I do enjoy writing. But these medicines make my head hurt and it's hard to focus. I am again putting off the continuation of my story and instead writing about more recent events that are much easier to recall!
I started my new medicine on Friday - it's a cyst-buster. Not to get too complicated, Lyme disease can form protective cysts in your body (I have no clue how big - probably tiny) and it is resistant to medicines. It just kind of hangs out in your body, hibernating, until prime conditions (illness, stress) arise for a reemergence. Unless you kill the cysts, the LD will be back again... and again...
My doctor told me to take the new medicine either every weekend or every other weekend. When I asked him why, he said - you'll see. And I did see. Boy, did I feel terrible. I took Friday off (I have to take the meds Friday, Saturday, Sunday) because I was really nervous about the affects it would have on me. I didn't feel too awful on Friday morning, but started getting head-achy, tired and having joint pain. It got worse Friday night. Saturday I think I slept away half the day (always a nice way to pass the time when you don't feel well), had some severe joint and muscle pain, headaches, stomach upset...
I was really hoping to make it to church on Sunday morning and prayed specifically that I'd be okay for Sunday School and the service. With the help of a couple Tylenol, I made it. Sunday afternoon/evening I still felt crappy but it didn't seem as bad - either my body started getting used to it or my plumb line for how bad I feel got readjusted.
I'm still feeling the affects today, Tuesday... but it's gradually getting better. I am very glad that I don't have to take this medicine every weekend.
In the meantime, I've been looking up some other peoples' blogs on Lyme disease - if you're interested, take a look down the left side of my blog and look under the header "Lyme Blogs". There are so many people with similar (and way worse) stories.
I also found a great article through one of them called The Spoon Theory. I've already sent it to a few friends - but if you've not heard of it, I highly recommend reading it. It's written by a woman who was asked by her best friend what it's like to be chronically ill. She gave a very good, visual explanation that will help you to understand a bit more of a what a loved one or friend or coworker might be going through if they deal with illness on a daily basis. Thankfully, I feel I am blessed to not deal with quite the degree of daily illness that the writer of this article expounds on. But I have had seasons of illness when I have felt exactly the way she explains it.
I think I'll end this one with a favorite Bible verse:
Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
~Psalm 73:25-26
1 comment:
The article you posted is so beneficial, Wend. It is insightful and inspiring to not just understand but also to feel a bit of what it's like to go through physical affliction. Thanks for sharing it. I'm glad to have gotten so many of your spoons over the years! :)
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