A week ago I visited an Integrative ENT to help figure out why I can’t get rid of MARCoNS despite a couple treatments. Going into this office was like stepping back in time. The waiting room furniture was all antique, including a grandfather clock and enough nic naks to put your Great Aunt Enda to shame. There was not a computer in sight. The wall behind the receptionist was all shelving filled with paper patient files. There’s no website, no portal, no log in to see your test results. He is old school! And while the doctor was deep into his 70’s, he had way more energy than me. He spent over an hour with me, enthusiastically asking questions and explaining details that snapped a few more puzzle pieces into place for me and my treatment.
First, a little info: MARCoNS stands for Multiple Antibiotic Resistant Coagulase Negative Staphylococci. It’s found in the nasal cavity of over 80% of people with Mold Toxicity and other chronic inflammatory conditions. Left untreated, it’s one of the main reasons people with mold toxicity do not fully recover. It’s persistent and releases chemicals into your bloodstream that cause inflammation. It deactivates a hormone that plays an important part in our body’s stress response, affects the pituitary and hypothalamus glands, increases cytokines (remember our COVID vocab word for those little inflammatory punks) and decreases t-cells. Once T-cells are thwarted, bacteria and fungal infections go wild and bodies like mine are hit with aches, pains, poor sleep, leaky gut, and chronic fatigue just to name a few. Okay, I’ll stop here. Thanks for coming to my MARCoNS TED Talk.
The energetic doctor went into great detail about how fungal infections easily spread to all of my orifices above the neck and each one should be treated individually. But in short, everything from my ears to my uvula – that little dangly thing in the back of your throat – is involved in this infection and it even had a role in my hair falling out. The fungal infection is likely keeping MARCoNS present and active. He’s ordering a CT scan to check for a fungal ball in my sinuses (do yourself a favor and don’t google that…it’s as gross as it sounds). If there is one, then surgery will be my next adventure. He proposed that I don’t actually have sleep apnea, diagnosed about 6 months before I started mold treatment. He expects that sleep issues are to be blamed on the inflammation in my throat and airway and he anticipated that I would be off the cpap in a matter of a couple months. (Yahoo!) He also thinks that my migraines are closely related to the congestion and inflammation caused by these infections and may be solving a big part of that as well. This guy didn’t stop talking for an hour and 15 minutes and was so excited to learn every bit of my journey to his office. At the end of my exam, he shook my hand and exclaimed “Thanks for coming in! This was really fun!” I couldn’t help but laugh. No doctor has ever said that to me before. And while I know he enjoyed it because my case is complicated, thus more interesting to him than run of the mill sinusitis, it made me feel good that he’s excited to treat me. While I felt like I had taken in facts by fire hose that day, I left sure that he was providing the next piece in my treatment puzzle.
I left his office with 6 new prescriptions in hand…yes, in hand because he doesn’t send them to the pharmacy digitally, of course. I now have a new set of anti-fungals for every hole in my head and an antibiotic that works some sort of chemical/pharmaceutical magic when used along with the anti-fungal. While 6 prescriptions is a lot for anyone, adding SIX to my already full day of meds was completely overwhelming. I’m running out of “empty stomach” hours in which to take some of these so my medication now begins at 6am sharp every morning. I have eleven alarms set on my phone to keep me on track throughout the day. It’s quite the operation.
I spent the couple days after the appointment calling the insurance company for pricing info, gathering records from my previous doctor, and running down a compound pharmacy. By Friday, I finally had a handle on it all and started my new round of treatment. As I prepared a castor oil pack for my poor, hardworking liver, I began to pour near boiling water from my kettle into my hot water bottle. While I’ve done this successfully tons of times, on Friday, I missed.
I managed to pour scalding hot water all over my hand. I spent the afternoon cooling the large, red area, but by the evening, it was starting to blister. So, I made a little Friday night date with Duke urgent care. For this visit, I checked in online before I even left the house. I arrived to a sterile, nondescript waiting room and was added to the waitlist with a few clicks of a keyboard. I was taken back where my vitals were done by machine and recorded on a computer. I saw a doctor, got a treatment plan, and never even saw one single piece of paper. While the doctor was kind and competent, he wasn’t all that excited to see me or my scalded hand, and he definitely didn’t joyfully thank me for coming in or proclaim my appointment to be fun (which, considering the pain, was probably an appropriate response). He did, however, tell me that I have a second degree burn and was less than an inch shy of being sent to the UNC burn center for evaluation. Oh good grief! This is not part of the new, already overwhelming treatment plan. They wrapped me up nicely and sent me on my way, no forms needed. I’ll spare you the picture of the biggest, grossest, blister I’ve ever seen, but suffice to say my new full time gig is preventing it from popping. A big thumbs down to added bodily stress!
While the experience at urgent care and the ENT couldn’t have been more different in so many ways, and while I’m still overwhelmed by all that I need to stay on top of over the next month, this last week was a good reminder to me that I am so lucky to have great medical care just down the street from my house. Whether it’s chronic issues or a more emergent situation, I am so grateful that I’m now in the right hands to keep moving forward toward healing. Of course, it’ll help if I’m a little more careful in the kitchen.
How you can help.
- There are lots of products I need that can be gifted. Check out the amazon wish list here.
- What’s your favorite healthy recipe? Send it over!
- Send me fun hobby ideas or your best obscure streaming show.
- Send me your best book recommendations or loan me your favorites.
- And of course, I welcome hilarious jokes, memes, or stories from your life. I hope friends will keep me laughing. Tell me what’s happening in your world! I’m deeply grateful to be connected to you.
Seeking Sabbath 