lier and so am I--so I guess I know where I got it from!

I mean really, what a great way to get men to ask for directions. Invent a gadget for them to buy. Suddenly, asking for directions is cool!

At least I know we'll get where we're supposed to be going (even though we've been there a zillion times before--best to test out this new toy on a route we know!).

Blessings and thanks for your good thoughts,

Emily