If you missed Part 1, you can read it here.
It was a few days later that John came home from a bike ride and he had a red mark on his arm. I asked what that was and he said he must have gotten bit by something.
A few days after that, while cutting his hair (yes, he cuts his own hair) and looking at the back of his hair with a hand held mirror he saw something on his back and asked me to come look at it. He had two large, circular rashes that were warm to the touch.
Again, I suggested a visit to the doctor and again, he said he didn’t need to go. After all, he wasn’t sick enough to miss work and he wasn’t running a fever. UGH!!
The internet can be a useful tool for a lot of things. I was researching fever + rash + fatigue, then fever + rash, and every other combination of symptoms. Meningitis, fibromyalgia, lupus and all kinds of other things came up, but for one reason or another I felt sure whatever was wrong with John was NOT what I was finding.
Did I mention that I was praying? Desperately for his health and healing? Remember, he NEVER complains, NEVER gets sick and I was worried.
Finally, HE decides after his internet research that the rashes were heat rash! I felt certain they were not, but I went with the calamine lotion treatment anyway.
The evening of July 5th, almost one month after his first symptom, he asked me to make him an appointment with our doctor. I knew the doctor was out of town, so he asked that I make him an appointment for the next week. We were supposed to leave on vacation on Sunday, July 15th and he wanted to feel better before we left. On Friday morning, July 6th, after another night of not sleeping more than an hour or two at a time, he woke up and told me that he couldn’t wait. Would I please try to get him an appointment ASAP?
As soon as the office opened, I called. While trying to describe his symptoms, I began to cry. I KNEW he was sick and I desperately wanted help.
The receptionist put me on hold. She came back in a few minutes and asked how quickly I could be there. I told her. I asked what doctor we were going to see. She replied, “We have no idea, but we will work him in.”
I was scared, but I didn’t really know why.
I called John, got dressed, picked him up at his office and 40 minutes later we were sitting in an exam room. In a few minutes, an intern arrived and began asking questions.
After a lengthy interview, the intern left and returned with a doctor. It was determined that John had Lyme disease and it was in the early stages due to his classic symptoms. He had the bull’s eye rash, but we did not know that was a symptom of Lyme…if we had known that, we would have sought medical attention earlier!
I’ll share more tomorrow.
Chatter