took a little trip.

My last appointment with my functional medicine doctor was at the end of November 2021. Which seems like eons ago at this point. During that time I started thinking maybe I would go visit him in person. And then I put that thought aside on a shelf somewhere for awhile. Except I kept coming back to it. The only problem was that there was never a good time to go and it would cost, of course. But at what point has my health ever been convenient? It's not and never has been. It's been inconveniencing me for many years, even before the big crash. Sometime in January in the midst of working through my Babesia treatment I decided I needed to go see him. I was determined to find a way and I'd go by myself if I had to. Once I set my mind to something it's a bit hard to change it. And trust me, I tried talking myself out of it quite a bit. Telling myself I would be fine, to just finish out the rest of the Lyme treatments, etc. But nope! I had to go. But then it was tax season and scheduling was proving to be too difficult to squeeze it in before everything got bananas at work. Plus, I knew I didn't want to do anything new during tax season. So much so, that I finished out the babesia treatment ... or kind of just decided it was time to be done with it. My body wasn't having it anymore and I needed to survive the work week and life. I wasn't going to start the third treatment for Bartonella either, it just didn't feel right. I needed to be in the right frame of mind and I was not there. Fast forward two months and now we're here. Ben and I booked the trip and left a few days after tax deadline. The kids weren't very excited we were going, but after explaining why they felt better about it. Theodore exclaimed that I'm going to get better and that I'll be able to play with him more (cue tears). He feels confident I will get better and it will take about a year. I hope he's right ;) 

So apparently I told more people about this trip to Boise than I remembered. But thinking back on it, it's likely because they just asked about traveling and that was the next trip coming up, so I'd casually mention it. Turns out all these people had it on their mind and were rooting for me. I had a flooding of messages wondering how my appointment went. I was so overwhelmed. In a good way, of course. My blog readers have gone down drastically in the last year, so I just am never really sure who is paying attention I guess. As with most appointments it takes me time to digest everything and I just don't want to talk about it right away. 

Before we jump into more health talk, do ya'll remember the bicycle incident in Asheville? It's a little funny looking back on it now. But I'm so happy to report that I got redemption finally! Ben and I rented pedal assist bikes in Boise and rode the Greenbelt while we were there. It was a wee bit windy, but I did it and we had a fun time. Though it wasn't a vacation type trip, we made the best our time there. Which for me also means taking uninterrupted naps along with some adventuring!

I think I'm just going to summarize my visit in bullet points as I just don't feel like getting all wordy about it. As always, you can reach out to me if you want more info or better understanding.

Good News

• The babesia, borrelia, and mold have been removed from my body (so yay! all that work was worth it)

The Other News

• Bartonella (this was the 3rd round of treatment I didn't complete yet) remains and is mostly affecting my bladder (which explains why it's so aggravated all the time)
• Tapeworms (cestodes) and Flukes (trematodes) are hanging out in my descending colon (article on parasites)
• With parasites the body releases a lot of IgE (antibodies produced by the immune system). This creates a situation in which we can become very reactive to our environment, including foods, smells, chemicals (more than usual).  This in turn can increase histamine and lead to CIRS (chronic inflammatory response syndrome). So this is basically why I struggle so much with food, etc.
• Parasites also like to hang onto other toxins, so they're chilling with some metals, herbicides/glyphosate. So as I get rid of them it will take care of these as well.

Currently, I'm just kind of doing a stabilization regimen while we figure out the plan to deal with the last of my issues (let's hope that's the case anyhow!). The bonus to this is I'm taking fewer supplements and it costs less. So there's that. The downside is that I so badly just want to get this over with and be healthy again. I've also started a brain retraining program. It's been a slow start getting into it but I hope to write more about that at a later time.

Before I leave I just want to give a shout out to my husband. He's so caring and patient and hilarious. I honestly don't know how I'd do this without him. When we travel he will stop at park benches as many times as we need to until we get to our destination. He will pay for a bike taxi or Uber if I'm just too wiped to make it back. He will be calm when I'm panicking about finding somewhere I can eat. He will get buckets of ice multiple times a day to keep my food cold when the hotel neglects to give us a mini fridge. He will make me laugh often and can even manage it when I'm crying. The list goes on and on. 

We are also incredibly grateful to our parents for taking care of and spoiling our children when we're away. Their time together making memories is priceless.

Love, Ash