For nearly two weeks, I have felt great. In fact, the past four or five days, I have felt normal. As in before Lyme normal. It has been absolutely amazing. I haven’t really even said anything to anyone because I didn’t want to jinx myself with it. But it has been really great to get a glimpse back at what normal is.

Many times when I would go to the doctor for check-ups, she would ask me how I felt as a percentage in relation to how I was before I got sick. And I would always come up with some random number. But I felt like I didn’t really know what normal was anymore so it was hard for me to judge.

Now I remember. And when you feel good again, even if it’s for a short bit, you realize just how bad you actually felt before. And it was bad.

Yesterday, I didn’t feel quite as great. Not bad, but not as good as I had been feeling. Today, it hit me full force again. The brain fog came rolling back in and the headaches started again. It has been quite some time since I’ve had a headache. Before my treatment started, I was having headaches daily every afternoon without fail. So that is certainly an unwelcome return.

I’m hoping it’s just a fluke with today because this isn’t even going along with the cycle of my period (I’m on day 17 of my cycle). So I don’t really know what is going on but I’m hoping for the best. I don’t go back to see my Lyme doc until the first week of May.

Fingers crossed….

Even after finding out last week that someone stole my social security number to file their taxes, I’m still feeling pretty good! I mean, what can you do? I followed all of the steps for identity theft and now I just wait. Getting upset won’t accomplish anything and is just more likely to make my Lyme flare-up so I’m trying to stay calm about it. I’m almost scared to throw this out into the universe but how much more can be piled on me?!

I’ve been without my PICC for right at a week now and it feels SO GOOD! After a lot of finagling and phone calls last Tuesday, I finally was able to get the nurse out here to pull it for me on Tuesday night. I was really nervous about having it taken out but it was no big deal. So we took a nice little picture of me holding the line (with my arms outstretched – it was long!!) and said goodbye to that thing for good!

I had to leave it bandaged up for two more days after it came out since I was going to be flying. They were a little concerned about the air pressure on the plane and then of course all of the germs. So I kept it covered while I was gone.

It was funny though what I did. While the PICC was in, I didn’t get it wet a single time. A lot of people take chances with it by covering it with saran wrap and taking a shower. I was too scared to do that so I always took a bath with my arm propped up on the side of the tub. My left arm was washed with baby wipes for 12 weeks!

When I was in the hotel when I was out of town, I climbed into the bathtub and the first thing I did was stick my left arm under the water. It still had the bandage on it and I kind of freaked when I did it. Luckily I had another bandage so I just switched it out. The only thing I can think is that the tub was reversed from the one in our bathroom so instead of my left arm being up against the wall, it was towards the bathroom. I couldn’t believe I did it though!

It was SO nice to be able to take a shower and wash my own hair! I have tried not to claw at my skin too badly. It is still very irritated from the adhesive and I bet it’s going to be red for a while.

But overall, I actually feel good. It scares me a little bit to say that because I’m kind of waiting for the bottom to drop out. For about two days after I started the Doxy and the PICC was stopped, I felt about 50% of “Lyme normal”, not “normal, normal” if that makes sense to anyone but me?! But then it was like everything just started looking up.

And my boss agreed to buy me an air purifier for my desk so it is on order now too. I’m hoping that will help, even if it’s just a placebo effect with it!

I’m hoping I have turned the corner and this is the beginning of very good things!

So back to the Lyme doctor today. She said I was only her second patient to lose their gallbladder during treatment. Not exactly the kind of record I want to set! She also said I’m her ONLY patient to not have neurological symptoms clear on 12 weeks of Rocephin. Lovely.

Why do I always have to be the person who is outside the norm?

I did tell her that my head was very clear in the hospital after surgery so she said maybe it was due to the stress dose of the cortisol for my adrenals. She thinks it’s possible that my adrenals are playing a bigger role in making me feel badly. Maybe she’s right but sometimes I think she’s just trying to find an excuse! But I get all of the results from that soon (they’re suppose to be in the mail) so we’ll see what they say.

Regardless, my PICC line comes out next Tuesday. I will do my last treatment on Monday and then the home health nurse can come by to pull it out on Tuesday. I will be so happy to have this thing out of my arm. For one, I want to be able to take a shower again and wash my own hair! And two, I want to just sit there and scratch my arms for hours! haha

After the PICC comes out, I go back on Doxycycline and I can expect to be on it for three to six months before she tapers me off. We are going to start at 200mg and see what happens. She told me to expect to feel badly for the first week or so after the PICC comes out because of coming off of that medication and starting another so I’m bracing for that.

She also wants me to continue with B12 shots weekly and add Ginseng and Gingko Biloba as well as doubling my CoQ10. So another trip to the vitamin shoppe. They should put up a statue in my honor in that place!!

I don’t go back to see her for a month so it will be nice to have a little break from the doctor’s visits!