Weeks 32-34 - Post Lemtrada
June 14, 2020
It's been a while since I posted...time keeps slipping by. I am still self-quarantined even though the State of Texas has been in the process of "re-opening" for over a month now. You may have seen on the news that there has been a spike in cases in Texas over the last couple of weeks. There is more testing here but in the larger cities the increase is out pacing the increased testing and hospitalization rates have been going up over the last week. I was feeling more comfortable with things for a minute but now I am back to being nervous. Again, you just don't know who has it and the State government isn't requiring people to wear masks in public or allowing the cities to require or enforce it. It leaves it up to businesses which then requires employees to enforce it so grocery stores that were once requiring masks are now rolling that back. Honestly, it is such a mess in this Country and in this State. We are continuing to avoid stores by doing curb side pickup or having things shipped. If we do need to go to the store, we are being strategic about it and going when stores are less busy.
It's been almost 14 weeks since I started my newest round of self-isolating. I am still keeping myself busy with projects around the house. We are obviously cooking more so that in itself keeps us busy. I've been continuing to do yard work but since it's been in the upper 80s/ low 90s or higher pretty consistently since the end of April; that is done in couple hour bursts in the morning or before sunset. I realized that we have Virginia Creeper taking over an area of the backyard and climbing trees. :( Getting rid of that will probably keep me busy all summer. My latest entertainment has been a bird feeder. I bought one that's basically just a tray that hangs from a tree branch and bought a mixed bag of bird seed. I need to get myself some binoculars but I've seen Morning Doves, Northern Cardinals, Carolina Chickadee, Blue Jays, some type of Wren, and I think a Tufted Titmouse or a House Finch, I can't really tell. I've seen Swallows flying overhead. The Northern Cardinals apparently live in ours or our neighbor's backyard because I've seen them often all spring. There are three males that chase each other around the yard and I think only one female. Since we've gotten the bird feeder, I've also noticed that Northern Cardinals are racist. I've seen a Morning Dove, a Wren and a Finch eating together at the same time but the Cardinals will only eat with other Cardinals. ;) Actually, I've noticed a lot of birds do this "dance" around the bird feeder where they fly to the tree and wait their turn. It's kind of funny. That would be one of the perks of this pandemic; being able to slow down enough to watch nature.
I've had several things going on in these last three weeks. I had a
virtual appointment with my Functional Medicine Doctor about 2.5 weeks ago. We
are making some tweaks to my supplement regimen, I did a DNA test
to see how my body metabolizes certain medicines (cheek swab) and she
started me on a low dose of Wellbutrin. The test will determine other
medications too but we are primarily doing it to see if Wellbutrin would
even help. I think I said this in my last post that my energy level
has been all over the place since March; I know everyone's has with
the stress, anxiety and uncertainty we've all been under but overall
it's definitely up since I started the DHEA. My mood on the other hand
is still just "blah". So we are trying the Wellbutrin which apparently
can take 5-6 weeks to work and the test. Just another dart...we will see
if it helps. It's been almost 3 weeks and so far not much.
I went into the office to do the cheek swab instead of mailing the sample back and forth and in the first week of June; I had to go in for my 6-month skin check (all good) and I had to go to the Dentist. Going into a medical office seems like the lowest high-risk thing you can do right now. At least you know that they are taking precautions seriously. For both my dermatology appointment and my dental appointment, I needed to call them when I arrived and sit in the car until they were ready with a room. Of course everyone had masks and the doctors had face shields on as well. Everything else has been video or phone calls. My next in person thing will be my next lab work this coming week and then I am supposed to get a pelvic scan on the 1st but we will see if that actually happens. If hospitalizations continue to rise, I can see them postponing non-essential medical procedures and tests again.
I got some disappointing news a couple weeks ago. My neurologist is leaving. The clinic I go to is part of a University hospital so apparently he'll be there until the end of the year but he isn't working in the clinic after the end of June. He's the guy who convinced me to do Lemtrada. His experience with it is the reason I said "yes". We moved to Texas 11 years ago and this new Doctor will be my 4th neurologist since I moved here. The first two guys retried on me. They were neurologists, obviously, but not specialists in MS. At least I'll be working with another Dr. who specializes in MS and he's a younger guy so hopefully he won't retire any time soon. I don't know if that's typical to need a new neurologist every 3 years but it isn't easy to find one who's personality you mesh with and someone you trust.
Let's see...what else? No changes in my fingertips. :( My legs have been better the last couple weeks. They still are a little unstable first thing in the morning but I can keep walking instead of needing to pause. My stomach was giving me some issues the last week in May and first week in June. I was trying some digestive enzymes so I think that was part of it but something I ate made my stomach more sensitive in general. I made some gluten free peanut butter cookies so maybe the extra peanuts? Or maybe the extra sugar? We've been baking more than normal but honestly it hasn't been that much. Emotionally, I've been a little bit of a roller coaster the last couple weeks and especially the last week; I've been more weepy and have bursts of anger that aren't typical for me. Well, it usually takes a lot more to get me angry then it has been. I need to remember to mention that to my Function Med Dr, maybe the Welbutrin? ...always some mystery to figure out.
That's all I have for now and this has been a long one so I am sure you've had enough. I am going to leave two links for some homemade face masks. My son and I made the first one out of old T-shirts but we used a bead to make the straps adjustable like in the second one. I guess the WHO is now recommending 3 layers so you'll need to add an extra layer and ours aren't in compliance. 😷🤷 Emojis are back! 🥳
Take care, stay safe.
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