One year & 3 months - Post Lemtrada
Sunday, January 31, 2021
Covid did happen...on Wednesday this past week my husband tested positive. My kids and I were negative on Wednesday and so far we all feel good. The virus has gotten so out of control in the US that everyone knows several people that have had it and each time you here "I've been so careful, I don't know where I got it" you think "yeah, sure you have been". Then you are the one; I've been so careful... We actually have been very careful. My husband says I've been overly cautious about it. 🙄 And who got COVID? just sayin'. Anyway, here's the story...a corporate trainer came in from out of state and did training on Thursday last week, on Sunday (a week from today) my husband got a call that "someone" he was exposed to tested positive. He went out and got a rapid test on Sunday, it was negative. On Monday, he started feeling bad; sinus type headache, fatigue, achy, stuffy nose and a cough but because he had drainage. He actually spent the day in bed on Monday and Tuesday. He had gotten his first covid vaccine shot two weeks ago yesterday. For about 48 hours after the shot he didn't feel well, fatigue and achy and he said that he hadn't been 100% since then. This time of year cedar pollen is super super high. We have something they call "cedar fever"; it's not really a fever but it can cause an intense allergic reaction like a bad cold. So I reasoned that it must be allergies since he tested negative AND he hadn't been feeling well for about a week (at that time) but on Tuesday when he was still bad enough to be in bed all day (completely out of character for my husband), I told him I thought he should get retested but did we put on masks and quarantine him? Noooo. 🙈 On Wednesday afternoon, he told me he lost his taste and smell and I thought 'ooooh, fudge' (but actually not the G version of that); I knew we were in trouble then he tested positive. I am frustrated with myself because that was pretty dumb after being so careful for so long to then to try to blame it on something else and not retest until Wednesday. The alarm bells were going off and I ignored them, dumb. When my husband saw our doctor, she gave him an antibiotic for a sinus infection and sent out a swab for that too. I've been sleeping up in the guest room again since Wednesday. He is feeling much better but still tired, a little nasal congestion and the taste and smell are only back a little. Our doctor also gave him an inhaler in case he developed a cough. He hasn't been coughing at all except the first couple of days when he had drainage. He never ran a fever but he was taking Dayquil then Advil Allergy the first couple of days so it's hard to say if he would have.
But here's the thing. No one else at that training tested positive or got sick. Everyone got tested on Sunday then retested later in the week. Also, some of those people actually had more exposure to the trainer because they went out to dinner and one of the managers actually drove them to the airport and they weren't wearing masks. seriously?!? 🤨 Anyway, now it's not as cut and dry but it seems like they were exposed at the same time since their symptom onset was only a day apart. I asked him if there was anyone not in the training that they were both exposed to. He said 'no'. Our doctor said incubation is 2-5 days. That's the amount of time you need to have enough virus to show up on a test. Then you think 'ok, what did you do between Wednesday and Saturday that could have exposed you?'. Other than some errands where he wore his mask the whole time, he had lunch with a buddy outside. Neither his friend nor his friend's girlfriend have been sick. The conclusion (this has been my detective work for the week) is either A. his friend was asymptomatic and he picked it up from him or B. He encountered a "super spreader" who was shedding enough virus to get through their masks. We will never know. Even if his friend got tested by this point it's been over a week and he would likely test negative.
On the Wednesday before his training, we did go in-person to my neurology checkup. We were there for a good hour and a half but we were together so if he picked it up there then I would have too. I thought my neurology checkup would be the main topic of this blog post then all this other excitement happened. This was my first in-person check in almost a year. We talked about when I would do the next round of Lemtrada, the vaccine and my mental state. He wants me to try going back on Vyvanse for my energy along with the Wellbutrin, keep track of how I am feeling daily, start back-up with a therapist and follow-up with my functional medicine doctor about my Wellbutrin. I also have an appointment to follow-up with the Neuro NP in 6 weeks. We talked about my feeling like shit, basically. I told him I have a baseline of feeling “ok” and that my mood varies a little up and more down from there and my hormones definitely play a role in my being down. I don’t like being on medications…I hate putting a band-aid on things, especially because I am not doing the things I know will make me feel better like eating more vegetable and exercising but I have no motivation. I don't have enough get up and go to even get me to the start of that. I also told him how it makes me sad that I don’t even have the motivation to do things like my yoga homework when it’s something I love doing. We talked about the concentration issues I’ve been having where I just move from thing in front of my face to thing in front of my face then run out of time during the day because I am slow and not focused. He basically wants to start with the Vyvanse and see how things go and he doesn't want to wait 6 months for my next visit to find out things aren't working. I did have a telehealth appointment with my functional medicine doctor. She has some additional ideas but she doesn't want to start too many things at once either. She also wants to see how the Vyvanse is working first.
I haven't even gotten the Vyvanse, a week and a half later. First it was out of stock then it took 4 days for my insurance to approve it and now it's out of stock again. Yay! American health system. 👍
I
found out a lot of things that I didn’t know were issues. He said that my immune
system was back enough for the vaccine to be effective. Apparently, I could have had not enough white blood cells for the vaccine to "teach" how to protect me.
The vaccine still might not be as effective as it would be in someone with a full immune system but it should be high enough to protect me enough. Also, I won’t lose all that “instruction” my
body received from vaccine when I do my next dose of Lemtrada. Apparently, part of your immune system that
isn’t on the periphery stays with you and retains the vaccine. Then it occurred to me; how does Lemtrada
work if some of your immune system stays with you? He said it was hard to explain (I asked
through the portal) but it was why Lemtrada wasn’t 100% effective. So that's two things I didn't even know I should be worried about but it's good to know that I don't need to worry about them. 🤔🤷
He also told me that if I wanted to, I could get my second dose of Lemtrada 6 weeks after my second covid shot. I let him know that I would like to wait until 2022. I am just tired and I need a break. It's been a year and 3 months that I've had to constantly worry about germs and trying not to get sick. I don't want to jump right back into that. My daughter is graduating this year and I would like to travel. I'll do it in February of next year. That will be the end of winter and flu season will be wrapping up plus it will give me enough time to recover before my son graduates. Yes, my kids are a year and a half apart in age and one grade apart. My bank account is about to be emptied by colleges. 😉🤓 I think that's a better plan for me and there is no data that shows that it matters if you don't get the next dose exactly at one year. It does mean that I'll have an extra year and a half of monthly blood tests. 😕
Real quick because this post is getting too long...I told my functional medicine doctor how I've been feeling and that I felt like I've been sleeping walking these last two month. We lowered my DHEA because of the hair fall out (I think it's getting better, not sure) and my thyroid is working or not working we aren't sure. But all of that could just be throwing me out of balance. Oh and I am due for my monthly labs next week as soon as my Doctor thinks we are clear to be out and about.
Below is a picture of a Road Runner running through my yard. They are so fast that I only had time to grab my phone. I also saw two new birds a Chipping Sparrow and either an Orange Crowned Warbler or Nashville Warbler. They look pretty similar and I saw it while I was outside so I don't have a picture to compare it to. That's all for now...Take care.
Crappy iPhone picture of a Road Runner
