Some of what's been keeping me from blogging

Last week I was in Georgia, visiting a friend (posts coming soon).  But when we arrived home (me and the kids--Steve stayed home), Steve showed me his left leg.  Pretty steamy stuff, eh?  But no, really--his left calf was super swollen.  And sore.  And he had worked all week.  Poor guy.  I insisted that he go to the doctor on Monday morning.

Now, you need to understand that Steve, while having been going to the medical practice that he goes to for quite a few years, has never actually met the doctor.  He usually sees nurse practitioners or physician assistants...no big deal.  But when he called on Monday morning and described his symptoms, not only did they get him in to see the doctor, they had him come in for her very first appointment.  Off he went, leaving me to hyperventilate.  Apparently, they thought he had a blood clot in his leg, which of course could be very dangerous.

After whisking him into his appointment, they sent him straight to the imaging center at our local hospital to get an ultrasound of his leg. We met up at the house, and I drove him there.  Almost 2 hours later, the ultrasound was done, and the technician declared him blood-clot-free.  WHEW.  Then we drove to the lab to get blood drawn for the tests the doctor wanted to run.

Did I mention that it was our 18th anniversary? :)  After a morning of stress, we went to lunch at Olive Garden. I fed my anxiety, and then was fine.  And full. ;)

We didn't hear back from the doctor that day.  But Steve was still in a considerable amount of pain.  Even so, trooper that he is, he went into work the next day.  I called the doctor's office, to see what they had to say.  The doctor told me that they hadn't gotten any blood test results yet, but Steve did have a Baker's Cyst on the back of his knee that had 'leaked', hence all of the swelling.  She put him on a heavy-duty anti-inflammatory, and said that, while he could go to work, otherwise he had to have his leg elevated and iced.

Fast forward to yesterday (Thursday), and while the swelling had gone down a bit, Steve's pain levels weren't subsiding at all.  The doctor called to say that his blood test results were in.  When we were finally able to return the call and get through to her, we found out that Steve tested positive for Lyme Disease.

Sigh.

So now he is on a month long cycle of antibiotics, still on the anti-inflammatory meds, and still having to elevate and ice his leg (which actually makes his leg tighten up, causing more pain when he initially walks around after elevating it).

What a week. But hopefully we'll see marked improvement soon.  Steve has a follow-up with his doctor today, and then has the weekend off of work. I'm just so relieved that we got some answers, and that we have a treatment plan in place.