Surely, I know that title will attract attention. But my spouse said it, loud and clear: “it’s over!”

What is over? As in done, finished, kaput?

HIS ILLNESS! WHOOPDIE-DIDDLY-DOOOOOOOOOOO!

No… not our marriage or relationship. Sorry, guys, I did not (intentionally) mean to tease. I remain committed to my one and only man who means the world to me. 🙂

I have shared on this blog the trials and travails of my spouse’s illness which was grueling, painful, and extremely difficult to deal with — for both of us.

I went back through this blog for posts about my spouse’s health condition, and realized that my spouse’s first signal of his illness occurred in June, 2011, with an episode that sent us on a track of a potential brain tumor. Yep, he had one, but the tumor was small, benign, and not the cause of his symptoms. The resolution of the tumor did not make the symptoms go away.

Symptoms continued to get worse and by October, 2011, he was suffering terribly with severe pain, vertigo, “brain fog” (a form of aphasia), and wildly unpredictable mood swings. Through October, 2012, he continued on that awful rollercoaster caused by the infections he had. All due to contracting two infections, both transmitted by a tick bite from deer ticks in our back yard.

We worked closely with his primary physician and consulted more than 30 other doctors throughout this ordeal. He was subjected to more than 70 tests of blood, urine, and hair. He had two MRIs, several x-rays, and even surgery for a non-malignant tumor. My spouse has a drawer-full of prescription medications and supplements — some 104 different ones! Really!

Thank Goodness for good health insurance, despite how difficult the insurance company was and frequent fights with their process of “deny until appealed, then approve.” The other day, I was reviewing statements from the insurance company as well as my spouse’s personal records. The doctor’s visits, treatments, meds, supplements, and tests cost well over US$35,000! Yep, that’s right — $35,000! All for diagnosis and treatment of two bacteriological infections! My goodness gracious!

Health insurance covered most of these expenses, but not all of them. Some tests were so specific and unusual, insurance would not cover them to the tune of $1,000 each. One particular physician with a national reputation as a specialist on the disease did not participate with any insurance plan — so my spouse had to pay $500 per visit for several visits with him. Also, insurance refused to cover some treatments that they considered to be “out of protocol.” But it was those treatments that actually worked. I fought hard to make it happen by applying my skills and knowledge in biology. Fortunately, my spouse’s primary care doc agreed and worked with us closely.

By November, 2012, my spouse began showing signs of improvement. His neurological symptoms and brain fog cleared. He had a mild relapse of the disease — expected — from March through May of 2013 — but we got on top of the infections again, got them treated, and then those symptoms abated and … we think, hope, pray … it’s over.

But I refused to say anything about the diseases being gone until my spouse said it in his own words last night: “It’s over. I can honestly say, the worst is behind us.”

That is HUGE! My spouse is the last one to say anything optimistic about his bout with this illness — so when he said that last night, I cried like a baby. He credited me with seeing him through this ordeal. But as I have said all along — it’s not me. It is three of us. A team — his physician, my spouse’s endurance to stick with a very difficult and challenging treatment plan, and me, as his primary caregiver and one who never would give up. I had deep faith we would achieve a positive outcome.

So WHOOPDIE-DIDDLY-DOOOOOOOOOOO!

The history of my posts about this situation are tagged with “LD” on this blog. You can read all of them here (this is a link). Be sure when you get to the bottom of the page that you click on “older posts” so you can read further. It’s an interesting chronology of how a long-term illness affects a relationship and a description of how my faith was tested.

Life is short: celebrate achievements!