October 2, 2025

A Week Later

Well it’s a week later than this but I really have been just sick and tired and sometimes things just fall off the list. This week that was the blog. I still would like to have a post per at least most days for the rest of this calendar year so I would say what I think I was going to say last Wednesday. After being at work all day Tuesday the steroids just weren’t doing enough and there was so much pressure (fluid? Swelling? What was it?) in my lower back that I thought something was going to burst out of it so the evening of Tuesday 9/30 I walked into an orthopedic urgent care and was treated by a compassionate PA-C who listened, ordered an xray which didn’t show anything (was wondering at that point if sleeping wrong could have led to a disc being out of place? No one as of yet could tell me what was going on) and then ordered the antibiotics that they would order if it were Lyme’s. She said she has known cases where fluid build up (in a knee for instance) is removed and tests positive for Lyme’s Disease and then the blood test is negative.

Days later the blood test for Lyme’s Disease for my husband and myself was negative and it had been for our dog as well. We felt a little crazy asking, but we wondered if our (different) joint symptoms were caused by whatever tick-borne disease caused our dog’s symptoms or if there is another bacterial infection or virus that could be shared from the dog to us. Did ticks with the same illness bite the 3 of us? Did the kids also have whatever it was and they remained asymptomatic? We still don’t know.

But what I do know is that at a time when I was telling the nurse that my symptoms has worsened and not only did I have pressure in my back but pain up under my left ribs and I was in a pretty big hurry to get to the bathroom when I had to go at this point, this PA-C listened and helped.

Over a week later it might be the steroids, it might be time, but it might be the antibiotics and I am definitely feeling an improvement in symptoms. I wonder if the improvement will last.