Squeaky, Lyme Disease and Ticks

Lutz, Florida

We enjoyed our day not having to move or have any service people come inside.  The new refrigerator seems to be working fine, but we do notice opening the doors really bring the inside temperature up.  We never seemed to have any problems in the old Dometic refrigerator, but then again, it was half the size, so maybe that was why.  Margie said Norcold’s are known as “not cold.”  I guess we’ll have to live with it.

We got a call back from the Vet yesterday.  The tests results,  came back inconclusive, but likely that she has lymphoma.  They did find immature  lymphoma cells in her blood.  This may sound like bad news, but at this point, we are happy to have some kind of diagnosis that we can at least try to treat.  Even though it is not curable, we are hoping to give her some time and quality of life.  The way things are going right now, we would have a very short time left with her.   The vet called in a prescription for the chemo drug, Leukeran.   It was inexpensive ( $37).  We will give her a pill every other day.  Dr. Drake said cats normally tolerate it very well with minimal side effects…affects?    We start them today.  Wish us luck.  We feel better that at least now we are possibly doing something that might help her.  Yes, we love our girl!

I also wanted to give an update on my Mother.  She kept going to doctor after doctor and none of them could find what was wrong with her.  Last month, by accident,  they discovered she had a 95% blocked artery,  and they put in a stent.   Unfortunately, that didn’t make her feel any better.  She kept complaining of this discomfort/pressure in her chest.  We thought it was heart related due to the location of the pressure, but they assured us her heart was fine.  Of course, they assured us of that right before they discovered the 95-99% blocked artery! 

Anyway, after the stent, she thought she’d start feeling better. She didn’t, and still had that horrible feeling in her chest.

We think we may now know what some of her problems are.  This may help others.

Several years ago, she found out that she had Lyme Disease (caused by a tick).  I don’t know how she got it, because my Mother is NOT an outdoorsy type of girl!  Where she got a tick is a mystery to me.  She lives in a subdivision in the middle of Tampa and she doesn’t go hiking, walking, kayaking or anything like that.

She was treated for the Lyme disease, for months with some heavy duty intravenous drugs.  She had hoped that would help her to feel better when she finished treatment.  It didn’t.

Just by luck,  a few months ago, a doctor she visited (one of many) told her that they recently discovered that people with Lyme Disease can also have a number of other bacterial tick borne diseases.  At the time she got diagnosed with Lyme Disease, they didn’t know of the existence of these other infections.    She was tested and they confirmed  that she did have one of these other infections.  The doctor thought that could be causing some of her problems.

Three weeks ago she started on a new anti-biotic.  This one is by mouth not iv, fortunately.  She has actually started feeling better.  She has days where she can actually do something, besides nap and sit in her recliner.  We are hopeful this will solve her problems and give her a better quality of life.

I want to share what we’ve learned about  Lyme  Disease.  It is caused by a bite of a tick. I am no means an expert, but I do know that if you get a tick, it can very easily cause a problem that you may not know about for years.

If you get a tick bite, you will likely get a red spot on your skin soon after. 

It could look like this:

or this:

I think when you get this red spot or rash, is when you need to see a doctor.  Al has gotten several ticks on him over the years, but we don’t recall seeing any of these types of rashes.  We like to hike at the state parks and they can have ticks, even on marked trails.   We think he got his when he went off the trail a little bit, but we’re not sure.  For some reason, they seem to prefer him.

Al does pest control and gets calls frequently from some of the veterinarians that they have ticks in their office.  I guess the dogs bring in the ticks.  So if you take your dog to the vet, you could end up bringing home a tick.  Maybe that’s how Mom got hers. 

I found a tick on me last winter when I got out of the car to read a sing in a state park.  I was in a parking lot!  When I got back into the car I found a small tick crawling on my arm.  It didn’t bite me.  Just understand, that ticks can be anywhere, not just in the woods.  Be aware of them and that red spot/rash on your skin.