Survivor

Lyme Journal Entry Eight **Lyme & Friends Winning–Me Tough Cookie**

A chronic illness will flush out the weak emotionally and physically. Adversity brings out the true colors in people and those who love them. I’ve attacked Lyme Disease like other challenges in life, fight with a big stick and jump higher. My husband runs the household, carrying a heavy load. I’ve been sick for five years and he is still at my side. It’s not for lack of effort on my part to make him leave.

Last week was the worst emotionally since being diagnosed with Lyme Disease. I had appointments with the Lyme Doctor and Cardiologist. This was the first appointment with Lyme Dr. since all test were completed. You know you’re off to a good start when the first thing out of his mouth is you are very sick and in a lot of pain. NO KIDDING. That was not surprising but what followed blew my mind. The test showed my body has 3 times the amount of Lead acceptable, high Mercury levels and high Cesium. I’d never heard of Cesium, it’s a naturally occurring element found in rocks, soil and dust at low concentrations. Lead levels at 3 times the upper expected limit say recent and ongoing exposure. Lead accumulates in the body, at some point I’ll have Chelation treatment. The side effects of Lead are extensive including organ damage. I have racked my brain on what could cause Lead damage in the house and come up blank.

I leave the office with instructions to increase two meds until I sleep thru the night and wake up with no pain. I have four extra antibiotic prescriptions to add to daily routine. The antibiotics are staggered to make sure you don’t have a reaction. I also have to order another supplement which cost $265 a month, so glad we have the money to keep me alive. The extra pills now put me over 50 pills a day, by end of month reaching 60 pills a day. I go back in November, he’ll have a Port put in my arm and antibiotics will get injected in Port instead of taking pills. When the port stage arrives life gets harder. I have no idea how I’ll react but anything involved with vomiting doesn’t sound good to me. I have strict orders to only drink electrolyte water, water not the sugar type. A much tougher order to sleep, sleep in the afternoon, be in bed by 10:00P. He doesn’t realize I have to juggle 50 pills and write somewhere in the sleeping time.

Friday I completed the test for the Cardiologist, then met with his PA. She explains my body is in constant fight or flight mode from my body fighting so hard and the amount of pain. Adrenal  Gland Fatigue is serious and one way to bring my pain down was to exercise. I laughed my ass off. She recommended I meet with Exercise Physiologist in a month. In the very next sentence says I should not exercise while on antibiotics. I told her I would call back. She’s lost her mind. The other piece of information is my metabolic Test results were not good. No surprise to me. Test shows activity over 55% of maximum heart rate increases my odds for a heart attack or stroke.

General Issues

Pharmacy gave the wrong size needles the past two refills. The cause of my bruising and bleeding. The needles  were three times to long.

Edema in legs to knee making my feet hurt. My ankle bones are not visible.

The shin bone feel broken when touched.

Ice pick headaches continue.

Sleeping thru the night is not happening.  I’ve increased both meds in hopes off sleeping more.

 

Survivor

Lyme Journal Entry Eight **Lyme & Friends Winning–Me Tough Cookie**

A chronic illness will flush out the weak emotionally and physically. Adversity brings out the true colors in people and those who love them. I’ve attacked Lyme Disease like other challenges in life, fight with a big stick and jump higher. My husband runs the household, carrying a heavy load. I’ve been sick for five years and he is still at my side. It’s not for lack of effort on my part to make him leave.

Last week was the worst emotionally since being diagnosed with Lyme Disease. I had appointments with the Lyme Doctor and Cardiologist. This was the first appointment with Lyme Dr. since all test were completed. You know you’re off to a good start when the first thing out of his mouth is you are very sick and in a lot of pain. NO KIDDING. That was not surprising but what followed blew my mind. The test showed my body has 3 times the amount of Lead acceptable, high Mercury levels and high Cesium. I’d never heard of Cesium, it’s a naturally occurring element found in rocks, soil and dust at low concentrations. Lead levels at 3 times the upper expected limit say recent and ongoing exposure. Lead accumulates in the body, at some point I’ll have Chelation treatment. The side effects of Lead are extensive including organ damage. I have racked my brain on what could cause Lead damage in the house and come up blank.

I leave the office with instructions to increase two meds until I sleep thru the night and wake up with no pain. I have four extra antibiotic prescriptions to add to daily routine. The antibiotics are staggered to make sure you don’t have a reaction. I also have to order another supplement which cost $265 a month, so glad we have the money to keep me alive. The extra pills now put me over 50 pills a day, by end of month reaching 60 pills a day. I go back in November, he’ll have a Port put in my arm and antibiotics will get injected in Port instead of taking pills. When the port stage arrives life gets harder. I have no idea how I’ll react but anything involved with vomiting doesn’t sound good to me. I have strict orders to only drink electrolyte water, water not the sugar type. A much tougher order to sleep, sleep in the afternoon, be in bed by 10:00P. He doesn’t realize I have to juggle 50 pills and write somewhere in the sleeping time.

Friday I completed the test for the Cardiologist, then met with his PA. She explains my body is in constant fight or flight mode from my body fighting so hard and the amount of pain. Adrenal  Gland Fatigue is serious and one way to bring my pain down was to exercise. I laughed my ass off. She recommended I meet with Exercise Physiologist in a month. In the very next sentence says I should not exercise while on antibiotics. I told her I would call back. She’s lost her mind. The other piece of information is my metabolic Test results were not good. No surprise to me. Test shows activity over 55% of maximum heart rate increases my odds for a heart attack or stroke.

