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3rd Story Page
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infectious
disease specialist and head of the Lyme program at a major New
York City hospital, if she would test her for the disease. The
doctor refused, saying that she “couldn’t possibly
have Lyme.”
By this time, Rabin was so weak she was completely unable to work.
But, knowing that she was gravely ill, she kept up her search
for a proper diagnosis and treatment. She managed to get in touch
with the local Lyme group president, the late Betty Gross, who
recommended that she see Dr. Daniel Cameron in Mt. Kisco. Rabin
saw Dr. Cameron and his partner at the time, Dr. O’Dell,
who agreed that her symptoms were indeed consistent with Lyme,
they thought this was a possible diagnosis, and agreed to test
her for the disease.
On September lst, 2004, six months after she contracted the illness,
her blood tests for Lyme came back positive: eight bands on the
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Western Blot and a positive ELISA test. Treatment with antibiotics
was started immediately. After she had been on oral antibiotics for
several weeks, Rabin passed by a mirror while getting out of the bathtub
and to her astonishment she saw two, large circular rashes on her back--
the classic, Lyme bulls-eye rash! There they were, like the mark of
Cain. Now, she finally had proof of what had happened to her. It is
not uncommon for the Lyme rash to recur during the early stages of treatment.
It’s possible that the Lyme rash appeared on Rabin’s back
shortly after she was bitten by the tick six months earlier, Rabin explains--
but since it was on her back, she did not see it. Rabin notes that,
apparently, she was bitten by a nymphal tick in March of 2004 while
visiting a farm in Westchester, despite the fact that she had sprayed
her pants with DEET insect repellent and had pulled the top of her socks
over her pants. She did not, however, ever check herself for ticks--
and that was a fateful mistake. She wryly calls it, “The million | |
