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This is the story of a crazy rare bacterium I tested positive for at Mayo Clinic, them contacting the DOH and my cat and I getting tested, plus all of our food tested too. Good times. Could use your thoughts and prayers today. 🙏 A few weeks ago, I went to the Mayo Clinic with strange symptoms and tested positive for a rare bacterium, which by law they had to report to the Department of Health. Last time I had to really push at Mayo to do an amylase lipase test, which is for your pancreas, and I’ve never had pancreatitis in my life, but I said my pancreas hurts. They said you can tell? I said yes. They tested it and numbers were doubled. That’s when they got really concerned. I guess I know my body. The DOH claimed my well water was "safe" simply because there wasn't a neighborhood cluster. They actually told me the city and county can’t even test it, but claimed it wasn't necessary because neighboring farms are fine. But science tells us an outbreak doesn't require a cluster—an isolated pipe breach or a low infectious dose can happen. Or, of course, if someone intentionally contaminated the well. We didn’t even entertain that idea at the time, and I didn’t explain to them that I am a public figure. But we’ve got cameras & security and security everywhere, so that would be difficult. Just 48 hours ago, I barely wet my toothbrush with a few drops of tap water when my bottled water wasn't handy. Now, the symptoms are back, which last time, like this time, started with shortness of breath. Before this, I was working out hard, had a perfect cardiac workup, a great physical at Mayo, and a zero calcium score. Then this bacterium hit, tanking my stomach and throwing off multiple organs—doubling my pancreas numbers, causing a kidney infection, and a UTI. The gold standard is a CAT scan, which I had just over a week ago. They said the organs looked fine, so they figured it was resolving itself. I finally made it back to the gym for a gentle workout yesterday after being cleared—nothing too hard—but my body is definitely still fighting this. I'm headed back for more testing at Mayo today. It is incredibly frustrating. The DOH spent four hours on the phone with me over the last few weeks going through every single morsel of food I’ve eaten for weeks because I wanted to be helpful and honestly find out what the hell caused it. Everything came back completely clear. And of course I’ve been so picky what I’m eating now, so nothing I ate prior. Even Tarzan got tested, poor guy. $300 later and they said he was negative. The DOH did a complete inventory of all of his food since I come into contact with it and prepare it, thinking maybe I got it from that, but his results were clear, too. Now I’m left wondering if it was the well water after all. I am astounded by the thick bureaucratic red tape. The DOH really needs to know more about well water testing, how a bacterium works, and how the hell to test for it. They told me I can’t even pay them to test it because they simply don't offer it. 🤯🤦‍♀️ I think I found a private company, but they say it’s hard to test for too. I’ve put $12,000 into well equipment, but now I learned that my UV light doesn’t have a prefilter, though the company up in Jacksonville says it doesn’t need one, but literature online says differently. To add insult to injury, Blue Cross Blue Shield only covers testing through Quest Diagnostics. Mayo has their own labs and doesn’t use quest. This always seems to happen on a Friday, so last time I just let Mayo do the labs to get results within hours. The catch? It costs thousands of dollars out of pocket. 🤣🫠 Today, I’m saying the lab slips to go straight to Quest because I refuse to pay thousands of dollars again—assuming Quest has the availability on a Friday.😅 I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks for the prayers. 🙏