I have discovered recovery is more difficult than being ill. I am in the land of \”almost well\”, a state as close to purgatory as I can imagine. The difference between almost well and healthy is a sheer mountain wall, technically difficult and requiring great strength. The difference between illness and almost well is a gentle poppy field like the one in the Wizard of Oz, easy to cross, yet vast and with many rest stops. The illness is a narcotic, blunting the endless trek to almost well. I suppose there must be a boulder field with jagged rocks before one runs into the monolithic wall of almost well. The effort is takes to climb the small boulders clears the mind and gives one false hope. The boulder field, for me, had a few fields of poppy, where I stayed, stupefied and disheartened once again. I also found a few trails, where I got a fleeting glimpse of normal.
It has been nearly three years since my tick bite. 2016 was the worst year. I earned a whopping $1000 for the year. I don\’t remember large portions of the year. The fact that I wasn\’t remotely aware of how bad it really was is the narcotizing effect of a serious illness. For some Lyme patients, especially those of us who did not get a quick diagnosis, doctors use the words \”chronic Lyme disease\”, or \”post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome\” (I like that one, wordy and scold-y at the same time). I\’ve been denying my status as one of those who might be chronic. I had to think about what \”chronic\” means, as it pertains to Lyme. If I google these terms, I get a long list of sites with vague definitions that mainly discredit the notion that it exists. It does. I\’d love to not have relapses, or slides, or persistent, chronic fatigue. I like to pretend I\’m just fine, but that doesn\’t work, either. There are a lot of theories about this. Fuck theories. They don\’t do jack shit for making me healthy.
The tone of my discussions at the doctor\’s office have changed. We talk about \”plateaus\” and \”shifts\”, as if Lyme were a geologic event. I need to once again obsess over my symptoms, or lack of them, to gauge whether I am having a relapse (shift), or holding steady (plateau). My big fear is that I will plateau at almost well. Almost well isn\’t awful. At this point, unless I have a seismic shift downwards, I won\’t die of Lyme. The chronic, almost well part is the fact that sucks. It means I will always have to manage my energy and my health. It means I will be a delicate flower, getting enough rest and good food, and not getting stressed out. BORING! But definitely manageable.
If I sound a little whiny, I am. I feel a lot entitled to my whininess, until I think about other people I know. Almost well would be a dream to some of them. I know this, yet I persist in feeling cheated. Cheated out of what, exactly? There are no guarantees that me or anyone will live long and perfectly healthy lives. Lyme has insured that I will take care of myself for the rest of my life, and that\’s not a bad thing. Sometimes I meet people who have had very few health challenges. My dad comes to mind. He\’s now had three surgeries, but before his knees were replaced he had had one back surgery in \’79 or \’80. He is not happy when his body isn\’t working. He\’s not a bad patient, but a resentful, reluctant one, as if these things should not be happening to him.
I\’m not knocking my dad. His fighting spirit and unwillingness to fold are some of the many reasons he\’s happy and healthy at 88. I don\’t have that luxury anymore. I\’m not going to waste my energy on resentment disbelief. Because I am pathologically optimistic, I am going to assume (as I do in every bad situation, even when it\’s obviously false) that I will plateau at normal. I now have the luxury of deciding what is important to me and making sure that\’s what I do. Is it my house, or traveling? Do I like where I\’m living? What do I really, really want to do that I haven\’t done yet? Jumping out of a plane? Hell, NO. RVing? YES. Two questions answered. There are a bunch more waiting for me.
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