A Fungus Among Us

We have a new hobby: Getting mom out of the house. Hospice dropped off a wheelchair-type contraption (all four wheels are small and someone has to push it). This has opened up a whole new world for us. Ahh, the great outdoors!

I want to shed some pounds and mom wants to shed some boredom, so now we go walking. We have gone to C.A.L.M., the Park at Riverwalk, and yesterday, the bluffs. We go just for about an hour each time, not too much at once. She says it makes her feel more alive. She just sits and rides, and I push. She looks forward to this time.

So, I knew something was really wrong when I came home from work today and she said she didn't want to go walking. Then, she stuck out her tongue. It was covered in a thick, white, pasty-looking coating. It was pretty gross and sad all at the same time.

"I think I have thrush," she said. It is clear, she does.

Mom says it hurts to eat. She told me that when she was working as a nurse one of her patients had thrush so bad he cound barely eat anything. At first, I wasn't too worried. But then, being the reporter that I am, I investigated, dug deeper, and got some answers about this thug called thrush.

Thrush is a fungus, a pathogenic yeast to be more precise. Candida albicans, it is technically called. Babies get it a lot. So do people with compromised immune systems. I say 'get it', but most of us already have it... a healthy immune system just keeps it in check.

But when it is down... it's carpe diem for those little suckers. They seize the day, the mouth, then the esophagus, the intestinal tract, and possibly the lungs and liver if left untreated. Yes, there is a fungus among us... and it can kill.

The good news is it can easily treated with anti-fungal medication.

The bad news is many anti-fungal medications are very hard on the liver.

Her liver is already the little engine that could and the medication could prove to be a boulder on the tracks.

We are waiting to hear back from Hospice about what medication they are going to prescribe. Of course, I will use my "investigatory" skills to make sure it isn't a liver slayer before she takes it. I trust the docs, but getting a second opinion never hurt (especially when it's my opinion).

In the meantime, the Mayo Clinic website recommends gargling with warm salt water and taking garlic pills. Yes, I checked, the garlic won't hurt the liver.

She can't gargle because she says she will throw up. I made her the concoction and told her just to swish. She swished just once. But she did take the garlic.

I have to honest, right now I am kind of pissed off. Not at her, of course, but at these stupid little microbes. Cancer, Candida, it's all crappy.