So apparently I almost certainly have Cat Scratch Fever. And apparently my level is off-the-charts high and I may have had it for a really, really long time. It can cause fatigue, headache, sore throat, swollen glands, and such. As my doctor asked me about contact with felines, I asked him what this find meant for me. I was away at school when I had my first crash of what at the time was called “mystery illness” and I now call ME, and at that time I hadn’t been in contact with any cats at all. Did he think this could be responsible for my condition? He sort of laughed and said that, no, I have this in addition to whatever else is wrong with me. Joy.
As a side note, I can’t even type Cat Scratch Fever with a straight face. It sounds like I’ve gone into heat. Or like a dance craze or something. They might as well have told me I had Saturday Night Fever instead.
On the down side, something clearly weird is probably going on with my immune system, given that most people clear this up all on their own within a month or two. On the plus side, the right antibiotics should get rid of the infection with or without my body’s assistance, which could result in some mystery amount of improvement in some of the related symptoms. I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high, but surely carrying around an active bacterial infection for years has got to take a toll, right? Or at least, not carrying around an active bacterial infection has got to feel better. What if they give me antibiotics and suddenly I’m 60% improved?? Or 20% improved? Or the same, except with an intoxicating banana aroma that follows me around?
It’s been a bit of a confidence shaker, though. I’ve often joked that I’ll be totally screwed if any serious health complication ever finds me, because I have so many severe symptoms that I’ve long ago stopped even mentioning them. This seems pretty common with ME patients. At the beginning, I would take my concerns to the doctor, but I’ve discovered that most doctors don’t like investigating symptoms once you pass a certain number. A mystery number. The Crazy Number. So it’s okay to have one, or two, or three debilitating symptoms, but once you reach the Crazy Number, they all just get lumped into one basket and nothing ever gets investigated again.
It would be nice to feel like somebody would look into the major ones, just in case. I’m sure I still might keep the less severe but doubly strange ones to myself. Crazy Number or not, I’m sure some of them would sound a little nuts. Generally I find just about all of my symptoms nuts, and I’m the one living through them. Hours and hours of daily hic-ups for a month straight for no reason, body? Really? Now you’re just trying to mess with me.
Anyway, I have severe mystery ripping pains, and severe nausea, and severe chills, and severe vertigo, and severe you-name-it very frequently. And not in a nice, predictable way where I can get used to what to expect and easily identify anything new. It’s raging night sweats one week and then horrible sudden chest pains the next. I’ve accepted that my body apparently does strange things for a long time now. It’s so common for me to involuntarily cry out in pain in our house that my husband barely even looks up anymore when it happens. We’ve adjusted, and go on with life as we’re able. And none of it even gets mentioned to my doctors.
The point being that every month something happens to me that feels like a crisis easily worthy of the emergency room. And I brush off every one. If ever my appendix burst, or I had a heart attack, or I picked up a touch of leprosy, or my intestines tied themselves into balloon poodles, I would be at home, calmly trying to go on about my business, or waiting in a heap on the floor for it to pass.
Because agony, or nausea, or shaking, or weakness, or chills, or skin that falls off, or bloating in the shape of balloon poodles is a part of my normal life. Plus, really, if I went to the ER for everything that felt worthy of the ER, I’d be there constantly. And I’m sure that the same doctors who would reprimand me for letting such severe symptoms go on without seeking medical treatment would roll their eyes if I came in to tell them about them now.
But finding out I have an ongoing infection is a reminder that other things can still happen to me, and that I will be totally blind to the symptoms of anything that does. It will have the chance to do it’s thing unhindered for ages and ages before anybody notices something wrong.
And that’s a damned unpleasant thing to be reminded of.
Good thing I’m immortal.
[Note: I may not actually be immortal. I think that may have passed after my teenage years. ...But I also no longer wear a walkman. Fair trade.]
[...Not that I wore a walkman, like, all the time or anything. Just at the appropriate moments. I don't want to colour that into your mental picture of my high school years. But still. Any walkman is too much walkman.]
Tags: Bartonella infection, Bartonellosis, Doctor! She's got an accute case of disco fever! Platform shoes stat!, Don't worry - my insurance plan covers cowbell, I don't actually have anything against walkmen. It was just the first teenage thing I could think of besides mall hair. I never actually had mall hair., I wish I was kidding about the leprosy. My damned skin rips off all the time., ME/CFS, myalgic encephalomyelitis, not to mention the teeny tiny part of my brain that's thinking WHAT IF THERE IS SOME OTHER ILLNESS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF THIS???, Too many ear infections as a child and adult means I will forever associate antibiotics with banana flavouring
My dad had cat scratch fever! I remember him being pretty sick but only for a couple of weeks (most of which he spent belting out Ted Nugent lyrics, as one does in this situation), but of course it was diagnosed a lot sooner than yours was. I feel really weird for being pleased that you have a bacterial infection, but I’m not really pleased about the infection, I’m pleased that there is something that can actually be diagnosed and effectively treated, which I’m sure is an interesting novelty for you, and this sentence is just going to get weirder if I go any longer so I’ll just stop here.
I’ve wondered how in the world you list off your various symptoms when you see the doctor, since I’ve actually surpassed the Crazy Number myself and I don’t even have ME. I just lived for many years with no health insurance and never got anything treated, and even now the doctor’s eyes glaze over when I start mentioning all the weird things that seem to go wrong with me that I’ve sort of stopped noticing. That being said, I do hope that your intestines don’t actually turn themselves into balloon animals. And if they do, TELL THE DOCTOR, silly woman.
I’m so happy you wrote. I’ve been checking your website daily, waiting for you to say something, hoping you’re okay(ish). Banana aroma is the worst thing you could have picked (and what’s up with ALLEGEDLY banana-flavoured candy? It’s not tasty and it’s definitely not banana). Also, I could happily read the phrase “balloon poodles” over and over. Also, did you read that article I posted the link to- How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy? What’s up with cats? That’s all I’ve got right now, must lie down. More of substance at a later date.
Elizabeth
http://elizabethmilo.com/2013/02/11/parasite-puppeteers/
Oh man, if you were an animal you would be one of the patients that we call “lemons” at work. Our lemon patients are constantly visiting us with recurring or a steady stream of new diseases.
I have heard of cat scratch fever, but have never met anyone with it. I get scratched by cats daily but seem to be resistant.
Feel better!!!
Amanda – I totally understand the sentiment of being happy I have a bacterial infection. We’ve been doing a lot of that around here too, and commenting often on how weird that probably is.
Elizabeth – Thanks for checking up on me.
I’m here, and think often about posting, what I would say, etc., but the resources have been extra limited lately. I find it terribly unfair that the times I most have something to say or the need to share it with others are the times that I’m least capable of reaching out. …Balloon poodles.
IfByYes – Oh, I am definitely a lemon. My sister is too. Whatever blueprint came out of my parents’ combination of DNA, it was clearly some sort of avant-gard experimental project, meant to be different but not terribly functional. “What if instead of an immune system, we gave them…freckles!”
I think it would actually be really helpful if I could just carry around a card that had LEMON written on it in big bold letters, that I could show to any doctor who treats me. It’s amazingly tedious trying to explain it to doctors until they collect enough observations to realize for themselves.
[...] due to fill you in on what happened with the Cat Scratch Fever, etc. Have finished the antibiotics now, but have been feeling too crappy to update [...]