exhilarated

Here's that story:

A week ago I went camping.  Normally, I'd go with our whole family.  They set up camp while I sit.  This time it was just my daughter and I (and a group of friends from church).  I was a bit fearful of camping....especially with my already infected daughter (her Lyme treatment is going well, though!).  I wasn't frightened of setting up camp or cooking, I was frightened of TICKS.  I think we all are -- we who have been so affected by the little teeny bugger.   It's hard to go put yourself in that environment voluntarily.  The problem is, most of us LOVED hiking and camping before we were stricken, so it's funny that a lot of my friends now have a huge fear of green beltways and pictures of forests.

I armed myself the right repellent and did thorough tick checks each night or after walking past tall brush (we tried to avoid it if we could), sitting on the picnic table, leaning on trees, or rolling in the grass.  We came home tick-free!


So, let me summarize what was one of the most encouraging weekends of this whole Lyme infection journey that has taken over my body.  I felt like a college student again! I went hiking and enjoyed it and had enough energy to do so! I was able to enjoy the scenery instead of hanging my head while huffing and puffing.  I went swimming in a lake!  I went cliff jumping into that lake (picture of that to come)!  To get there I had to rock-climb the cliff.  Most people take that stuff for granted.

I felt NORMAL.  There were no ill-effects later.  I literally came home to my husband and and said I felt younger and more like I did when we first met.

This is hope!  From bed-ridden to cliff jumping.  That's huge.....long-term treatment for Lyme WORKS. I'm still on meds about 2 weeks out of the month but I'm not herxing as much.  I remember first being diagnosed and searching for a blog or testimony from someone who had greatly improved or improved completely!  I could find nothing.  No hope and I began wondering if I would ever get better.

And now I know -- all that hard work and I-wish-I-was-dead moments are paying off finally.  I still have a bad day here and there (like this past weekend where I was in bed all day), but the bad days are really widening apart!

I'm praying for you!!