I don't have kids, so I can only tell you what my LLMD told me for adults: exercise tolerance is a key indicator of recovery. I know this to be true for myself. I started exercising seriously about 5 months ago. At that stage I was weak and nauseous after almost any short, light workout. I can now tolerate a great deal more exercise without being laid out -- and many other sx have resolved completely, too.

I'm one of those people who hardly ever tests positive on the Western Blot, so I can't go by bloodwork (I haven't used Bowen, only Igenex). I do keep a symptom chart that has been very helpful in assessing my progress, but in my anxiety to convince myself I'm well I need objective markers, like exercise tolerance.

Most docs will do bloodtests as a course of action - they won't really tell you if the lyme is gone - since they really didn't tell you the lyme was present! But patterns may emerge with bloodtests. Your child may have a positive lyme test during treatment when before they were seronegative. That gives the doc an idea that maybe the buggies have been forced out into the bloodstream with treatment. Also other body systems need to be monitored thru bloodtests.

So there's no real hard and fast answer to your questions. If you have confidence in your llmd, they will give your child the best care and do their best to get him/her well.

Jess is on biaxin and flagyl [cyst buster]. IMHO, the cyst form of lyme is why people constantly relapse. The cyst form lies dormant, unaffected by normal abx, symptoms disappear, and a few weeks later the Bb comes out of cyst form to raise havoc again.

I really believe that some type of cyst buster needs to be used in near-end treatment to eradicate the disease.