I'M ALIVE!

This will be a long post.  I have felt impressed for a while now to give an update and assure all of you readers that my absence has been because I AM ALIVE.  That means I am BACK! I love being back.
I can finally be a complete mom, wife, friend and functioning part of society.

Since that day 2 1/2 years ago when I did the "happy-dance" in my kitchen, shouting, "I feel good-na na na na na na naa", I have only had 2 minor setbacks requiring treatment.

I've been in "remission" from Late Stage Disseminated Lyme Disease now and various co-infections and disorders for about a year and a half.  What that means is symptom free for 1 1/2 years...

Don't be fooled by the face of Lyme Disease!  If you'll recall, the picture I first posted of me when I had full-on Lyme symptoms is for all intense purposes the picture of health (from the outside).  Lyme disease victims often look well, but are dying on the inside.

The last symptom to leave me was eye pain. You might be thinking- okay.. I could deal with that.  Eye pain with Lyme is the feeling of having your thumbs pushed firmly on your eye balls.  Try it for 10 seconds and then live it 24/7.  Not fun.

Symptoms I still get now and again:
Fleeting numbness on my face and pelvic floor, occasional numbness in my legs, arms and hands and  headaches.  My diagnosis of  Lyme was Neurological- so even though I know the bugs are still around, I expect them to show up where they left off.

Consider that since the end of 2006 I was chasing daily infections like a wildfire throughout my body- UTI's, ear infections, headaches, severe exhaustion (after a full nights sleep and 3 hour nap), stuttering, unable to sustain my weight, unable to walk without holding on, confusion, dizziness, no appetite, numbness. With no diagnosis, I was left to continuing chasing and chasing bugs.

How do I know I have turned a corner?
While there are no guarantees with a disease like Lyme, last weekend, I was on my feet for 8 hours making and serving 20 batches of homemade soup for a large function of 200!  No nap. No rest time. No symptoms.  I did this two weeks in a row for 2 separate functions!  Although I had wonderful helpers at the functions, two years ago, I couldn't have made even a small meal for my family of 6.  I couldn't walk to the edge of my driveway to get the mail.  I was just too tired and weak to do it.  I have also been walking again. I am up to about 15 miles a week or 3-4 miles every other day.

What have I done now that works? 
My regimen now consists of a "small" pile of supplements in the morning including:
Thyroid-prescription
2000mg Vitamin C
5000mg Vitamin D
probiotic
Max Gxl-product I distribute:  www.max.com/255092
Cellgevity-product I distribute
ADR- Pure Encapsulations
Eating healthier
Sleeping better
Taking a personal inventory daily

At bedtime I take an even smaller "pile" of supplements:
Calcium
1000mg Vitamin C
HRT
primrose oil

What I wish I had done and sooner:  
I have an amazing doctor!  Dr. Dee is patient and listens to her patients.  So much so that stubborn me got away with "doing it my way" until symptoms I had spun almost out of control. The number one thing I wish I would have done: start Lyme treatment sooner. I could have been better sooner and avoided a lot of cost and time.

What has contributed to my wellness:

• Sleep:  I finally allowed myself adequate rest- daily.  I slept in as long as my body needed it and took an afternoon nap for as long as my body needed it.  Sleep is key to wellness from Chronic Fatigue, EBV, Adrenal issues and of course Lyme.
• Daily Hydro-therapy: Hot showers followed by cold compresses, hydrogen peroxide baths, Epsom salt baths, saunas. CAUTION: DO NOT USE THIS THERAPY unless you have consulted with your physician.  Hydrotherapy is a fantastic detoxification method- so much so that you may not be prepared for the "die-off".
• Supplements: take what your body needs, but be reminded that Lyme is a tricky and will suddenly and without warning disregard what "has always worked".  Be flexible.  the 2 supplements that I continue to take that WORK are Max Gxl and ADR.
• IV Therapy:  Had I not started IV therapy at the aggressive rate, when I did, I can't say that I would be alive today.  My body was just not responding to the supplements that I was taking.  I wasn't getting better.  IV therapy- 4 days a week worked.  I did this for 6 months.  I was also taking 6 oral antibiotics at the same time.You really have to flood those bugs!   AGAIN-  YOU MUST CONSULT WITH YOUR DOCTOR before trying any of these therapy methods.  

While in IV therapy, 2 of my dear IV- friends passed away.  Lyme disease is destructive.  It kills a person from the inside out.  Cells have no power because Lyme takes them over in populations that flood the body.

I am alive!  I love my Life!  I love my family for believing in my ability to recover when I had lost all faith.  

