King of Pain

I haven't provided an update on Bo lately, and it's not because I only think about myself (really!) but rather because we still don't have any answers. If you will recall, earlier in the year he experienced what I affectionately called a sympathy cyst under his left nipple. He had a mammogram and an ultrasound and was diagnosed with something called gynecostomia. Following a battery of blood tests ordered by his urologist, the cause was still undetermined, and his primary care physician, apparently puzzled beyond her capabilities, just kind of gave up on him. Since then, Bo's symptoms have increased to include joint pain, swollen lymph nodes, fluid retention around his ankle, blurry vision, headaches, and probably a few more things I can’t recall at the moment. (chemo brain) That reminds me, memory loss is also one of his symptoms. He switched primary care doctors, and his new doctor sent him for physical therapy for his hip. (We are on the “family plan” at Erica’s practice which is a little kinky if you think about it….)

Erica suspects something is wrong with Bo’s back while his latest doctor suspects Bo’s hip is the problem. The doctor ordered an MRI for the back and hip, but the insurance company would only approve the MRI on the hip. (Deep sigh of frustration and resignation.) So last week Bo had dye shot into his hip and experienced the melodic (deafening), cozy (claustrophobic) MRI machine. (How many couples can say they both shared the experience of a mammogram and an MRI in the same year? It’s not a distinction to which we aspired, but bonding opportunities present themselves in unusual ways sometimes.)

So about $4,000 later, and to no one’s surprise, except apparently the doctor’s, we officially learned that there is nothing wrong with Bo’s hip. At least I had a diagnosis, and although I didn’t like the diagnosis, I was able to work with my doctors to develop a treatment plan to combat my illness. (I never thought I would enjoy using the past tense so much. I didn’t even derive this much pleasure from putting my first marriage into the past tense!) Bo, however, is caught in a physical and emotional purgatory. Not only is he experiencing troubling physical symptoms, he is anxious about the lack of a diagnosis, and consequently the inability to develop a plan of action to combat whatever illness is causing his problems.

So what to do? Visit the internet, of course. After researching his symptoms and talking with a friend of ours who has Lymes disease, Bo is pretty certain he has Lymes. It makes sense for an outdoorsman such as Bo. He gets tick bites the way “normal” people get mosquito bites. Doctor #1 did give him antibiotics earlier this summer after Bo reported he had recently pulled a couple of ticks off of himself. (I got the privilege of removing the one that set up shop in Bo’s belly button. Now that was quite a sight to see – Bo standing in front of me, with me on my knees trying to yank that thing out with tweezers. I don’t know who giggled more –Bo because it was tickling him so badly or me because the scene was so utterly ridiculous.)

Bo presented a list of Lymes symptoms to his current doctor, and after acknowledging that Bo does exhibit a number of them, the doctor agreed to treat Bo for Lyme disease with another round of antibiotics. If the antibiotics don’t eliminate Bo’s symptoms, the doctor will refer Bo to a rheumatologist to continue investigating his mysterious ailment. In the spirit of financial, uh, prudence, I told Bo to advise his doctor that we really needed to get this thing figured out by the end of the calendar year since we have already met the family deductible on our medical insurance for 2006! Bo knew I was (mostly) kidding and that my primary concern, despite my fiscally conservative nature, is first and foremost, his health. (Really!)