Life and Lyme

Muddling Through Life with Lyme Disease

The question is not how to get cured, but how to live.

Joseph Conrad
  • I discovered two things about myself the day Katie was born: I would die for another person, and I would kill for another person. That a love so fierce could spring up inside of me was a surprise I think no new parent can anticipate. I’d been waiting for her my whole life. Why have…

    Read more: Katie
  • It has been almost six weeks since I began to seriously participate in my own life again. This sounds rather pathetic, but after three years of unrelenting illness, this is a major accomplishment. The problem is, what is my life? There is nothing, outside of staying in Denver, Katie, and my Dad, that is the…

    Read more: toil
  • A new chapter, turning over a new leaf, rising from the ashes, rebirth, starting over; the sheer number of maxims boggles the mind. The facts are usually the same. Person has a setback, person begins life with a new purpose. I might argue this is one of the most basic facts of life. It smacks…

    Read more: bumbling
  • I have two family trees. All adoptees do. The first is the family whose name I share, who I grew up with, my family. The other tree is newer, yet with older roots. It is my DNA tree. I had done a DNA test over fifteen years ago, but the parameters were much broader back then. This…

    Read more: DNA
  • 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…

    Read more: flabby
  • This blog was originally about losing my mind and being sad when I got well enough to realize I lost my mind for a good long while. There is little doubt (at least to me) that my brain is returning.  I kept veering off the subject of crazy, though. and into grief. I had no…

    Read more: comfort
  • 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…

    Read more: vacation
  • Yes, my dad is alive and kicking. I want to take the opportunity to embarrass him while I can. It\’s not often we get our own personal heroes, but I have one, a fact that has become even more emphatically clear during my struggle with Lyme. Dad and I are extraordinarily close, our relationship uncomplicated,…

    Read more: dad
  • What\’s the difference between being retired and being useless? Staying busy or taking up space? Is there a magical moment where one moves from one column to the next? I\’ve been pondering these questions as I cobble together ways to feel useful and productive with the erratic uncertainty of Lyme. I am terrified of being…

    Read more: retired?
  • I like to google the side effects of the drugs I take. I used to do this several times a day, mainly because I could never remember what they were from hour to hour. I do it a lot less now. A month ago, some not so good symptoms crept back (a whole other google…

    Read more: doublechecking
  • 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…

    Read more: liar
  • I curse. A lot. Recent studies indicate cursers are smarter and more honest. Yes! Let\’s go with that. I can\’t remember the first time I heard someone curse, or the first time I cursed. I do remember cursing with my friends on the bus, the words spitting out of my mouth. Curse words are often…

    Read more: curses
  • I fucking hate babesia. Babesia is one of my co-infections, a malaria-like parasite also called a \”piroplasm\”, whatever the fuck that is. It clouds my mind and saps my energy. I get angry and depressed for no reason. My eyes go wonky. All the normal boring crap, too, like fatigue and muscle aches and joint pain. For once,…

    Read more: acceptance?
  • Infect me. Really. Four years after my divorce, I am ready. Or am I? And why did I choose the word lovesick? Why not simply love? I\’m not sure, I\’m only certain I want the heart-pounding, stomach-swooping sickness that falling in love brings. I\’m ignoring the other side of lovesick. The anxiety and uncertainty, the…

    Read more: lovesick
  • 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…

    Read more: almost

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