When real things happen to imaginary people

I'd been feeling a little under the weather lately, and last night my neck started welting up. "But but but!" I thought, "I'm following this dratted gluten-free diet to see if that helps with this very problem! It was working! What happened? Aaaaugh!"

And then I realized: I’d had sushi with tempura bits and soy sauce over the weekend, both of which sneakily contain gluten. I knew that, but thought a tiny bit of gluten wouldn't be the end of the world. But there had been Worcestershire sauce as seasoning in multiple dishes the past few days, and wouldn’t you know it, the dratted stuff has wheat in it.

A rather large oversight and label-reading fail on my part, and now I’m paying for it. Last night involved repeated applications of Aquaphor ointment on my neck, no bath (hot baths make the inflammation a lot worse ::sobs:: ), and Benadryl at bedtime.

I'm astonished that my system is that sensitive to gluten right now. But believe me, I hope that those small amounts of gluten are what triggered this, and not some other thing that my doctor and I have not yet figured out.

However, this flare-up is NOT going to stop my planned Goth Upkeep today. I'm just not going to be dying the hair at the very nape of my neck, because that is asking for trouble and I know it.

Right before New Year's Eve, I went to my doctor and had something like 5 or 6 tubes of blood drawn for the latest round of testing to see where I'm at with the Lyme, the CFS, the Bartonella, and all the other things I'm fighting with.

According to the email I just received from Dr. Bobbi, my liver enzymes are fine (we have to check 'em because of the ridiculous antibiotics I'm on), my CD57 numbers have gone up from 26 to 39 (tho' the benchmark for no Lyme activity is 125, and normal is 200), and the test for Bartonella came back all clear!

::throws confetti, slumps back on the couch::

We're still waiting on some other tests, and I am still doing 6 weeks of gluten-free diet (1 week down, 5 to go), but I'm slowly getting better. Which is nice to hear.

Over the past week, I have felt *wretched*. The aches, fatigue, and dizziness of the Antibiotic Cellular Death Explosion ^{TM the Infamous BlueJay} just kept going. But worse was the fact that I was horribly, horribly depressed. Crying every day, even with the way my year has been, is not normal for me. Emotionally, I felt as numb and fragile as I did in January, right after Mom passed away.

So I looked up ALL the side-effects of my new antibiotic, and oh hey! "Possible side-effects may included depression, anxiety, mood swings, insomnia, confusion, and panic" Yeah, not taking that particular antibiotic anymore.

I have a check-in with my doc today, and we'll talk about the next thing to try. I'm staying on the Rifampin, because that IS knocking down the marker numbers for the Lyme disease, and it doesn't make me crazy. Now to just wait for the remains of the Biaxin to leave my system, so I can start feeling more like myself.

Y'know how I was complaining yesterday about feeling awful. Today is worse. I feel like I am fighting off the flu combined with a couple weeks of insomnia. Neither of which is true, but that's what it feels like.

I know one of the causes: I've recently added another antibiotic to the medication regime, and that has spiked a herxheimer reaction. So I'm doing what I can to get the toxins out of my system. But understanding what is going on doesn't make it any easier.

I had two different birthday parties to attend today - that's not happening. I'm hoping I'll have enough energy to get some writing done tonight, or embroider more Cranky!Bloomers for next weekend's Mourning Market. But I'm trying to remind myself that I don't HAVE to do those things, and that rest is just as important as Getting Things Done. Let's see if I listen to myself, shall we?

The Time Travelers' Rummage Sale went very well. Thank you to everyone who came out, and extra thanks to everyone who purchased something from me! The Bags of Mystery! sold out in under 2 hours, and there were people who were very sad that they had missed them.

I still have pairs of Cranky!Bloomers left. I will take pictures and note sizes, and probably post that information tomorrow.

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Extra-special, "Oh my GOODNESS!" astonished thanks go to the Kelsay family, who surprised me with a present! They decided I needed the Beetlejuice jewelry box by ravenofskys on Etsy. I am delighted and touched by the gift, and am going to probably store my skull cameos in it. It's so cute!

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Ooof. The thing about having a collection of long-term health issues that I apparently still haven't gotten used to is how much easier it is for me to be worn out. (If you listen closely, you can hear maiaarts and staxxy muttering "WE TOLD YOU!" at me.) I bailed on the StuntHusband and our plans to go dancing last night, and instead flopped on the couch watching Moulin Rouge and doing some hand sewing that wasn't working on Cranky!Bloomers.

Today, I am still feeling wiped out. Not fair! I have stuff I need to do! But apparently the more strenuous of that stuff is going to have to wait a day or so, until my energy comes back and my body stops aching. But I do have enough energy to call Victor and schedule an appointment to get a new set of fangs made^*, so that's good.






^*Yes, I'm getting new fang caps. That is one of the things I promised myself with any profits from the sale. New fangs, and then to decide if I put money toward a tattoo, or toward the Fluevog Mini Zazas (clicky-link!). Decisions, decisions.

Still on the ventilator, still in ICU. But her doctor says she IS making progress every day, and Dad says that she squeezed his fingers when he asked her to, so she's starting to become a little more lucid.

Her doctor put her back on the ventilator, she's still sedated, and she's still in ICU. BUT, her color has improved, and the swelling has gone down.

( Some details about what is going on, because people have asked me. )

Dad says thank you to all of you for the well-wishes and prayers, and promises that if he needs anything, he will let me know immediately. The same goes for me to all of you.

Stroppy One has been a Very Good Husband through all of this, and been taking care of me. I don't know what I'd do without him.

((A tangent: I don't think I want to use my "hiding" icon for the ongoing Mom posts, but I don't think the "leeches" icon is exactly appropriate. Hilarious, but maybe not appropriate. Time to look at all my icons again.))

She’s stable. On a ventilator, but stable. I’m going to go visit her in a bit. Thank you for all your prayers and kind wishes.

My mom (cupcakegothmom) is in ICU. I'll post more details when I have them.

::worry worry worry::