What a Day! 3/25/10

It has been quite a day and I am exhausted but I wanted to update what happened with our appointment today.  Though it was a long day, it was a day filled with answered prayer.  From the moment we got up things went smoothly.  I was talking with a friend yesterday and she said she would be praying at 9 this morning and the thought occurred that I needed her to start praying earlier than that.  How many times have we gotten up with an important appointment (not all doctors but others as well) and satan thwarts things before we even get there with the alarm not going off, or not being able to get everyone out the door smoothly with food and clothes, and then traffic where no one is going fast enough for you because you are now running late.  Not this morning.  My husband was even awake with the shower warming up and the bathroom light blaring into the bedroom....all before my alarm went off.  Oh, I wanted those last few precious moments of sleep, but I was impressed.  We were out the door a few minutes before 7 and on our way to my mother-in-laws to drop the kiddos off.  We ran into traffic but ended up at the doctor's office 35 minutes early.  All this without tension or tense words.  Granted, my fabulous mother-in-law said to bring the girls in their pj's and don't worry about feeding them, she would.  Still answered prayer in my book.
We were called back to the examination room and I am looking around trying to figure out who Dr. Salvato was.  I saw a woman not in scrubs and figured it had to be her but my first impression was, "she looks too serious, cold and not at all passionate even for 9 in the morning."  I was given my orders to put on one of those fashionable gowns I have sported too many times, and I sat there with my mind racing.  I bowed my head and began to pray and I found myself praying that Dr. Salvato would be compassionate, warm, kind, understanding.  I had already prayed the night before for God to prepare her for our visit.  I continued to pray for the holy spirit to sweep that building and give everyone clarity of mind like they had never experienced.  I prayed for wisdom and discernment and I prayed God would give me and Chris the words to say and to help me remember what I needed to and be able to communicate it how I needed to.
The first lady that came into the room was Dr. Salvato's nurse practioner...this was the lady I saw in the hallway and my first impressions were so wrong.  She was kind and compassionate and thorough but quick.  In less than 15 minutes I had a chest x-ray and an EKG done and was then sitting in a conference room waiting to speak to Dr. Salvato herself.  There on the walls were all these plaques and certificates and awards and a ton of books.  We read where she went to school and saw pictures of who she knew and then my eyes hit a big crystal award with the breast cancer ribbon and a heart with drops coming off of it and in big letters it said, "compassion".  Wow!  That's exactly what I had prayed for.  Dr. Salvato came through the door with a warm smile on her face, shook our hands and sat down and immediately got to business and she became our new Lyme manager.  She explained that her phylosophy is to attack it agressively in the beginning and keep treating until we get two lyme tests back with "0" titres positive. A plan and a way to measure progress=hope for me today.  She ordered a midline to be put in and blood work to be done to check for co-infections and other things.  She handed me "Advanced Topics in Lyme Disease" by Dr. Burroscano...the very document I have given to other doctors that were unfamiliar with Lyme and have recommended to people to read.  I felt our visit was nothing but positive but also short.
We then went down stairs to have a mid-line put in and were told it would take a while for insurance to be varified and for the supplies to arrive.  I hadn't eaten breakfast so we left to eat and wait for a phone call that said they were ready to insert the mid-line.
I am pretty restricted on what I can eat but I can eat eggs so we went to Le Peeps to grab something to eat.  I love this place.  I was sad I couldn't have their orange juice and the place smelled heavenly but at least I could have an omelette.  I had an omelette with spinach, mushrooms, bacon and cheese with a side of bacon.  We ran to the bank to take care of some business there when finally they called to say they were ready.
We arrived and were informed that they would put in a temporary IV today and tomorrow would put in the mid-line.  They had to put the IV in my left hand due to the veins on my left arm.  I hate IV's in the hand.  They got it all situated and administered my first dose of Rosefin.  I had to sit there about an hour as it dripped in.  We were sent home with this big brown box and an IV pole.  If only they could have sent home a few of those gowns as well.
Tomorrow I will go back for the mid-line and then will have to have it checked Saturday.  Get this,..they come to the house.  What is even better is I have to go in once a week to have dressings changed and it just so happens to be down by Rebecka's gymnastics place.  So I made arrangements to go in on Thursdays to have dressing changed and pick up the next weeks supplies (they only give you a weeks worth of medicine and supplies at a time..they will deliver to the house if I need them to).  We left there at 3 and it was 4:30 by the time we picked up the kiddos and got home.
What a day but I couldn't have asked it to go any better.  I felt God's hand on every detail.  Thank you for your prayers!  I am hopeful that we have a plan and I feel confident in the doctor that created it.  Another answered prayer.  Another bonus to my day is that I don't have to do injections any longer.  The other meds will stay the same with the mid-line replacing the injections.  Hopefully my black and blue rear end can recover now.  Please pray for God's blessing on these meds and that they begin to work and kill the bacteria.  Also pray for us as we should experience a herxheimer reaction if this occurs as part of the bacteria dying.  If so, I will get pretty sick for a couple days.  As much as I don't want to feel worse it will be a sign that the medications are working and bacteria is dying.  Please pray for the family as we continue this journey through Lyme.