Good News!

Hello Friends!  It's been a while since I've posted and updated here so I thought I'd pop by and share the great news that this past Tuesday was my 230th and LAST daily iv infusion treatment for my Lyme Disease!

That was such an exciting day for me.  230 days is a long time  (almost 8 months) to be dealing with iv placements, walking around with the iv in place (sexy!), dealing with supplies, meds, infusions, nurses, pharmacies and so much more that you can't even imagine. But we did it.... and we are finally done.

Unfortunately, I am not in remission like we planned but we will keep working towards that and I have seen a lot of improvement so we are headed in the right direction.  We will be continuing with much less invasive treatments for a while and I am praying to see remission sometime soon.  I've fought so hard and I will get there.

Here's a picture of the last treatment on Tuesday morning.  Not my greatest picture, but a great picture to share!

Also, there is more news!  We moved!  In October, my husband and I moved into a gorgeous 1880's historic home on the main road in the center of our little town and we love it.  The house needs a LOT of work and will do that slowly but it's coming along and it's a wonderful, happy home.  I am so happy here.

The down side of this is that my art studio is not ready yet.  That room is not finished yet and all of my art supplies have been packed in boxes since October.  I have no idea yet when I'll get my studio back but you can bet that I'll be ready to play when it's ready!  I really miss it and I need to get my creative outlet back before I really lose my sanity.  Actually, it might be too late.  ha ha

The fun part is that I get to create a whole new art studio from scratch again.  My last studio had lots of built in cabinets and an island that had to stay with the old house so I'm really starting over.  I'm already thinking of lots of ideas.  It will be fun to come up with a whole new studio.  I'll keep you posted on the progress here.

You will know when my art studio is ready because I'm sure I'll be ready to create and share!  Until then, I will keep in touch and maybe push the dear husband to bump the art studio a little higher up on the to do list.  The to do list is pretty long!

I hope you are all well. And thank you all for continuing to visit me here.  It amazes me how many visits this site still gets despite my illness delays.  Thanks for making me feel so special!

I'm Still Alive...

I just realized it's been about six months since I've posted a new card or anything to this blog and thought I should let you know that I am still alive.  My creativity goes in spurts with my Lyme Disease and the past six months I haven't spent much time in my art studio, as you can see.

I'm currently on my second round of daily IV infusions and today is day 59, which is awesome because I only made it 40 days last time and I'm doing well with this round.  I'm just not in a creative mode lately but it will come back and I'll be back... hopefully sooner, rather than later but we'll see.

We will be moving my art studio to a new space soon so maybe that will spark some creative juices.  Lots going on here.  Hopefully you'll see more of me soon.

A Quick Health Update

I just took a peek at the side bar of this blog and it stood out to me in the blog archive section that there was not a single post for the year 2010.  Every once in a while something like that jumps out at me and gives me a big realization of what my illness has taken from me.  I also took a look at my stats for this blog and was shocked to see that even though I didn't have a single new post here, I had THOUSANDS of visitors over the course of that year.  That's amazing.  And for that I want to say thank you.

I figured since you are still visiting, I'd give you a quick update on my ongoing battle with Late Stage Lyme Disease.  If you didn't already know, it completely leveled me and I've been fighting my way back for about two years now.  I spent the better part of 2010 mostly bedridden but thankfully, I've come a long way since then.  I am still fighting and have a long way to go but I'm getting there.  Slowly.

The week before Thanksgiving I started my newest course of treatment which includes daily intravenous administration of antibiotics, along with the many oral antibiotics I've been taking for the past 18 months.  My doctors estimate that I need about 6 months of daily iv therapy and we are hoping that will get me into remission.  Unfortunately, I only got through 40 days of the iv's and my body started rejecting the iv needles and that forced us to stop treatment for now.  We are hoping that the month off will give my veins time to heal and I'm trying integrated energy therapy which includes hypnosis to see if that will help make the iv's easier when start up again- hopefully in a week or two.

The good news is that the iv meds were working great.  Once I got over the first 3 weeks of feeling like crap from them, I started making huge improvements and I'm happy to say that although I am still struggling, I'm doing really well.  I'm back to work part time, I'm feeling creative again and I have hope that I will get into remission... soon.

I've been back in my art studio and that feels great.  And it feels great to see how many of you still visit me here on a regular basis.  Thank you so much.  I hope to be well enough to continue to create new things to share.

Mojo Monday #197- A Matching Gift Set (CONTINUED)

As promised, here is the jewelry I made that goes along with this gift set (Click Here).  

It's a necklace and earring set. I hope she likes the whole gift.  I can't wait to give it to her in a couple of weeks.  I'm so excited.

As you may or may not know, I have been fighting to regain my health from Late Stage Chronic Lyme Disease for well over a year now.  That explains the long dormancy on this blog, huh?  Before I got sick, I was a jewelry designer and had to give that up while I was incapacitated.  I'm slowing working my way back to it and this is the first piece I've made in a long time.  I'm hoping the road I'm on will get easier.  I hope that all of our roads get easier as I know we ALL have a "road" to deal with.

Just remember, always be nice and go out of your way for people whenever you can.  It's good karma, and you never know what kind of struggles they are having in their lives.  When's the last time you gave a random act of kindness?  Carried someone's groceries, paid for the person behind you in line's coffee, or even stopped to help someone in need?  Try it.  It's amazingly rewarding and the smile you get in return will make your whole day better.  I promise you.  

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!