Bother. I pulled a flat Lone Star tick off my right shin on Friday evening June 23rd. As it was not a black legged tick I wasn’t too concerned. Monday I spent over 2 hours in robocall hell trying to reach my doc for some doxycyclone. I even took a photo of the oozing pea sized ulceration in the middle of a large red raised rash & sent it in on MyChart (where they assert I will receive a reply in 2 business days, obviously utter bullshite as it is now July 15…)

Tuesday I tried again, finally getting thru after another frustrating couple hours on the phone. By now I was taking an aspirin each morning for headache & low grade fever. Scored a telehealth meeting that afternoon with Josh Greenhoe who sent a script for 3 weeks of doxy.

Wednesday morning I went for my usual 2 mile walk over at the high school track thinking it would loosen up the mild stiffness in my knees. I felt good after the first lap and stretching so I tried a gentle jog for a quarter lap, walk the rest, repeat 3x.

Thursday my knees both ached so I did stretching, ice, heat. Friday a tried to walk again but it hurt too much. I thought perhaps the high, stiff arch support that helps prevent a return of plantar fasciitis was perhaps not good for jogging so off we went Saturday to Ragged Mountain running shop for new inserts & shoes!

Sadly this was not the solution I had hoped it would be. I’ve had lymes several times but doxy usually knocks it down very quickly. This is tick borne clearly, but not lymes. However I started the regime which helped me kick long lymes just to be safe: resverstrol, garlic, immune tincture, and the expensive anti-inflams (SPM Active).

On July 13 we had an emergency meeting with a PA in my docs office. This was 20 days after the tick bite and after 2 weeks on docy – my headache, lowgrade fever, exhaustion and knees were no better. In fact my knees were now too painful to walk on so each day I pulled myself upstairs where I slept in the recliner, only rising to go to the bathroom.

She switched the antibiotic from doxy to augmentin (2 weeks) and gave me a referral to UVA’s Infectious Disease group.

On the 17th, after a week of complete rest in the recliner, too exhausted to do anything, things took a turn for the worse. Crushing chest pain, nausea, stabbing pain to shoulder blade & up neck… Off to North Garden to catch a ride in the ambulence to UVA ER. They did blood work & EKGs & such. No sign of heart attack – yay! Got home shortly before midnight.

Meanwhile West Hills was pressuring me to move Til to a mem care facility. I contacted her west coast friends for consultation & Lorene (former assisted living director) said she would assess Til and talk to West Hills.

The 19th my legs were covered with small hard blisters, a mysterious rash that spontaneously burst and oozed after my shower. If it ain’t one thing…

A month after this began I finally began to feel human. Thursday the 20th I stayed awake all day! Friday I swept, dusted, did the dishes & cleaned the kitchen. I rested a lot while doing it, but stayed awake and got it done! Saturday we went to the downtown mall for lunch(!) & Sunday I walked Rex for a bit.

Tuesday I have a cardiologist appt at UVA. Still hoping for the infectious disease meeting. But I think I have turned the corner!

It wasn’t ALL bad news tho – some great things happened during my “lost” month! Juan rebuilt the slate steps which had turned into a treacherous slippery slide. They look fabulous now! And Tavish’s portrait as a Scottish Highlander turned out wonderfully!

Fun Stuff:

Finally, with a video of a super sloooow moving turtle the National Park Service once again struts their stuff!