dealing as best we can

Life is getting a little more back to normal after the past few weeks. My daughter is doing better but it’s obvious she is not cured of the c. diff bacteria that have invaded her body. No wonder, as she has been sick with it for six years and even though a diagnosis has finally (I won’t even get started on that!) been made, there is no sure fire cure. She has the super strain. There is only the hope that it will be cured and even then, a recurrence is likely.

What to do? After a round of two antibiotics, one which made her even more ill, she has chosen to take the natural route. So, Mom and daughter have been discussing possible options and we’ve been reading and researching intensely over the past week or so to find out what the best options are. She and I have decided on a regimen (which we’ll not disclose just yet) which we hope will be successful, if not in eradicating the c. diff, at least in allowing her to live with it to the best of her ability. If successful, we’ll have a lot to rejoice over and to share with others.

To say her life has not been shortened by this would probably be a lie. She has suffered for six years and lived only through repeated hospitalizations to bring her back from near death due to dehydration and malnutrition. She was a healthy 185 pounds when she got sick. She strives to maintain 100 pounds now. She has survived with the use of a blessed herb to quell the nausea and pain and increase the appetite. With acupuncture therapy over the past 6-8 months she had made improvement and regained some energy and was doing better than she had been for the past few years. That was until she contracted Listeriosis from drinking raw milk. Now, before anyone jumps to conclusions about the danger of drinking unpasteurized milk, please note that everyone else in our family drinks it without trouble. The only reason she was affected is because her immune system was already so compromised. However, without her having contracted the Listeria bacteria, the diagnosis for c. diff would not have been made. Her doctor even admitted that. So I guess you could say there was a silver lining to her most recent relapse.

My girl child has faced death more times than one should have to and as a result has little if any fear of it. In fact this I know, she has welcomed it at times. It is a difficult thing to watch your child suffer and deteriorate. It is stressful and emotional for everyone involved to think about losing one so near and dear to the heart. I have tried to release my fear of losing my child and am doing better, clinging to the hope that she will improve and even make a return to full health. One must cling to hope when there is so little else to hold on to and modern medicine fails to provide answers or cures.