My Friend Caity

Today's post is one that hits very close to home for me. I have a very dear and sweet friend, her name is Caity. Caity is married to Shawn and they have a 2 year old little girl named Haley. I first met this family last February when my husband was working for the same company as Shawn. Caity and I instantly hit it off and I fell in love with her little girl and her beautiful brown curls. Since I have all boys, Haley is my little girl to spoil and love on whenever I see her. 

Caity is my best friend here. Haley and Carter are also BFFs. Though Haley might try to put a curse on C when she comes over to play and they are still learning they are ALLOWED to play together, they both love each other and I know later on in life they will get married. These people are my people and I love them all like family. So, when Caity came to me and told me that she was having some issues with her lymph nodes by her ears and throat, my freak out button instantly went off and I was praying to God she was ok. She had recently started taking some new medicine to treat her acne, it's a prescription called Minocycline. Shortly after her lymph nodes started acting up, she was experiencing all kinds of strange symptoms, including migraines, hearing loss, nausea and vomiting, body pain, dizziness and temporary blindness. She chocked it up to stress, or possibly an infection of some sort. They ruled out Lymphoma and she went back and forth to all sorts of doctors trying to get answers. No one could help. It was very frustrating for her and her family. 

Finally, earlier this week she got some answers. She has something called "pseudotumor-cerebri". Its basically fluid around the brain which causes swelling and requires her to have a spinal tap performed to remove all the fluid. She had her first one done on Wednesday and has been at home recovering since Wednesday afternoon. I talked to her earlier today and while she ventured out to the grocery store, she is still in a lot of pain and shouldn't be walking around. She has an MRV performed this coming Thursday and has a few other appointments scheduled soon. She doesn't know what the treatment timeline is, or how many times she will have to have the spinal taps performed. Hopefully she only needed the one. This has put some limitations on her life for now, she can't return to a normal exercise routine because she can't risk any head trauma that might cause the fluid to return. She has to watch her diet and will be taking medicine for the rest of her life. It makes my heart ache knowing that something so life changing can happen in an instant when all she was trying to do was get medicine to clear up her skin. 

She's probably going to kill me for this next part, because I told her I was writing a blog post about everything in hopes that awareness can be spread and maybe this will prevent others from taking this medicine. There was NO warning given by her dermatologist or her PCP regarding the risk of this condition. All of this was sudden and unexpected. They were completely blindsided. She is young, only 25 and has a young family too. Her husband is the only one who works so there is only one paycheck coming in. They have basically drained their bank account from the past few weeks of countless co-pays and will soon have to deal with the remains of medical bills that insurance will not cover. They have a mortgage, utility bills, groceries and a young child to care for.

I have created a donation page for the Cain Family {HERE} because I want to help, and I hope that you will feel compelled to help as well. They didn't ask for any of this. They didn't want the countless doctors appointments, treatments, prescription medicines, co-pays and hospital/doctor bills. If you can't donate, please take a moment to add them to your prayers. The Cains are wonderful people and I have written this post in her honor and to make others aware that this medicine can be dangerous and there are risks in taking it. If you or a loved one or a friend is on it or is thinking of taking it for acne or the other conditions it is said to help, please talk to your doctor and make yourself and everyone around you aware. While yes, it is very rare, it can happen. You always think these things won't happen to you or someone you know. 

It did happen. To my friend. To her family. 

I thank the Lord above that she is still alive and while she will continue to live a pretty normal life, she now has to deal with this, which could have been prevented had her physicians been open and honest with her about the side effects of this drug. 

Thank you. 

XO