Let's skip prt. 3 for today. I am looking out at pouring rain for the umpteenth day. I see lots of overgrown drainage ditches, meadows, lawns, driveways and pathways, a lot of overgrown everything. And everything is wet. Tick heaven. It's at times like this that 'tick movement' occurs most readily. Ticks like wet, high grasses, bushes and tree branches. When everything is wet, they can travel more easily without a hot, dry break in the path, which stops their movement. Ticks do not like hot, dry environments. Today I can look ouside and see possible ways ticks could make it into my yard and gardens and walkways. I will be extra careful to wear my treated clothes when in those areas until they dry out well. We are promised sunshine and hot temperatures soon. This means lawns can get cut, and many other tick pathways will be broken up again. Keeping your lawn and yard trimmed back, so that wet, debris covered areas are out of reach, is a great way to keep ticks away.

prt.2

    In my twenties I noticed I fell asleep during the day, everyday. I had to fight to stay awake long enough to get somewhere I could nap. This concerned me but it was no red flag. My first bout with serious brain fog was in my senior year of highschool. (before 1982) After a literally 10 hr. hike in the middle of the night. I was tired, and life got fuzzy. I figured everyone else there felt the same. Then, after my wedding, I had brain fog for weeks. Beat out only by the months of it after having my two children. Again, I thought everyone in those circumstances felt that way.  Later, after having both kids, when I was feeling tired all the time, I got the famous "you're the mother of two kids, what do you want?". I believed them. I was having a lot of joint pain by then and was noticing I was finding it hard to keep up with everything. I worked as long as I could, up into my forties. So this was a very difficult time in my life.
    By my mid-thirties, I had been having regular fevers, and soaking night sweats to go along with the fatigue, brain fog, and joint pain. I had an exceptional fever at one point and went to my doctor. Except my doctor was not in that day. The P.A. saw my state and the amount of pain I was in. She ordered a Western Blot Lyme Disease Test. I'd never heard of it. I recieved a phone call from the office asking that I come in immediately and speak with the P.A.. I did, and she confirmed I had Lyme disease. Her concern was the test showed both IGg and IGm positive bands, so she thought I might have had this disease for a long time. After this, my own research began and all the pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place.  This P.A. put me in contact with a doctor in Boston who was a specialist. He was her Lyme doctor too.

"My Story" prt. 1

                                            My story is like thousands of other stories out there.

       When I think back on where and when this infection must have started, I cannot attribute any specific event, which is the starting point. I remember ticks being an infrequent visitor to our family growing up.  However, somewhere around 1982, I was living in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. When camping on October Mountain one night, I felt something on my leg. I looked down, you guessed it, a tick. This thing gave me the willies. It was a fully engorged tick, the size of a raisin. Just hangin' there. In our greatest cooperative spirit, my friends and I did everything we could to get this thing off. Pulling, cigarettes, fire poker sticks. Yup. We did everything wrong. That sucker must have been stressed, especially after watching how ticks latch on for dear life this weekend. The tick on my leg was eventually removed, all the way or not I do not know, and it was burned appropriately in the campfire. End of story. For many years.

I just got back from the beautiful lake s region of N.H..  A family cottage of nearly 40 years. Here's the deal; halfway through the weekend, our dog has a tick walking across her forehead. I see it and go in for the kill. But, they are fast! By the time I had pushed the fur away, down to the tick, I watched in fascination as it panicked and began to burrow into Hallie's skin! With Russ's help we got the bugger out before it was very far in. I never realized how desperate they are for a meal.

Heat is an enemy to Lyme sufferers. Stay cool, drink lots of water with lemon slices in it, and take your proboitics. If we don't pace ourselves, we end up having to rest or sleep for days on end to recuperate. But the sun is always uplifting, so enjoy. That's all I can do today. Be patient, I am just getting started with this blog. Much, much more to come.

   So, these are spirochetes. Nasty little corkscrew bacteria transmitted from an infected tick to humans. I have had them most of my life, and my story is long and sorted. I'll get to that. I am still in treatment, though under pretty good control right now. I live in the world of the unknown, the controversial, and the misunderstood. Sometimes my world is spinning and sometimes I am paralyzed, literally. I live moment by moment. I take joy from all I can, as often as I can. I hope to enlighten those who are unfamiliar with the complexities of the bacteria and co-infections involved. I also hope to give comfort and support to others like me who live in that same world of Lyme Disease.