Lyme Disease

After being MIA since October of 2009, I am finally crawling out from under a big rock called Lyme Disease. I know many of my stamping friends have been wondering where I went and what happened to me.

In October of 2009, my husband's father lost his very long, hard battle with cancer and it hit our family very hard. The very same week, a good friend was killed in a tragic situation that quickly became a national news story. She was my age (38 at the time) and was taken from this Earth way too early.

After two weeks of very difficult funerals, I started to feel very drained which was not very surprising except for the fact that I never really felt better as time passed. Time went on and I slowly started to have more and more symptoms (all subtle at first) and the depression and the fatigue worsened.

Eventually I had to admit to myself that something was desperately wrong but I didn't know what. Neither did my doctors. After months of doctors, specialists, blood work, tests and even thinking I had cancer, I was finally diagnosed with Late Stage Lyme Disease. At first, I was relieved to have a diagnosis and because I wasn't very educated on Lyme Disease, I thought "Oh, good! This is no big deal!" I quickly learned how wrong I was.

The more I learned about Lyme Disease, the more I realized that my situation was much more serious than I ever imagined. I started seeing a specialist two hours away and have been under his care for the past 9 months. I just finished up 8 months of intense antibiotic chemotherapy (11 doses a day). I stopped the meds last week because my body just can't handle anymore of it right now.

There is no cure for Late Stage Lyme Disease and I am hoping to regain my health gradually with traditional medical treatment along with alternative treatments including naturopathy, homeopathy and nutrition.

I haven't been able to work at all this year and my creative interests had to be set aside because when you feel that sick, the last thing you feel is creative. For the past year, I have spent the majority of my time in bed but lately I do feel like I'm finally improving a little bit and this week I finally had some creative energy and time in my art studio. I'm very thankful to have come to that point. I have a long road ahead of me but I am thankful for every bit of improvement I get.

I hope that I'm getting back to the point of living life again but only time will tell. With any luck, you'll be seeing me much more regularly here. That's what I am hoping for!