The Doctor — Part 13

If you asked me why we decided to leave America I would have given you two words: President Palin. (Although now that Ms. Palin has said she will not be contesting for the Republican nomination perhaps it's safe to go back?)

But the truth was much more complicated than that, and one of the many reasons we decided it was time to come home was my health. It had steadily declined over the last two years and I needed to be in regular consultation with the medical professionals, something which we couldn't afford to do in America.

So we came back to Sydney and have quickly gotten back in to the swing of having regular doctor's visits and working hard at trying to get healthy.

And the latest news from the good doctor is that he has shifted his diagnosis from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to Fybromyalgia (although the two conditions often overlap). With CFS the dominant symptom is fatigue, where as with Fybromyalgia the dominant symptom is chronic pain, with fatigue a secondary symptom (along with many others). And if nothing else it also has a much more scientific sounding name so it must be legitimate.

So the plan this time around is to tackle the pain first, and then see what happens to the rest of the symptoms after that. As usual, most of the treatments prescribed thus far exhibit side effects stunningly similar to the original symptoms, with a couple more thrown in for good measure. But we press on and fight through the pain until we — hopefully — find the right track. I'm starting to feel nauseous just thinking about it.

It's good to be home.

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Image by chuckp.