I like vacations. I especially like unexpected vacations, like the one I was just on. I say \”unexpected\”, but I mean \”forgot about\”. This happens to me more than you\’d think. To many people, being sick IS vacation. There is the luxury of staying home and taking care of yourself. I don\’t know what this says about our society, that a \”staycation\” can be as desirable as a vacation, but I do know that being housebound because of illness is no vacation.
I don\’t quite remember how this vacation came together, yet here I was, two days before departure, bitching to Katie about leaving. I am one of those people who feel compelled to leave a clean house and yard. I know, no surprise there. It\’s more work up front, but always worth it on the return side. So I was running around the house, cleaning and weeding and watering and organizing, and not packing a single thing. Was this vacation worth it? Should I be leaving at all? What was I thinking back in March? Oh yeah, I had planned on being well.
The journey itself is enjoyable to me. Something about solo travel makes me feel competent and free. The whole flavor of travel has changed for the better since becoming single. My ex was an impatient, tense traveler. I\’m chill to the point of sending my itinerary to my friends because I can never quite remember the particular details of dates and times (see first paragraph—it happens a LOT). Still, I get myself from point A to point B with little fuss and trouble.
Some people, myself included, struggle with the idea that sickness deserves a vacation. The answer is emphatically yes. Serious illness gives few breaks, and a respite punctuated with illness is better than no respite at all. Or, as my friend Paul has said, \”I can be sick in Paradise or sick at home. I choose Paradise\”. I knew that many people would think going on vacation would mean I was better. I am better, but I am not well. I knew I would have some bad days, perhaps during, but definitely afterward due to the stress of travel and fun. What I didn\’t know was how worth it going on vacation was.
Something else went on vacation, too. My medication schedule. I can do that with Lyme. Each bug, borrelia, babesia, and bartonella, has intense defense mechanisms (biofilms, cysts, and hiding in tissues where there is no blood flow, like eyeballs and joints and the brain), so the protocol is always changing. Most doctors pulse medications in monthly bursts, to constantly hit them with something different. That means I can, theoretically, miss a week or so of most medicines and not mess up my treatment.
Almost all Lyme literate doctors use both pharmaceuticals and herbs to treat Lyme. The pills are easy. I can take up to seven pills in one gulp, if they\’re not huge. The herbs are different. I mix all the herbs in a glass, 15 drops at a time. Then I put in maybe an ounce of water and drink it. Katie watched this once and said, \”That smells like some foul shit.\” A note about some of the stuff I take: it is some foul shit. I don\’t think about how it tastes. I just chug it. I\’m still trying to figure out what in my life made me such a champion medicine taker and I\’ve got nothing.
I always feel a little bit naughty that first day I don\’t take my meds. The freedom from that tedium is immense, I can\’t believe how easy it is to NOT take medicine. I have them with me, too tethered to the thought of needing them to leave them at home. Sometime in the afternoon of day two, as on most vacations, something loosens inside of me. I don\’t care what\’s going on in the world. I quit checking my phone and my computer lies idle. The medicine migrated to the bottom of my suitcase.
Isn\’t that the whole purpose of vacation? A rejuvenation of mind, body and spirit? Too often we pursue vacations with a grim purpose to pack as much activity and fun into them as possible, leaving exhaustion and frustration in the wake. I much prefer my friends\’ pace: puzzles, hammocks, a vague daily plan which may or may not involve an actual activity, games at night, and the freedom to do whatever you\’d like.
I got myself home with little fuss, and a small bonus: dinner with another friend. I milked a few more hours of vacation, and returned home to Katie and the dogs. That might be the best part of vacations for me—the moment I walk in the door of my own home. The smell is deeply familiar and comforting, as my home smells like both my childhood and adulthood. The dogs greet me as if I\’ve been gone forever. Katie bounds up the stairs and gives me a hug. \”I missed you!\” I\’ll start retaking my medicine tomorrow. Tonight I will unpack before I let out that final exhale of vacation, before thoughts of tomorrow, with schedules and chores, creep in.
Leave a Reply