Life is one continual series of crises or so it seems some days. I had never heard of babesiosis. Then someone dear to me (we'll call her Blondie) received a letter from a lab where she had some blood work done. She tested positive for this possibly degenerative disease and they were recommending that she talk to her physician or the hospital ER as soon as possible.
Where do you go when you want to know about a disease? The internet, of course. Seems that this is a malarial-like parasite contracted from the same tick that carries Lyme disease. Charming. According to one internet sight, there is a very high incidence of this in Massachusetts, Connecticutt, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Wonder if anyone else is like me and never heard of it?
Treatment requires not one, but two antibiotics... very specific antibiotics. And the thing that absolutely gets me is that Blondie looked that up on the internet, knew which antibiotics she needed, and when she called her doctor, she's the one who had to tell the DOCTOR what she needed. Hello? The doctor was going to prescribe something else entirely.
I truly wonder where medical care in this country is headed. When Blondie told the doctor about the information on the web site, the doctor admitted that she had NEVER treated a patient for this and had no idea what she should do. She would have to "read up" on it. Then she told Blondie to go to the ER for assistance. On a Saturday night. At an inner city hospital. I still haven't heard from her.
In the meantime, if you live in Lyme disease country, I recommend that you make yourself familiar with the symptoms. It strongly mimics the flu. If untreated, it can lead to all sorts of nasty complications--even death. Yet another thing to worry about.
Every time we turn around it seems like there's a new threat to our health. I tell you, I have no idea what to eat, drink, how much to rest and sleep, where to walk, when to exercise... I've come to the conclusion that something will eventually kill me. So perhaps I should just pick the way I want to go, eh?
It kinda reminds me of that cartoon about sliding into the casket sideways, used up, and happy. Live life. Perhaps that's the secret--just live life, have a bucket list and go out there like tomorrow's the last day. I bet a lot of people would turn off the TVs if tomorrow was the last day.
Well, I've been as philosophical as I get at midnight. Stop by Kelly's blog for her Sunday quote at www.kkirch.blogspot.com and then pop over to Amarinda's place for her take on life at www.amarindajones.blogspot.com Blessings on your day!
It makes me mad when you have to treat yourself because some so called professionals do not have a clue.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, everything will kill you or cure you so go ahead - live life, be as happy as you can be - have that piece of chocoloate cake
This is a new one on me. But, yeah, the doctors don't always have a clue and often seem to not want to admit it. My SO had a doctor prescribe something that hadn't existed for over 5 years. That's a real confidence builder
ReplyDeleteWhat really makes me wonder is you hear of of these 'new wonder drugs', and 2-5 years later, you see lawsuits over unknown side effects at the time of the prescription. I know the FDA can drag their feet at times, but there's also a danger in rushing one onto the market.
ReplyDeleteHubby's dr was going to prescribe a certain cholesteral drug, and fortunately before he started taking it, he saw the commercial telling the specific side effects, which related to another problem he has. He called the dr, who told him not to take it after all. So now he's on something more tried and true.
I'm hoping my doc is wrong. If not, I'm in for a challenge. Poor Blondie though. It would suck to find out you have something you've never heard of and can't depend on your doctor to understand.
ReplyDeleteI'm convinced you are your best doctor, simply because your doctor can't always remember your allergies, or the side effects of drugs. Five years ago my mom would have died if my sister, a psychiatrist, hadn't searched her PDR for all the side effects of the drugs my mom was given. It took me two days to convince her doctor he was killing her instead of curing her. When he stopped the medicine she was allergic to she recovered miraculously.
ReplyDelete