Here's the Scoop

But, I am not dead yet.

 

Here is the short story:

Around Christmas last year I became more and more fatigued with the added aggravation of aches and numbness between my shoulder blades in the afternoons, too much pain and fatigue to even look at Flickr photos. I had extreme difficultly turning over in bed. My knees and the area all the way around

where my thighs meet my torso hurt when trying to sit on the floor or get up off the floor, a problem I have been dealing

with for 12 years. I had shortness of breath when going up or down stairs and difficulty in picking up and carrying slightly

heavy objects. In March my ability to think was worse and I was finding great pleasure in spending more and more time sleeping. Even though I was prefectly happy when I was up and about I decided I must be depressed and without a doctor's prescription started taking Prozac with interesting results. I knew that Prozac really doesn't work for me very well but I took it any way and my back ache and numbness went away after taking Prozac for four days and I could turn over in bed again.....Isn't that interesting????!!!!! Unfortunately the Prozac bad side effects became worse and worse out weighing the good side effects. During the time of worsing side effects I was dealing with crap dumped on me by the Cosmic Outhouse and the Cosmic Jester. I

had begun to suspect that two children that visit us frequently were showing signs of having bed bug bites. I don't really know

how I came to this conclusion. My only knowledge of bedbugs came from the story of a friend of my daughter's who had suffered through the bed bug ordeal. I told the children's mother of my suspensions, started an internet education for myself and OMG

while tiding up for company I found a "bug" on my dust cloth. I had put the "bug" in a ziplock bag, taped it to the car hood

and gleefully watched it die from heat exposure. I was pretty sure "the bug" was a bed bug. One of the sayings I live by is:

"if something is too good to be true then it is." What are the odds of finding the only bed bug in three thousand square feet

of clutter and then there is the basemnt. Panic began to brew in my subconscious. Jerry thought I was crazy but with my

forceful insistence he helped me check all seven beds, every single seam on all sides and we found nothing. The children's mother said she couldn't find any evidence of bed bugs so with after telling my company that our house may have been exposed to bed bugs, they, too, thought I was crazy and came anyway. When three weeks later after spending the weekend here a different child turned up with strange bites on her back, the other children's mother said she was very very very sorry but they did indeed have bed bugs, my daughter's friend stopping by to see if she could identify "the bug" agreeing that it might be the evil bed bug, the brewing panic became full fledged hysteria. Remember I am suffering from fatigue etc. I sent Jerry with "the bug" to the Fayette County Extension Office for identification and took myself to my Physican's Assistant where I confessed my sin of self medicating, jokingly asked to be committed thus saving me from bedbugs, along with a plea of please give me an antidepressant

that will work. My PA while scratching phantom bed bug bites gave me a prescription for Wellbutrin to keep me from gaining weight from the Prozac and for energy. Not yet hearing the results of the bug indentifcation I decide it is better to be safe than sorry and I start the process I have learned from my extensive internet searches of debugging the room the biten child slept in, the doll house room. I am taking all the doll house furniture putting it in ziplock bags and baking them in the

at the lowest setting, putting all bedding in ziplock bags and large toys in heavy duty black plastic bags to bake in the sun.

Since the extension office isn't calling me with their results I call them, the person I want is out to lunch and after several

days of phone tag, continued toy baking the Extension office calls with the BAD news, it is no longer "the bug" but indeed

a "bed bug" capable of reproduction. Jerry can no longer think I am crazy and over reacting. We call an Exterminator.

While checking the first bed the Exterminator being blown away by my clutter says and preparing me for her estimate is saying,"This is going to cost you thousands and thousands of dollars. I tell her about our deep love of the children that exposed us and keep telling her and myself that these kids are worth it!!!! I help the exterminator in everyway I can finally she says, "I really really don't think you have bedbugs and I want you to know I work on commission." (what kind of conflict of interest is that?) She gave us a plan: 1. no company for one month 2. traps for the bed legs 3. Sleep only in the room with the leg traps and see if you catch any bugs. GOOD NEWS!!!!!! We never catch one bug or get one bite!!!!!! The Comic Jester thinks he has played a big joke on me but really it was a blessing in disguise! We bought clothes which we keep at our house which the family changes into BEFORE they come into our house or car and We gave the family tools and instructions to rid themselves of the

bugs. OOOOOPPPPPPSSSSS back to the medical story. I keep going back to my PA with theories....the Prozac was driving me

crazy. She switched me to Zoloft and tried to encourage me to go to a Psychiatrist. Then the Zoloft is driving me crazy: my hands are shaking, my voice is quivering, my knees, thighs, muscles are in EXTREME pain. I cannot get up off the floor without the aid of something to use my arms to pull myself up. I decide I will quit all these antidepressants and maybe my real problem was the lack of vitamin D so off I go to my PA asking for a blood test. She says OK I will do as you

ask but I notice your eye is dropping and I am going to order an autoimmune test. I was defencient in Vitamin D and the

autoimmune test was positive. MY PA made an appointment for me with a rheumotogist and while I waited I looked up autoimmune diseases related to muscle weakness on the internet and decided that Myasthenia Gravis fit my symptoms. The rheumotogist ran 17

different test and GOOD NEWS I did not have Myasthenia Gravis but BAD NEWS I was positive for scleroderma. My son, DIL, several friends and I have been trying to educate ourselves about scleroderma enough to be able to ask the right questions. My test of my muscles showed that my muscles are normal. My doctor does not think I have any symptoms worth consideration but says I should

still be worried and gave me a computer print out on scleroderma from the Mayo Clinic (how Micky Mouse is that?) and told me to watch for the symptoms listed

on that print out....bad word bad word...I already have some of the symptoms on that print out and I happen to know that John Hopkins has a much much much better print out. I guess all in all it really doesn't matter if I am in denial or the doctor is in denial I don't think I am going to die from it and at least after sitting in the sun and taking lots of vitamin D I am starting to have more energy than I have had in years and years and that is a mighty good thing.

I have really missed each and one of you and can't wait to catch up!!!!!!!

Done