Life and Lyme

Muddling Through Life with Lyme Disease

I was going to write a paean to my Dad on my blog this week, being Father\’s Day and all, but my dad really, really hates Father\’s Day. Instead, I realized that I lie to myself about Lyme now. Yes. It\’s true. You can lie to yourself about anything. Think about it. I\’ve decided I should be just about well now, so I have rationalized my relapses by saying I\’m \”super-tired\”. I can do this for days. In fact, I just did!

This past week, Denver\’s Lighthouse Writers host LitFest. Workshops, readings, and salons where authors famous in the literary world discuss literature. I needed to get back into the writing world. I took the week off from work and volunteered. I also took five or six workshops. I started to backslide the fifth or sixth day. I told myself I was tired from working my brain and social skills for the first time in at least a year and a half. Lies, all lies. As my daughter said today, \”You want me to tell you when you\’re relapsing? Because I could\’ve told you that four days ago.\” Cue eye roll.

Why do I have such a hard time admitting to relapses? This must be a new thing, tied into my belief that I should be well. Or maybe there is more to it than that. When I was little, when we were sick, Mom had her tried and true medicines and sick foods. Ginger ale and jello for stomach upset, Coriciden-C and warm saltwater for colds and sore throats., and calamine lotion and mercurochrome for everything else. This lasted as long as you were actually ill. We were not allowed to watch TV, or run around, or goldbrick. As soon as we were well, we were expected to get on with it. She was a good example, herself. I rarely saw her sick in bed, unless she had a raging cold, was throwing up, or when she had cancer (okay, pretty good excuse, Mom). Other than that, she got up and powered through everything. Dad was not much different. He scared the shit out of me when he had back surgery. I was a freshman in college, so to see him laid out like that for the first time in my life was shocking.

My point is, being sick only got you so much sympathy in my house. I absorbed these lessons and chafe at not being well. I don\’t revel in the attention being sick gets. In fact, I hate it. I also hate not having any fun, and believe me, when you\’ve been sick a long time, even work is something fun. So I lie. Maybe I hope that the lie will morph into the truth. That would be great. I do it in all sorts of ways. There\’s the \’wow, I look pretty good for having eaten 400 potato chips this week\’ lie. The \’twenty minutes of weights and 800 yard swim is a tough workout\’ lie. The \’I deserve this <blank> my life has been so hard this week\’ lie. That one\’s my favorite and usually involve either clothes or makeup. In truth I don\’t \’deserve\’ shit, it\’s a self-serving lie, the best kind.

In reality, though, super-tired means a relapse. My bones ache, my brain thrums and I bang around like a woman in high heels after three glasses of wine I rub my eyes because they burn and itch and blur up. It is most certainly bartonella. I\’m taking medicine, so a reaction means dead bugs, which means a sore liver and more tiredness. It\’s all so boring. I think that might be my problem. I am bored with Lyme. Bored with doing only what I can, not what I want. Bored with babying myself, always making sure I get enough rest, eating well, and all that crap. Bored with my own limitations. Lying makes it more bearable. Am I really fooling myself, though? It would seem I am such a good liar, that I can fool myself quite easily, but then, one has to want to believe in a lie to get away with it.

I don\’t see any way out of this box. I\’m not well enough to forge ahead with my life with no consequences. I\’m tired of being sick. The lies work! Father\’s Day is still this weekend. I\’ll call Dad, tell him I love him. I can embarrass him any time I want. I\’ll get to that paean someday, Dad,  but you gets a pass this weekend.


Comments

One response to “liar”

  1. Christina Lewis Avatar
    Christina Lewis

    Fake it ’til you make it! Hope you enjoyed your writer’s week anyway … and 20 minutes of weights and an 800 yard swim is a tough workout when you are ill. Encourage yourself with at least a little stretching or a yoga pose here and there. Love your writing so much.

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