I love them for supporting me when I didn't "look" sick, but couldn't get dressed for the day or brush my hair because it took too much energy.  ( I used to sit on the edge of the bathtub to dry my hair because standing took the breath out of me!)

When your body and mind are sick, my advice to you:

1. Get a doctor: One you can trust.  One that will listen to you.  Do what they say. Don't be stubborn.  Be patient and get on the path to wellness.
2. Patient means: willing to drop everything from your plate of "to-do" to get well.  I mean everything!  YOU are your first priority. (Ya- try telling that to a type A person!) That's why I didn't get better sooner!
3. Find a support group- if you have the strength to attend.  
4. Keep up with friends and  family. You will be well again, my friend.  You will need them again, and they will need you.
5. Accept help- housecleaning, meals, running errands, taking care of kids.  This is no time to be a martyr.
6. Be True to yourself and recognize your limitations.  That's all I need to say about that.
7. Pray- Keep up your faith.  God will help you .  Trust in Him.

I have my life back.  Not sure how long it will last, but I am back.  I am full of gratitude.  I can honestly say, I did not anticipate ever recovering to the extent that I have.  It is a miracle to me.

Lyme Disease is mysterious.  It affects people differently and there is no 100% guarantee that any methods will cure you.  I know that I still have residual Lyme Disease, but I am so on it.  

Bye bye Lyme.  I hope I never see you again.

Rants, Raves and Things of Import

• On Rants...........

I am a Conservative Republican. Now, don't be too quick to press the delete button or 'unfriend' me.  I happen to like that label.   A lot.  I am a news junkie and a political follower... on BOTH sides of the line.  Strictly speaking of the Conservative side, however, my rant today is with my fellow Conservative Republican party.  Sheesh.  It's like this folks... Remember 9-11?  Remember Todd Beamer? What an incredible man he was! We didn't know much about him until after he died, but when push came to shove in that airplane, well, he did the right thing.  Well, we have a Todd Beamer right now running for the office of the president that is in the cabin of the plane trying to do his best to keep the plane from plowing into the ground.  He's a nice guy. Honorable and integral as much as we know.  Lives a clean life.  Married for 40 some years.  Raised a great family. And He LOVES America!  He is leading in the polls. He has won primaries in 2 states,  so why not rally behind him and stop this nonsense of nit-picking, and raise him to the top!  We need a candidate that will stand up to our president and defeat him.  Romney will.

• On Raves.......

Last weekend my hubby and I dropped our oldest daughter off to college.  Okay, that was the HARDEST thing I have ever done.  BUT she is in the best hands ever!  She is studying at BYU-Idaho. The feeling there is purely celestial. While listening to the President of the University the spirit was penetrable.  The campus is smallish, but sits up on the hillside with an amazing view of the valley.  My favorite building is the Spori building! When I hugged my daughter goodbye, the lump in my throat got tighter and the tears wet my cheeks.  Bye bye my sweet girl until Spring.

• On Things of Import.....

Raves and things of import kind of flow into each other.  When I was a young woman a hundred years ago it seems, on the night before having my first baby, I sat on the bed and cried.  I was ending an era in my life.  My life with my husband all to myself.  It was super painful and selfish and I remember it feeling like standing behind a page in a chapter book not knowing what the rest of the story would look like. In some ways, it was the hardest thing I had ever done!  Fast forward 18 1/2 chapter years, and saying goodbye to the baby that became is now the hardest thing I've ever done.  I started thinking about difficult passages and realized that there will be a time that my baby girl that is all grown up will be a momma someday.  She will have the same semi-selfish thing happen to her, and I will tell her it's okay-- "Someday you will have to do something even harder, and that is to let your baby go."  Before my daughter left for school, I wrote her a letter.  In the letter I told her:   

No one ever told me when you were born how it would feel to say goodbye when it was time.  No one told me that no matter what, you have to hold your head up high with grace and let it happen, because it’s the right thing to do.  No one told me how it would feel like being socked in the stomach, that your heart would break in half and that your eyes would sting for hours from crying.  No one told me. I should’ve known it would feel this way.  I’ve been psyching myself out the past couple months thinking that I would be okay.  It would be okay.  And, really, it is- okay.  It’s what it’s supposed to be like.  If it didn’t feel painful and miserable and sad, there would be something wrong for sure.  But it’s the right thing, and it feels good, even though it feels awful. 

So for now, these are things of import:  Love your babies, because soon they will grow up and leave you, and it's okay.  That's the way it's suppose to be.

The end.