For the past few days I’ve really been feeling pretty awful: achy bones, a headache, general malaise… you get the picture. Last night I woke up and was freezing, so I piled on the blankets and took my temperature when I woke up in the morning. It was around 102 F. I figured I had the flu and took a couple Advil and tried to just suck it up. Well, when I got out of the shower, I noticed that a “splotch” in my bikini area that I thought was just an ingrown hair seemed to have an outer ring surrounding it. I asked Drew to confirm it and he also thought it looked like a bullseye rash.
Fan-freaking-tastic. Anyone in the Northeast knows what that means. (Sorry, I am not so sure of how common it is elsewhere in the country.)
Now, for a variety of reasons (general good health and laziness, mostly), I don’t have a PCP. I don’t particularly like doctors and really have not needed one. Today I realized that these lovely doctors, who are supposed to care for people, won’t even see you if you are not an “established patient.” What BS. I’m telling you, my opinion of the medical industry just gets lower and lower. After freaking out and crying for a while, I remembered that there is a clinic maybe 5 miles down the road and wondered if, perchance, I might be seen there. I called at 9:30 and they told me to come by 10:30. Everyone there was so nice and just shook their heads when I told them what I’d gone through this morning. No one made me feel bad that I didn’t have a primary care doctor, no one lectured me. Both the nurse and nurse practitioner that I saw were so pleasant and took their time. I didn’t get rushed at all, and considering how worked up I was already, I really appreciated this.
As I explained my symptoms she said it sure sounded like Lyme Disease and once she took a look at the rash she said that because the bullseye was so large, she didn’t even need to do bloodwork — it was a “classic, textbook case.” (Well, I guess if I’m going to have Lyme Disease, I might as well do it right!) She wrote me out a prescription for an antibiotic and I went home, had a quick bite to eat and ran down to get it filled.
Ugh! I can’t believe I have freaking Lyme Disease! I know I’ve been bitten by two ticks, and it’s very common in this area so it’s not really a surprise. I was telling Lisanne how I’ve noticed the ticks are really bad this year. The nurse practitioner has had it three times, herself over the last several years. So I’ll be on the antibiotics for 21 days and I have to be extra careful in the sun because the meds increase sun sensitivity. Not like I’ll be wanting to spend too much time outdoors anyway 🙁 She also said that I might very well feel worse before I feel better, so that was good to know. Plus, I can’t have dairy products within 2 hours of taking my pill. I’ll have to be very vigilant about that.
On the positive side, I caught it early, which is key. I’ll just have to lay low for the next week or two and allow myself to get better. I also was sure to express my appreciation for the people at Healthquest. They are what doctors and nurses should be. Needless to say I won’t be doing anything crazy for the holiday weekend. We’re celebrating Drew’s Aunt’s birthday tomorrow, so hopefully that means I’ll have extra help keeping the boys in line and I can relax.
As if I wasn’t already obessed with checking the boys for ticks, I’m going to doing even more thorough checks. Hopefully the odds are stacked up in their favor since I’m the one who has it. It really sucks for me, so I can only imagine how much it would suck for a little kid. (I am sure Lisanne can relate — now I know what Luke was going through!).
Anyway, go set off some fireworks for me, okay?
