As the previous post said, Dr. C.  redeemed himself, kind of. In November he recommended an itergrated protocol developed by a highly respected Lyme’s Dr. in Hyde Park, NY. He prescribed B12 shots daily, an antibiotic shot four days a week and asked us to go see this guy. Did you notice the word SHOT. Linda was none to excite about poking a two inch 22 gauge needle in me. Frankly it has adjusted my attitude. You know an annoyed wife, armed…you get the idea!

We made it to New York in February and spent a half day with Dr. H and his staff. Their bottom line was “we believe you have Lyme’s disease, but don’t think it’s the cause of your ALS”. They tweaked my treatment regime and sent us on our way. This delinking of Lyme’s and ALS was a little confusing. Over time our doc’s pretty much determined staying our current course was the best option because, frankly, no other options were known. Cluelessness revealed again!

A side effort over Linda’s aversion to giving shots ensued with Dr. H’s physician assistant. The alternatives all required a prescription written by a doctor licensed in Georgia. After weeks of searching locally and being told no, we called our doc’s in Charleston hopping for a lead. Well low and behold they have a former associate they trained with a practice north of Atlanta. One phone call and one appointment with Dr. T and we’re set. Well, until Dr. T. (young female) question’s Dr. H’s (old guy) protocol.

We had five doctors and a potential turf battle brewing. YIKES!  Our quick fix for this dilemma was simple. They can all get together and hash it out among themselves. Which they did. We now have four docs. The southerners banded together and bounced the yankee. 

Parallel to all this craziness I went through two ALS clinics at Emory. The January clinic brought the respiratory team to bear as my breathing dropped below the 80% acceptable threshold. There response is machines, three of them, that I was being kind of passive aggressive about using. In May I got the ire of the respiratory team for not being good and everyone was hands on hips, finger wagging excited about my further weight loss. They started a full on press that I have a feeding tube installed. Ugh! We left with a lot to think about. 

Oh did I mention Lexy got her learners permit. Horrifying