Post Surgery Check Up, Non Lyme Friendly PCP

Yesterday I went for my post surgery check ups. First up to bat was my PCP. Believe me, I wish I had a bat. She was bent nosed about the fact that I was feeling better from the gall bladder removal. She was the one who thought it was indigestion, I told her it was worse than that, hmm. The patient is ALWAYS right. The first thing she said upon entering the room was 'So, you're all better now?' with more sarcasm than I could believe. So I responded with how my stomach was feeling a lot better, virtually no pain. Told her that I came off of the Yaz because it was causing severe suicidal type depression and anxiety and not helping the cramps or acne or cyst pain. Instead I just bled every two weeks. She didn't have any comment about that. Then I told her about my heart rate averaging about 120 and 100 at rest. Informed her that I started adrenal supplement to help with tachycardia symptoms and fatigue. She responded with 'So you're just adding another medicine then?'

With all the patience in the world I tried to ignore the comments and sarcasm, in her tone of voice, and asked if she knew anything further about disability. Our meeting ended with her replying that she knew nothing about disability or the prerequisites for applying and she didn't think I needed disability, and instead I need to just 'get up and do schoolwork' because that will make it all better. Supposedly I don't need to drive or be on car insurance either, because it's not anything of concern to her that I wouldn't make it to half my appointments without my license. General consensus, she does NOT understand, wants nothing to do with the Lyme, does not believe I need disability, and treats me like a psychopath when my mother is not at the appointment.

My appointment with the surgeon went great though! Tajammul Shafique is by far the best doctor I have ever seen in my entire life. The nurse got me flowers and they all talked to me like they were my best friends! Dr. Shafique agreed that the surgery appears to have been a success and I don't need to return for any more appointments. For anyone that needs a surgeon: Dr. Shafique through LRGH in Laconia, NH or Gilford, NH Is the way to go! He revived the medical field in my eyes after a rough morning with a non friendly doctor.

Post Surgery Recovery, Lyme Symptoms After Clindamycin

The count up is in full swing. Today is 12 days post surgery, and this post will be a full blown analysis of my symptoms. Too many people have asked how the surgery has affected my Lyme symptoms and vice versa, and I'd like to quench everyone's thirst for more answers. Surgery is a traumatic experience for the body, nervous system and immune system. There's many characteristics of me being someone with auto immune dysfunction that affect my recovery. First of all, I'm on an IV medication that's trying to treat my symptoms of fatigue, depression, anxiety, joint pain, muscle spasms and weakness, headaches, hot and cold flashes/sweats, insomnia, light and sound sensitivity, and so much more. Charting my progression of those symptoms is more difficult over the course of my first month of this treatment when you are adding digestion irritation from pain killers, fatigue from the narcotics and trauma induced with surgery, and of course worsened headaches from stomach pain, fatigue, narcotics, etc. It's a snowball effect caused by the initial problem, the tick borne illnesses! My gall bladder probably worked fine before Lyme and Bartonella's treatment of Rocephin through IV clogged it up. I may have never needed surgery to remove it if I hadn't introduced Rocephin due to the Lyme. What a cycle.

Another thing to keep in mind is that I have experienced prolonged adhesive sensitivity since the IV treatment. I could have had it sooner and just not noticed until my skin was red and itchy from the IV dressing. I have since used an IV 3000 dressing to reduce the allergy and been fine in the Picc Line area. However, the band aids and dressings for the stomach incisions caused worse pain and irritation than the incision itself did. What a mess! Below is a picture of the four incisions, three of them surrounded by bright red almost welted skin where the adhesive touched. As of today I decided to not use any band aids to reduce those problems. In a week I'll get another picture of my stomach and how the scars are coming along.

On top of all that I have been found to scar hypertrophically, an uncommon way that the body can scar for some people where the skin over the scar is raised and red and firm unless manually softened with therapy and vitamin E based applications. Hyper trophic scars are not common for everyone, but are similar to scar tissue build up that can cause nerve pain and experienced by many Lyme patients whose immune system is affected. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertrophic_scar)

Last but certainly not least is the risk after surgery of infection that can be fatal, thanks to the low immune system Lyme gives somebody. I was concerned about this but seeing as they glued my incision closed and I didn't get the dressing wet enough to change it every day, It lessened exposure to the air and I have been able to keep the stomach clean and dry. There is a little bruising near my belly button but it's looking good and smooth. As far as the Bartonella and Lyme symptoms go, I slept literally all day yesterday and caught up on much needed rest from the past two weeks of stress on my body. Today I am more energized and appreciating my sublingual b-12 in 5,000 mg tabs That significantly increase my general well feeling. I have rested, made sure to keep up with my medicines, and taken magnesium and b12 daily. Those are the only two natural supplements that I notice a difference with. I sleep better, wake up happier, have more energy, fight less depression, and feel lighter. On the Clindamycin, I have recognized a noticeably clearer ability to process, think, and concentrate. I am still working on the memory and motivation, but that will take time and rest. I have started reading more to wake my brain back up and we are looking into a tutor to generalize my needs and get my education back on track. We are also probably applying to disability since I can't work and do school and get better. I'm just not a super woman yet.