General Issues

Pharmacy gave the wrong size needles the past two refills. The cause of my bruising and bleeding. The needles  were three times to long.

Edema in legs to knee making my feet hurt. My ankle bones are not visible.

The shin bone feel broken when touched.

Ice pick headaches continue.

Sleeping thru the night is not happening.  I’ve increased both meds in hopes off sleeping more.

 

Men & Womens Health

Lyme Disease Journal Entry Seven **Lyme Winning Me Fighting Back**

Truffles
Truffles

This past week I did everything the doctor said not to do. The backlash was frightening. One warning from doctor is not sit for longer than thirty minutes. I spent most of Saturday and Sunday in front of the screen with few walking around breaks. The edema took over most of my body. By bedtime my feet and hands were numb, the pain was excruciating. I knew my feet needed elevating. Our bed is adjustable, I raised the foot of bed as much I could stand. I kept raising my arms in air to get blood flowing, my legs hurt just touching each other. Once feet are raised the water moves up. I’m coughing, sounds like I have pneumonia, my head feels like it’s going to explode. I’m having cardiac pain, can tell my blood pressure was high. I get the BP Monitor to confirm its high,BP is to high, a blinding headache hits and I’m questioning how much higher my BP needs to go before I have a stroke. Do I need to go to hospital, digging around find my nitro which provides no relief. My whole body hurts, areas asleep earleyer are now tingling as the blood flows back in. During the worst point the seizures start. My husband is in full snore mode, never knew the light turned on twice or I was crying in pain. I knew something was bad when the cat would not move for me to get up. Requiring me to crawl over him adding to my frustration. Truffles didn’t move until I went to bathroom for a cold rag. He has never acted like this before, he could tell from my heartbeat I guess. The following day every muscle hurt, toes burning, my shins so full of water had to change from capris to wide leg PJ’s. The back of my legs burning, hurts to sit in chair. So strange,when you rub the bone on front of lower legs, it felt like leg broken. The next day the pain continues, maybe from the water making my legs so tight.

I brought all of this on myself. It’s hard to break old habits and let a disease dictate how to go about your day. My thinking is, get as much done now before I get really bad and body is not able to get out of beds on many days. Unless you’re a gluten for pain it’s a good idea to listen to doctor. These post are not a pity party. I truly believe someone will read the post and avoid getting Lyme. I want to educate on how serious the disease is. In the worst case scenario, it leaves you permanently debilitated.   :) M

General Issues

Ice pick in temple headaches

Edema has moved up to knees, walking uncomfortable

Bruise very easily, finding bruises, don’t remembering hitting anything

Tremors part of week, hands shaking so bad would not have been able to feed self

Seizures during the day, not as bad as the ones at night

Tired of taking so many pills

Memory, forgetting multiple times during task, example spelling Rosacea took six looks at dictionary to get correct

Lyme Arthritis in hands all week, right hand worse

Less neuropathy after increasing RX dosage, stabbing needles when does happens

Rosacea and Psoriasis in full inflammation stage

Stayed up till wee hours several nights which contributes to all the above

Survivor

As the dust cleared on 9/11/01, America took comfort knowing our flag was still there ** God Bless America Land Of The Free**

The tragic events of 9/11/01 will forever remain etched in my mind. It’s with a heavy heart I celebrate the lives taken and those left behind to grieve. I think of the men and women of our military bravely fighting for our freedoms. The cost of freedom is high. Let us not forget as we sip our Starbucks, a soldier will die today and a family is left behind. A soldier who hasn’t seen his newborn son. Let us not forget the innocent lives lost in war zones and the pain families suffer. The pain and agony of losing a loved one is universal, it’s a human feeling regardless of the language spoken.  M

 

 

Survivor · Travel

Can Anyone Tell Me What Day It Is? **Yosemite National Park Here We Come**

 

Mother Nature's Finest Yosemite National Park
Mother Nature’s Finest
Yosemite National Park

 

 

Waterfall Spray Yosemite National Park
Waterfall Spray
Yosemite National Park

I’ve been in the house so long there’s no reason to keep up with the day of week. Today is a perfect example, Throw Back Thursday is on Wednesday. I want to cry and laugh at the same time. The neurological effects of Lyme Disease sucks. In the Chronic phase the virus can set up house in the brain causing neurological damage. To remain as positive as possible I don’t focus on the effect to my brain. There is no way to know if the damage is permanent or not. One side effect is memory loss, like walking to the kitchen and not remembering why. It’s annoying and a reminder you have a virus boring thru your brain. I choose not to focus on the what or why even with constant reminders. I am not at the wheel and trust God to get me to the other side.I’m on a long journey that will give plenty chances to laugh, laugh with me, not at me. Overlook the missing words in a post, thanking you for stopping by more than once and Throw Back Thursday on Wednesday. Life is too short to worry about the little things. Let’s laugh, then focus on how we can help someone and have our collective voice heard.

Sending a heart-felt thanks and Texas size hug to you.

M

 

Fun · Survivor

Throw Back Thursday **COME TOGETHER With John Lennon, Greg Allman, Zac Brown and Vince Gill**

Grab the headphones, turn up the volume and relax. You are in for a special treat this week.   M

http://youtu.be/A5oID2_1FPI