A Priority for Healing

 After writing about my challenges with implementing healthy habits, I reminded myself that change will only come if I initiate – and practice – it. I realized that I do meditate – during nightly Reiki, when I’m in the sauna. (Sauna is great for cold winter nights but also for treating Lyme disease.) Still, I need consistency. So, after reworking some old old FlyLady files I’ve begun practicing some new routines. Meditation comes right after morning meds.

I’m letting myself off the hook about yoga. If my back stays healthy with only one practice per week, that’ll do for now. The Sudoku I’ll have to monitor. For the present, the beast is quiet. I haven’t played in enough days that I don’t have ghost images when I close my eyes. One day, one moment, at a time.

Recent weeks have been eventful. It’s almost three weeks since the first two Afghan families arrived in Wausau. I’ve only heard stories so far but once they’ve completed the 8-hour federally-mandated Community Resources education, I’ll begin tutoring one of the women in English. I’ve been wanting to get involved in ELL tutoring since hearing six years ago about the Spanish language program operating out of Appleton First United Methodist. I’m also in process to begin substitute teaching (again).

This is a second advancement in activity for me. In late summer, I began ringing with First Presbyterian’s handbell choir, joined a Tai chi class, and also auditioned for and was accepted into the Wausau Lyric Choir. None of this would have been possible two years, or even one year, ago.

Let me share a bit of my health journey.

I’d become increasingly tired, cranky and distracted since I was about thirty. My hormones were out of whack. When I told one doctor about my struggles with word recall, he dismissed it as stress. A few years later, I learned what fibroids were. Never were treatments suggested for anything. I slogged on because I didn’t know what else to do. (These are just some medical highlights.)

After a Hashimoto’s thyroiditis diagnosis in 2014, I assumed the chronic tiredness and some of the other symptoms were tied to that. Hashimoto’s is one of the autoimmune diseases that runs in my family. Each year, I’d requested testing during my annual exams only to learn that week that my requests had been ignored. I realize we each need to be our own advocates but I’d thought asking was enough. Being so fatigued, overworked and perpetually stressed, I never caught the omission.

In December 2019, I tested positive for Lyme disease. I’d been treated for Lyme back in 2010 after a telltale bullseye rash appeared on my arm following a tick bite. I was so tired that sitting on a short stool was too much effort – I just wanted to lie down. The doctor at the local clinic practically rolled his eyes when I said I thought I had Lyme disease – and I’m bad at reading non-verbals! – but he tested me and prescribed 7 days of Doxycycline. Yes, 7 days, less even than the recommended treatment in 2010. I wondered about this but assumed he knew what he was doing. (Big mistake!) The Lyme test came back negative but I’ve since learned that many Lyme infections are not caught on standard blood tests.

Seven days of Doxycycline and the fatigue had abated. And, unaware that the borrelia bacteria had only gone guerrilla, I forgot about it. After a very mild concussion a couple years later, I was puzzled that symptoms never ended but, through the years, worsened. (Only in studying chronic Lyme disease, did I eventually learn that any assault on the body can bring the Lyme out of hiding.)

I’ll pick up the story another time. For now, I want to assure us both that it has a good ending.

My most recent Lyme treatment – begun last April – was suggested by my sister Karen who also has chronic Lyme disease. She and her husband had found success with a certain herbal protocol which I’ve been practicing religiously for nine months. While the progress is slow, healing continues. If you have a practice you love, you’ll understand when I share how exciting it was last fall when my fingers moved more quickly over the piano keys than they had in many years. This month I was realized I would stall if I didn’t commit Chopin’s Etude in E major to memory. And I’ve nearly done it! 

In fairness, I also had a Lyme flare-up (an unpleasant return to past symptoms) this month after getting a tooth filled. Still, my mind and body are beginning to emerge from the shadow place that had been my world for too long. And it is wonderful!  

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