Welcome to my new blog - A Twist of Lyme

The blog world is not new territory to me. For many years now tens of thousands of followers have watched me go through the highs and lows of life. As you can tell from the title of this blog and my upcoming book A Twist of Lyme: Battling a Disease That "Doesn't Exist", this is one of my life's lows.

The beauty of it is that within the darkest moments, there are glimpses of light. I am known as a raw and honest author and writer. I will hold nothing back. You will hear the good, the bad, and the... really gross. Because the fact is, having had undiagnosed Lyme for almost 3 decades, treatment is sometimes... really gross. It is always miserable, usually very painful, and completely, utterly, frustratingly emotional. And then there is the exhaustion which I really cannot describe because I have no frame of reference. I have always been this is exhausted, although the treatment brings it out 10 fold.

I have now been in treatment for Lyme for 26 months, having started with a Lyme Literate Naturopath, but when we started treatment, we didn't realize the scope of my infection, all of which I recount in my book. So, I stopped antibiotic treatment altogether when I started seeing Dr. Jemsek because there were a slew of tests that needed to be done, because we needed to stabilize my system, and because I was so fragile that virtually anything could have incapacitated me. I will not repeat what I have have already written, but that is the background.

I am now in month sixteen with Dr. Jemsek and, while I have come a long way, I sure would love to be a miraculous Lyme-free specimen, something which I will likely never become.

I don't live a normal life. My parents bear an unusual amount of the burden of my 38-year old life, mostly by taking care of my nearly five-year old daughter. My assistant quit yesterday. She got a job at a school and needed benefits we couldn't offer her. She was one of my bright lights. And today was her last day. That makes me sad. Very sad. But it was her turn to fly, as I have done so many times in my life and with her new marriage comes a new career and I, of course, wish her well. It's been a much more fun 1.5 years that it would have been without her.

But that leaves an immediate need for an assistant and, to be honest, I really don't want anyone all up in my business. It gets ugly around here and this is not the life I envisioned, although it is the life I am living. So, with the pressure from my parents to find a new assistant, I find myself stifled in utter terror, imagining who could possibly take her place. And so here I sit, three months after I stopped posting on my last blog and venting through my writing again.

It's 6:30p.m. and I am in bed, watching my daughter try to do handstands. Could get ugly. But then, what fun would it be to be a kid without a little handstand accident or two?

So if you are new to me, welcome. And if you have been following me through the years, thank you and welcome back. Your silent support keeps me motivated to feel better, no matter how badly I feel.

I don't have an exact book release date yet, but it is coming. I hope you will all support my pursuit of getting the word about Lyme out there not only by buying the book, but by sharing it with vigor. My purpose in writing it has always to bring about Lyme awareness on a while new level and my publishers and I have had no luck finding a book like it - written entirely by a Lyme patient while IN treatment, not in retrospect. So, please, share away and get the word out.