Set Backs Are Part of the Journey

I suspect many of you can relate to my title and this is an appropriate title as June came to a close and July began. Set backs are part of life for anyone, but even more so for those who are living with chronic illness. Vacation seems like it is in the distant past at this point. We spent a week in Mission Bay San Diego the first week in June. It was a truly relaxing and enjoyable vacation despite spending the entire vacation with a costochondritis flare up that is still hanging on over a month later. It was one of the worst flare-ups I've had in a long time and put a damper on some of the things we had planned, but the upside was that it truly forced us to relax. We spent plenty of time just chilling on the beach and I was even able to ride my beach cruiser for a few days thanks to Kinesio tape and my awesome hubby who is a chiropractor. Getting adjusted was either hit or miss on one day it would help while on the next it would flare me up again. We had several dinners with friends and family and even a lovely romantic dinner for two at a fabulous Spanish tapas restaurant. Paella... yummy! We even slept in almost every day. What a wonderful luxury. Ahhhhh..... We even had a couple days at home getting back on schedule before going back to the grind.

After a few days at home, the craziness which became June ensued. Elsa became extremely sick. She almost died. After five days of touch and go in and out of the vet and eventually in the ER overnight with a Neurologist consult, we discovered she has Meningitis in addition to all the additional illnesses (Demedox, Pyroderma, Spay Incontinence, andother UTI, Erlichia (Lyme related) ...) She is now on several medications and doing much better. We have since discovered that Meningitis is more common in Bernese Mountain dogs (of which is part of her mix) under the age of 12 mos. Good new sis that she is doing better and once she is off all the nasty meds, we'll be working on supporting and strengthening her immune system. She is really my dog. We're not sure how we ended up with her, but we did and we're so glad she made it through. Here is a picture of her with her goggles on while getting a laser treatment, which she seems to love. These treatments make her feel good.

About a week later, we learned that our landlord would be increasing our rent by about 11% with only a 30 day notice. Despite the fact that we have been good tenants that pay on time and take care of the house like it is our own and we've been here for 3 years, she emailed this decision to us telling us that she is essentially raising the rent because she can... AND yes she can... We frantically searched for a new place to keep our rent under control, but quickly realized after the unexpexted expenses with Elsa, we were in no position to take on the expenses of moving in 30 days, so essentially we are stuck. AWESOME!!! YAY!!

To add insult to injury, the same day of the email from the landlord I was told that two of our staff in the office I work in were cut to part-time, one more would be eliminated by end of July and my hours will be cut in half by end of July if our numbers as a whole do not improve. That said, it is not the end of the world and as much as I relish the idea of working part-time, this will bring financial hardship. Oh, Good... That was number 3 and I won't allow anymore hits. This is all my adrenals can take and being able to afford my health expenses will soon become a challenge on top of 2 of the most expensive months to date with my own health.

Needless to say the stress has been quite a wallop all at once and has been taxing on my adrenals. I initially thought that the widespread pain and exhaustion (among other symptoms) was my body's response to all that has transpired, but I truly feel I'm taking things in stride and it has been a while since I've experienced a herx and I truly believe I've been having a herx from my new protocol for the past 2 1/2 weeks. Lovely... The good news is that I only have about another 1 1/2 weeks until I complete the meds that I think I am herxing from. There is an end in sight.

Ahhh I know there is some nugget of wisdom I am going to glean out of all of this, but at the moment it all seems like some sick joke.

My spirits at this moment are unbelievably good in spite of all that has happened. I really wanted to share my comprehensive protocol in this post, but until I'm feeling better and I have a little less stress on my plate I think it is best that I hold off for now. I can tell you this that we are treating for biotoxins with Cholestyramine and Actos and my new doc is fairly confident that MARCoNS is part of my picture. Here are a couple of helpful posts, one on Cholestyramine and Actos:  Cholestyramine
MARCoNS

I'll keep you posted. Thanks for all your support and for those of you experiencing your own set backs, my heart goes out to you. Chin up! The best is yet to come.