Struggles and Challenges

I just thought I should pop in to let you know I am still here! I apologize for the lack of blog posts lately. I have so many of them planned in my head but no time or energy to write. Our family has had a rough start to the new year.

My oldest son, who also has ME/CFS, as well as Lyme disease plus two other tick infections, was severely crashed from January 2 until just a couple of days ago. He has been incapacitated, stuck on the couch, and feeling pretty down. He had to drop the Winter Session college course he'd planned to take, and he still needs to make up his Calc 2 final from last semester. Thankfully, he is feeling a lot better now, as of a few days ago, so we are hoping that bad period is behind him, and he can get back to his normal baseline (symptomatic but able to function, taking 3 college classes at a time and living on campus when school starts again in February).

Then about a week ago, my youngest son felt something pop in his right knee, where he'd had three previous surgeries to repair cartilage damage. He says it feels just like before surgery #2, when a chunk of cartilage broke loose and was floating around in his knee. So, we saw the surgeon twice and took him for an MRI, and he is now scheduled for knee surgery #4 this coming week. The MRI didn't show any obvious damage, and it looks like the last cartilage repair is still intact, so the surgeon is hopeful this will be a simple procedure to just remove the loose piece (which seems very small) arthroscopically. Of course, there is no such thing as minor surgery for someone with ME/CFS and OI! We did learn something from those previous surgeries, though, so we've requested a full 12 hours of IV fluids post-surgery, even though this is normally a quick out-patient surgery. We are hoping this will prevent the month-long crash he experienced after the first two surgeries. Fingers crossed!

And then there's me. I had a rough week, with badly flared up symptoms and a lot of "must-do" activities that kept me from resting. My son's 16th birthday was this week, my mom came to visit for a few days, my neighborhood book group met, and then we packed up and went away for the weekend. Whew.

I think my recent worsening is due once again to yeast overgrowth. I am really frustrated by this. I went off the Diflucan a couple of weeks ago and have been struggling ever since. Every few days, my symptoms return - sore mouth, thrush on my tongue, terrible aches all over - and I need to start taking Diflucan again. My prescription is almost out, and I keep trying to get off it, but the yeast is obviously still not under control. If I have the tiniest bit of sugar, it flares up again. So, I will try to get in to see my doctor again when we get home - in between taking one son out of state to see his Lyme doctor and the other's knee surgery! Sometimes, it is a real challenge taking care of myself, as a sick mom with kids who have their own medical problems.

I am resting now. We are staying at my mom's condo in a ski resort (they aren't here) so that my son can celebrate his birthday snowboarding with two friends (the surgeon gave him the OK!). They are out having fun in the snow, and I am lying on a comfy couch under a fleece blanket, with a cup of herbal tea and a nice gas fire by my side. There is something so relaxing about just being away from your own home, filled with so many reminders of all the stuff you should be doing! Of course, the packing and unpacking and travel is tiring, but for now, I am getting some much overdue rest...at least until hungry hordes of teen boys come in from the slopes for dinner!

So, it looks like this week will be just as busy, but hopefully I will feel better. If anyone has additional tips for me on the yeast overgrowth, I am open to anything! I am still doing everything listed on my post on yeast but am still struggling.

Hope you are having a relaxing weekend!