Treatment Update

Here's a quick update, since I haven't been blogging a lot lately. First I'd like to point out that I haven't been blogging a lot lately because I've been busy living my life and am spending a lot less time laying around in bed or on our couch. Last Monday, (seven days ago) marked my 8th week of treatment at West Clinic. While I still have days where I don't feel great, they are becoming so few and far between that we have almost gotten back into the groove of normal life! It has been wonderful and exciting, and I am so, so happy.

For those of you that are new to my blog, I have been battling Lyme Disease since late summer of 2003, although I didn't know it was Lyme until I was finally diagnosed and saw an LLMD in January of 2009. By that time I was extremely ill, with a whole litany of issues that had all but shut me down both physically and cognitively. I did two years of combination antibiotic therapy followed by a couple years of somewhat normal health, but I haven't ever felt back to "pre-lyme-self" in about a decade. I began to relapse in November 2012, and by March of this year I could hardly function, requiring almost constant care for both myself and my kids anytime my husband was not home. It was crazy, stressful, frustrating and gave me a sense of hopelessness that I believe I have never before experienced in my life. It was pretty bad.

So, eight weeks in, I'm feeling 85% better, and usually, other than my treatment days, (which are now only once a week) I'm practically back to normal. I've been taking my kids for walks to the park, planning outings with friends and doing all sorts of "normal" activities that I haven't been able to do for quite a while now. Last month, my husband and I went on a week-long camping trip where we did several different hikes (4 miles long) on back-to-back-to-back days. In the past, on a really good day, I might have been able to do one of those. But then I would pay for it by being out-of-commission for the next 3 or 4 days. To be able to participate in activities like that 3 or 4 days in a row, and continuing to wake up the next morning feeling good, has been amazing. It's been awesome to see that I really am getting my strength and energy back.

I will continue treatment for probably at least the next couple of months, but I'm happy to do it, since I feel like I am really improving, in ways I haven't seen in the last five years. It's very exciting, and I'm loving being able to participate in my own life again!