Pinwheels Fly Away!

In what was probably the worst kept secret ever, the Digital Pinwheels quilt will be flying to my DIL in the City of Angels in California tomorrow. 

The quilt is really pretty, and I'm happy I stuck with it. It's a perfect traditional, yet not traditional quilt. In fact, showing it off to my colleagues at work, MJ said, "This is very unusual for you Lynne. You actually have several blocks that are exactly the same."

That made me laugh. She was right!

Taking Beauty Shots yesterday, I did what I usually do, find cool places to show off the quilt. The photo above was of my back entry, so no big deal there,

but it wasn't until I scratched myself on the brush surrounding this tree, that I looked down and realized I was in a perfect breeding ground for ticks (dry leaves, out of sunlight.). I gathered up the quilt, and quickly moved to another location. 

As I spread the quilt out, I brushed away a large tick that had attached itself to the quilt. I stopped what I was doing, shook out the quilt thoroughly, inspected it, and went home, where I stripped and put all my clothes in the wash in hot water, then took a shower and inspected myself. I only had that scratch, no bites, but it was a wake up call. (And yes, the next thing in the wash was the quilt.)

Note to self: Stay the hell out of the woods. No beauty shot is worth what I went through two years ago, when I had Lyme Disease.

Win Some, Lose Some

My test was positive. I have Lyme Disease. The really good news is I caught it early, before it hid away in my body and became a debilitating illness. This round of meds should clear it out completely.

My name and address were sent to the state as required by law, so I am one more on the list of citizens in NH confirmed as infected by Lyme Disease. It is an endemic here in NH. (In 2001, there was only 1 case. In 2013, sadly, the number of confirmed cases was 1323.)

I will continue to take the antibiotic, and will have to be a lot more careful when I walk about my property.

The CDC link above, has information on how to to establish a "tick-free" zone around my house, and some of my landscaping plans for other parts of my yard have changed significantly based on this knowledge.

Adapt, Improvise, Overcome!

Lump = Lymph Node!

UPDATE!

I just heard the results from my ultrasound, and they are Negative!

The Lump is just an enlarged lymph node and nothing else.

Whew!

Much Ado About... Nothing?

The biggest excitement of the ultrasound came when the radiologist came into the room after the tech went to ask if the images were sharp enough for him.  Was this good news? Or bad?

As it turned out, it was neither.

"When did you have your last mammogram?" he demanded, "It wasn't here."

"I had a digital mammogram in Salem, because the insurance company was fussy about how much it cost."

"We've worked to make sure the cost is the same with all insurance companies."

"Not YOUR cost. MY COST. I would have had to pay over $150 out-of-pocket to get a digital mammogram HERE, but in Salem it didn't cost me anything."

"REALLY!  We'll I'll get to the bottom of THAT."

We laughed. "OK," he said pointing to my shoulder, "When did that start hurting?"

I told him.

"When did you notice this?" he pointed to the bite mark on my arm.

"It was there almost a week."

"How did you get bit?"

I described ripping out the kudzu in the unmaintained parts of my front yard.

"That's an awful lot of work for a 60 year old woman."

I scowled. "It needed to be done, I had the time and the energy."

Well.

He is not convinced the lump is related to the tick bite. He does not think it will disappear quickly (less than a week), and that I should follow up with my PCP a few months down the road.

(Duh!)


Later, Julie emailed me, and I quote: "Sigh. Has the medicine affected it at all yet?"

My reply:
1. It doesn't hurt.
2. It isn't as red.
3. I have to poke around to find it.

I went to work yesterday, but was failing by lunchtime. A rest on the soft bed in radiology must have revived me, because I returned to work with more energy than I had in the morning.

We'll see, but so far I feel a lot better than I did on Monday.


Results on Friday. Stay tuned!

Tick, Tick, Tick...

The other shoe dropped Monday when what I thought was a bugbite on the same arm as the lump developed a red halo, and I discovered an oval shaped rash on my chest. The lump in my armpit had red streaks on the skin and I felt achy and sore all over.

My coworkers and others told me to straight to Urgent Care.

The doctor took one look and said, "Lyme Disease."

I had a blood test for that and something else (can't quite remember) and was prescribed the antibiotic Doxycycline, which has a long list of things I can and can't eat before and after taking it. (Take on an empty stomach with lots of water, don't lie down for 10 minutes after taking it, don't eat for an hour after taking it, don't eat anything with calcium in it for two to three hours afterward...) I have to take the antibiotic for 3 weeks and was told it would probably be really nasty to my stomach at the end.

The ultrasound is still on for Wednesday, and I have a follow up visit on Friday when I'll learn the results and a plan of action.

If there's an upside it's that I found it within two weeks and got treatment right away.

The downside (aside from having Lyme Disease) is that Julie says "your gardening activities are officially over for the year, except for watering your garden from a very long distance away."

Any future work in the garden or the front or back yards will have to be done by a professional landscaper and not me.

Don't tell me I should have checked myself for ticks. I did that every day I worked in the garden, but apparently I was looking for X and I should have been looking for Y.

Sigh.

So I'll stay home on Tuesday, sacked out on the couch. Millie has already made it clear I am a perfect spot for napping, which is nice.