My mind, body and spirit have grown flabby from Lyme. I had good news from my doctor this week. I am, metaphorically, sprinting down the backstretch. Only I\’m not sprinting, I\’m lackadaisically strolling, the one pace Lyme allowed. This is supposed to be good news, and it is. I haven\’t figured out what it means for me yet. I was warned that this isn\’t an immediate return to health. My body is more than flabby, it\’s a toxic waste dump. It\’s worn down and tired from three years of illness. When I was out of town with Dad the last few weeks, I got compliments on how good I looked. What a cruel paradox. I\’ve never looked healthier or been sicker.
I joked with my friends in Dad\’s retirement village in Tucson (yes, I\’ve spent so much time there that I have my own friends there) that I live the lifestyle of a five-year-old. I also joked (but not really) that I\’ve gotten a preview of the ravages that age brings. A preview, not the big show. I hope I make it to the big show. I\’ll at least know how important taking care of yourself is.
That was one of the best parts of my doctor\’s appointment. I have passed into that strange relationship doctors and patients have when they are brought together through serious illness. Not-quite-friends, he knows too many intimate details of my body and life to be merely an acquaintance. I see his wife, also, and I was delighted to hear from each of them that because I work so hard on my health (italics mine, because I am pretty fucking proud of myself) they think I\’m going to make a full return to health. Yassss!
One of the secrets to coping with a long, drawn-out illness is surrendering to the illness. Not surrounding as in giving up, but giving in. It is, however, quite possible that I have gotten too comfortable with this skill. It\’s ironic that the coping mechanisms I used to get through the last three years might be liabilities on the road to wellness. So what do I do now?
I consider myself an athlete. I have never gone more than eight weeks without working out. Whether it\’s tennis, swimming, pickle ball, weight-lifting, Zumba, Jazzercise, running, hiking, or yoga, I am always doing something. I have continued this as much as possible during Lyme; in periods of relative health I swam, played pickle ball, walked and lifted weights. Each time was hard. I\’ve had no stamina for two years. Getting back into shape is always a pain in the ass. I\’ve done it after each of my surgeries and I will do it again now. Five minutes today, ten minutes next week. One day I\’ll wake up and be working out at my normal pace.
Maybe that\’s what I need to do in other areas of my life. I\’ve never lost my mind before, but I\’ve been working crosswords, playing Words with Friends, writing, reading again—getting my mind back into shape. Now I have to turn that mind-play into mind-work. I\’ve shied away from mental work because I couldn\’t handle the inevitable failure trying to perform a challenging job while I had Lyme. Now that\’s changed. First step will be to devote an hour or two each day to a new, online writing job. It will seem unbearably difficult to me at first, like that first time I swim after a long layoff. I feel like a beached whale the first three or four times, my limbs flailing through the water and lungs gasping for air. Then there is a day where I slice through the water, pushing the last fifty of a two hundred without dying. I will gradually work more hours. One day I\’ll wake up and realize I\’m doing it easily and happily.
It\’s the time between now and one day that is daunting. I\’m sure I\’ll push too hard, or beat myself up for not pushing hard enough. I\’ll cry and get angry and wish things were different. I\’ll bitch and moan to anyone who cares to listen (anyone? anyone?) how hard it is. There will be days where I feel strong and sharp and in control. There will be many more days where I want to crawl under the covers. I don\’t ever want to be this sick again. Never, ever, ever.
My spirit is the weak corner of this triangle. This is one of the few times I wish I had faith in something. How easy it would be to fob it off on \”god\”. That\’s not for me, though, I\’ll have to figure out how to get my joie de vivre back on my own. It may surprise me, what makes me happy and replenishes me. I don\’t have a clue at this point. Or maybe I do, but like my mind and body, my spirit has also atrophied, the energy Lyme took far exceeding my resources. What if my spirit doesn\’t come back? I\’m scared I don\’t have what it takes to make it down the final stretch. I know, I\’ve made it this far, blah, blah. If I can\’t figure out how to rejuvenate my spirit, all of this will feel insurmountable.
I look at the people in Dad\’s community. Some of them face what seems to me to be unimaginable hardship. They all cope with their changes differently, that\’s expected, but they all share an unquenchable spirit, a thirst for life. That\’s what I want. I just want it to be easier to get. Not only that, I find I really want to hang around for awhile. The world is an endlessly interesting place to be. I\’ll find out what my spirit is made of, and what revives it. I\’ll use that knowledge when I graduate to the big show and I\’ll stay thirsty for as long as I\’m able.
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