Surgery Recovery and Response to Clindamycin (First month)

It's four days after surgery and I'm on zero pain killers. My head hurts and my stomach is aching with sharp radiating pains, but it's not any worse than other pains and being on narcotics is bad for your stomach and causes additional problems so I'd rather tough it out from here. I had a rough nights sleep last night on no medicine but part of that was due to being stressed out because of a relationship upset. Yes, I'm a regular teenager with average relationship struggles that come and go and sometimes can't be overcome and can end a great thing at a not so great time. On the day of the surgery I came home before 3 pm and was on Tylenol Codine and ibuprofen and whatever else they gave me through IV. I got to lay in my comfy bed and be in great pain. The next day I rested and spent time with Mike. I was in so much pain that he had to do pretty much everything for me including sitting me up since my abs hurt so bad, and feeding me. I couldn't cough, standing up caused me to be in so much pain while my stomach adjusted that I couldn't breath, and my abdomen was full of carbon dioxide from the laparoscopic surgery. There is four incision and one big one along the bottom of my belly button which makes five (there are two in my belly button I believe). Today I am feeling much better, my head is killing me and my stomach hurts worse when I move but in general I am much better than the past few days and I am happy for that. I see my Lyme doctor on Wednesday to discuss how the clindamycin is working through IV. I believe it has reduced headaches and brain fog and maybe even generalized pain, but I need more time to figure it out. Hopefully he won't change it for another month. Next post, on the new car!
Surgery:

Sudden Onset of Abdominal Pain

Two weeks ago, and I may or may not have posted about this, I was stricken with sudden upper abdominal pain. It grew to the point where I couldn't breathe and stretched the width of my rib cage right beneath my ribs. I have felt a lot of pain in life, with the surgeries and ovarian cysts and all, but I thought that was the worst pain you could possibly feel. My PCP didn't take it seriously as it had passed after about 3 hours and said it could just be an upset stomach. With great frustration I got an ultrasound the next morning and was told that if there was anything on it, we would get a call within 24 hours. A week and half later I assumed it was clear and all was fine. Then I tried to go to bed last night, like any regular night, and it started again. After 35 minutes of it getting worse and worse to the point I could not breathe but a small gasp and I was dizzied with pain worse than the last 'episode'. I finally gathered my pride and woke my mother to beg her to haul me to the ER. We tried to avoid it at all costs but there was no way I could survive any longer, the whole car ride filled with constant moaning and wreathing in pain. I told her to just shoot me and get it over with. Basically the doctor said the ultrasound read that there were gall stones. After doing blood work and a urine test, they sent me home with pain medicine, anti nausea pills, and a puke bucket, and told us to contact my PCP again. This morning I was not able to sleep after getting home at 6 AM, and instead spent the two hours vomiting my brains out in a pink tub on the floor. We rushed to the doctors office to be sent home yet again in no rush. Obviously these doctors have not had gall bladder problems, if this is even gall bladder. I get another ultrasound tomorrow morning and meet with a surgeon on Friday. Hopefully we can get some answers and figure it all out before the end of next week. My birthday is tomorrow and I will be spending it getting up early and being in pain at the hospital getting an ultrasound for the morning. Oh joy, the life of a Lymie.

Trying a New Oral Contraceptive

The last birth control I was on was for the ovarian cysts. This time around we are trying a contraceptive called Seasonique which stops the cycle and would treat the symptoms and pain of endometriosis. Hopefully this will work better than the last one. My ultrasounds have all been clear and not found any evidence of cysts since the initial cyst and surgery. We just are at the last rope and thinking maybe some endometrio cells escaped from the surgery or maybe the Lyme has caused my womanly parts to form endometriosis from all the inflammation and cysts. Therefor I would have pain all the time like I do, and some cysts like I have had, and a contraceptive that stops the cycle for 3 months should help. Now its just a waiting game to see if it works.

Ovarian Cysts

Through the ski season I felt a strong rib pain that i thought was fr4om a tumble I took at a race practice the week before. It turned out this 'rib pain' that we thought was a fracture, then pleurisy, was actually a tennis ball sized (6 cm) ovarian cyst on my right ovary. It was large enough that it led me to the ER, thinking it was appendicitis, and then shocked an ultrasound technician when we discovered it was offsetting my uterus. In early February I went in for a laparoscopic cystectomy to remove the cyst. Everything seemed alright and the GYN said my ovary should be fine. In two weeks I was cleared to do whatever I wanted and had the stitches taken out, and I returned to school the following Monday. After taking it slow for awhile i was able to go skiing and my abs started feeling 100% again. I have three small incisions, one invisible one in my bellybutton, one on my lower left side along the pant line that might be the only visible one, and one in the center on the bikini line. The surgery may have been small, but was still a surgery, and threw my whole body off. I suffered with pain for a little while, and dealt with nausea and swelling at the site of the surgery. After the two week mark I tried to return to school once but couldn't make it and instead waited until the following Monday so I had the weekend to rest. I suffered with a lot of bleeding after the actual surgery, but it went away within a week and I was only left with cramps. A month later I had the worst period cramps ever, but they were followed with 7 days of heavy bleeding and then they cleared up after that. You may be asking why mine was removed when most people's burst or are reabsorbed. Mine had plagued me with symptoms for two months, was fairly large, and keeping me from school. Therefor we decided not to take the step of waiting to see if it would reabsorb. I thought I felt multiple cysts since then, and upon returning to the GYN we decided it could have been, but since she did an ultrasound and didn't see anything more, we would keep an eye on it. An option for me would be to go on birth control because it helps reabsorb cysts and reduce how many arrive. However, birth control and antibiotics both reduce each other's effectiveness and we decided instead of throwing my body off, we would treat the Lyme and put my on a diet. A few natural things we are now going to try to keep the cysts at bay- keep my weight in the lower range of my BMI, apply progesterone cream to my inner forearms mid-cycle to assist with hormone regulation, reduce caffeine, sugars, lactose, and increase exercise. We shall see overtime how this will work.