June 20, 2012

When we got up he still had a headache and a fever.  We are going to the VA hospital in Iowa City this morning.  We are in a site that has people coming in tomorrow and if they decide to keep him in the hospital, I can’t move the Casita by myself.  We hooked up and moved the Casita to a first come, first served site.  We got set up and by 9 am were headed to the VA.  We told the doctor about his symptoms and then about the ticks and they are going to treat him as if that were the problem until the blood work comes back.  They are running six tests.  One is for Lyme Disease and one for Ehrlichiosis.   Ehrlichiosis is the tick disease the doctors think he has.  It is treated with the antibiotic Doxycycline.  He got a prescription for that and they drew blood and we went back to the Casita.

All afternoon Jim was in bed because of the headache. I checked his temperature a couple of times and he still has a fever.  I sat outside and read.  He got up before dinner and sat about an hour and then ate.  He went back to bed and I watched TV.   He still had a headache and fever when he took his medicine at 11 pm.  The doctor said it would be a couple of days before he started feeling better.  We will probably stay here two or three more days.