December 01, 2009
Patient Spotlight - Susan Bick
Susan Carol Bick is aiming to enroll this March in Forsyth Technical Community College's Allied Health Program, where she'll be studying to become a licensed MRI technician. That's a lofty achievement for anybody, but all the more remarkable when you consider the obstacles Carol will have overcome to reach her goal.
Never mind that Carol will be 67 years old when she graduates and has spent more than a decade battling Lyme disease. She's not letting anything get in the way of fulfilling her dream.
"Some people tell me I'm crazy for doing any of this, going back to college at my age," Carol, 64, concedes with a laugh. "But that just keeps me motivated. I wasted more than 10 years of my life suffering from a disease that doctors couldn't figure out. I feel I need to fight back to regain those years that were stolen from me."
Carol's journey began back in 1987 when, ironically, she was fulfilling another life-long dream. Carol and her husband, Arthur, had just bought a horse farm in Bear Creek, North Carolina. Their new home and adventure was everything that the Bicks had hoped it would be but came with an unexpected drawback. The farmland in the small town of Chatham County was crawling with ticks and it wasn't long before some of them hit home.
Susan Carol Bick
Before Treatment
The conventional wisdom of the day was that it was no big deal to get bit by a tick; you just pull it off and go on your way. "It was out first introduction to ticks," Carol says. "Neighbors told us to just get a flock of chickens or guineas, and they'll eat 'em. I eventually ended up with one of them stuck in my ear and couldn't get it all the way out."
She visited a doctor, who said it wasn't anything to be overly alarmed about and could be easily and effectively treated. Carol didn't give it much thought at the time, but remembered it vividly a few years later when she began experiencing a troubling progression of health problems. In the early '90s, she had to have a complete hysterectomy, followed by a succession of ailments that included memory loss, severe joint pain, sleeplessness, chronic fatigue and recurring migraine headaches. She also had contracted lichen sclerosis, a form of autoimmune skin disease that produces painful rashes and constant itching.
"Every time I went to the doctor, it was something new!" Carol recalls. After weeks of searching the Internet she found research that suggested a link between LS and the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. Given her history with ticks, she thought that might be the culprit that was stealing her health.
Meanwhile, her other symptoms were wreaking havoc with her life: crippling joint pain, excessive and unexplained weight gain, blinding headaches and acute loss of balance. At one point, she was reduced to spending entire days in bed without even getting dressed. There didn't seem to be a cure for what she had, or any end in sight.
"You just kind of learn to suffer through it and live with it," Carol says.
A glimmer of hope appeared on the horizon when a doctor, acknowledging her exposure to ticks and that she had previously developed the bulls-eye rash associated with Lyme disease, administered a three-month course of antibiotics. If it proved helpful, the doctor had said she would refer Carol to Dr. Joseph Jemsek, an infectious disease specialist and one of the country's leading authorities on Lyme disease.
The antibiotics produced positive results and her health began to steadily improve. But it was to be a short-lived recovery. At the end of the three-month cycle, her symptoms returned with a vengeance. It was time, she decided, to pay a visit to Dr. Jemsek.
"My first appointment was an eye-opener," Carol says. "He spent more than an hour listening to me, evaluating my symptoms and history, explaining things to me. That's almost unheard of these days, for a doctor to spend that kind of quality time with a patient."
Dr. Jemsek subsequently made a clinical evaluation of Lyme disease, based on Carol's symptoms, history of exposure to ticks and previous documentation of the telltale rash, and in 2007 recommended a treatment cycle of IV antibiotics.
"The results," Carol says, "were incredible."
"I kept getting better and better and better. It was miraculous. I was like a fanatic," she recalls with a laugh, "going around and telling everybody about this miracle."
That was nearly three years ago and Carol hasn't looked backed since. Her health continues to improve; her energy level and weight have returned to normal; the agonizing joint pain and headaches are gone. The "incurable" lichen sclerosis has disappeared as well.
Susan Carol Bick
After Treatment
With her renewed health, Carol set her eyes on achieving another life-long goal of a career in medicine. She wanted to become a licensed MRI technician, but quickly learned the college credits she had earned in 1978 while obtaining a biology degree were no longer valid. So Susan Carol Bick, 64 years young, decided to head back to school.
"Once she puts her mind to something, that's it," Dr. Jemsek says. "It's going to get done. She's an amazing person with tremendous courage and determination."
After taking two classes at Forsyth Technical Community College, and getting A's in both, Carol signed up for the CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) class at Wake Technical College. She did her clinicals at Wake Medical Center and in October passed the State CNA exam to become certified. While taking the CNA, Bick enrolled for both Anatomy and Physiology I and Anatomy and Physiology II, as well as Oral Communication, at Central Carolina Community College. The semester ends in December and so far she's on track with all A's.
Carol will learn in March if she's earned enough A's to be accepted into the MRI Technician program, which accepts only five students a year.
"I took my courses wherever I could find them, at three different colleges, because I felt I didn't have time to waste," Carol says. "It's been a lot of work, but a great experience. I'm making up for lost time and enjoying every minute of it."