(Kaden gave me permission to publish this post)
Kaden, he is my baby, he might not like me calling him that, but I think he knows he has me wrapped around his finger.
Kaden, he is a warrior, the definition of warrior is a person engaged or experienced in warfare; a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness. Let me explain why….
In March 2021 after a stressful year with Covid, school and normal teenage life, he started not feeling well, tired all the time and suffering from all over body aches. I started with the family physician taking lab work. Everything came back OK, and the doctor figured it was stress and anxiety due to senior year and all the things that come with that time of your life. Kaden graduated in the top 10 of his class and survived having to give a speech and school was done, but his fatigue and body aches continued. Our next stop was a chiropractor. He checked him over and agreed that his muscles were tight but figured it probably was just stress and anxiety and told him practical ways to deal with that.
Kaden headed off to Indiana Wesleyan the end of August for his freshman year of college. On move in day, his roommate’s mom, who is a physical therapist, did a brief evaluation on movements and strength in his arms and legs. She suggested we check in with an orthopedic doctor. When Kaden was home for fall break, we went and saw an orthopedic doctor. Kaden had tendinitis in his elbow, doing his senior season of tennis and had gotten physical therapy for that so we went back to the same doctor to see what she thought about his aches. She did see that his shoulders and neck were tight and prescribed physical therapy again, but also thought it was probably the stress and anxiety of college.
There we were three doctor’s opinions all saying stress and anxiety, I knew that both of these were present in his life, but this mama knew that there was more.
Freshman year of college is always tough, Kaden had a hard semester with the normal stresses, and continued with fatigue and body aches. He pushed through, continued to work out and study hard to get good grades, and he made it through the first semester.
I still needed answers, several of my friends suggested we test him for Lyme disease. After getting a few very God ordained connections, I got the name of a doctor near Indianapolis who specialized in Lyme and other tick borne diseases. We got an appointment for the end of January 2022. We met with her; she was amazing. Her and her husband had started this practice when some family members had gotten Lyme and discovered how much the medical field does not believe in Lyme and so they started their own practice. She took lots and lots of bloodwork and sent it off to California to the main lab that deals with tickborne diseases. On February 25, 2022, almost a year after he started not feeling well, Kaden was diagnosed with Lyme Disease, Bartonella (another tick borne disease) and Epstein Barr virus (the mono virus) Thankfully we finally had answers but finding the right treatment was the next hard part. He started on numerous antibiotics and natural supplements.
He completed his freshman year and came home for the summer. His body was exhausted and he started working but half way through the summer, he needed to quit to give his body time to rest. This was very hard on Kaden, he is a worker and didn’t want to be viewed as lazy. This started taxing him mentally. I started researching chronic illness and mental health. These two are so intertwined. We saw the doctor at the end of August before Kaden returned to college and we had his labs done again. We both were very discouraged by this time because he had been on and off many different meds and supplements since February with no relief or improvement. Lab results came back with some good and bad news. His Lyme and Bartonella markers were better and showed improvement but a third tick borne disease had reared his ugly head, Babesiosis. Babesia is tick driven but it is different then Lyme. This one attacks the red blood cells and acts a lot like Malaria. The labs also showed that his Epstein Barr virus was higher than the last time. I was so upset and questioned God, “why something else?” The doctor switched up medications again to try a different approach.
The last three months have been very hard on Kaden mentally and emotionally. On the outside he looks good and full of life, but he lives in a continual state of fatigue and body aches. He is trying to live the college life style but late nights and lots of activity taxes his body and the toll has been cruel. I’m so grateful for IWU providing him with counseling and disability benefits for his school work load. I told him that he can come home, that his physical, mental and emotional health is more important than school. He sent me this “putting mental health before my education is a great idea until it affects my education which affects my mental health which effects my education.” Living with chronic illness is a lose lose situation.
Kaden came out to see me this past weekend, he needed a mental health break from school and we needed time together. It refreshed both of our souls. Kaden loves to hike and climb up whatever rock formation he can. He was tired but he wanted to climb….he did short little climbs.. I saw the benefit on his mental health by his smile, but I saw what it cost him as he dropped into the car and just crashed with exhaustion.
This is why my son is a warrior…. he is engaging in warfare against tick borne and Epstein Barr…they are trying to take him out. His determination to not let it beat him shows his courage and vigor for the battle, but some days it feels too hard and sends him crashing mentally and emotionally. He continues to seek God for his strength and I continue to battle with him spiritually, emotionally and mentally until we together through God’s power will win this battle.
Will you join me in prayer that Kaden can see a victory over these diseases and we can give God all the Glory for what He has done.