Edmonton Update #3

The homesickness has hit Lucas and Brandon quite hard this week... something I didn't expect to be this bad. They are having so much fun here, but have both been begging me to go home. They miss their Dad, their toys, their friends, their Opa and Nana, their Uncle Leighton and Uncle Dawson, and the rest of the family. So many tears shed by them this week.

I, however, am feeling myself relax more and more the longer I'm away from home. Mentally and emotionally that has been such a relief. Here there are none of the stresses of being a sick wife and mom struggling to keep up and do what needs to be done each day. My sister's household is also quite the cure for loneliness! Eight kids with mine included and there always seems to be people coming by.  It's amazing the difference not being alone so much has made and how much 'easier' it is to be physically ill when you do not also feel so terribly mentally bogged down. I've never felt so much joy in my heart while being in so much physical pain. A sweet elderly friend said to me recently: "I'm dying of loneliness." My heart breaks, but I understand that. God created us to be relational beings. It is not good for us to be confined to the inside of our homes all alone for so long.

Physically, I'm feeling sicker and sicker. Yesterday when I arrived at the clinic I was told I'm looking more and more tired by the day.

Many people have been asking why it is I'm getting sicker from treatment.

When the bacteria are exposed to high amounts of oxygen they will do one of two things: they will either be weakened and try to fight back by releasing toxins, or they will die which also releases toxins. Either way, high amounts of toxins are being dumped into my bloodstream and tissues daily that my body cannot expel quick enough. These toxins make me feel very sick and is called a herxheimer reaction. We are beginning to add more detoxing methods into my daily routine to help mitigate these reactions and to prepare for tomorrow...

Tomorrow I will have what they call an extended hyperbaric oxygen treatment, so instead of the daily 1.5-2 hour treatment I will stay in the chamber for 5 hours straight. The intent is to overdose the bacteria with a ton of oxygen. The intensity of the reaction to die-off will provide the clinic with a marker of how much bacteria my body is currently hosting as the more die-off that takes place, the sicker I will be. I will have these 5 hour extended treatments every two weeks. Once I get through one of these treatments without it causing a herxheimer reaction they will know the bacteria is gone.

Many of my test results have been coming in that were done the first two weeks I was here that I hope to share some of in the coming week. Some of them have been a bit to process. It's one thing to know that your organs are not functioning well by how you feel, it's another to see so many things wrong on paper. For now I have to head back to the hospital.