Meet my Lyme friend, Brandi

Brandi and I have been in touch many times online over the past couple of years.  Long before I had my own blog, I came across hers and I couldn't believe the similarities in our situations.  It was comforting to find someone who had been through the same thing, someone who could validate all I had been through.  Chronic Lyme is REAL, not a figment of our imagination as some in the medical community would say about us....and even right to our own faces.  In time (maybe decades from now), we will be vindicated by medical research that will no doubt prove that Lyme spirochetes persist beyond a 1 month course of antibiotics.  Thank you, Brandi, for opening yourself up in this way to help others.  We Lymies are very proud of you!

Check out her interview here:  The Boston Globe, August 18, 2013

Lyme Research Facility in Canada

Allow me to pick my jaw up off the floor!  I can hardly believe it.  The wheels have been put in motion to build a Lyme research facility in Canada.

Rossana Magnotta, CEO of Magnotta Winery, whose husband passed away from Lyme disease in 2009, has created the G. Magnotta Foundation for Vector-Borne Diseases which received charitable status on July 3. 

The research centre is slated to open in 2015 at Toronto's Humber River Hospital. 

Rossana saw first-hand what the lack of research, lack of knowledge, lack of proper diagnosis, and lack of treatment options can do.  We are so grateful to her that she has taken up this cause.

I always knew it would take someone in an important position, with the available funds, and who had been affected by Lyme, to get something like this started. 

Thank you so much, Rossanna Magnotta, for giving Canadians hope.  I hope and pray that this facility gets off the ground smoothly, thrives, and makes Canada a leader in Lyme research and treatment. 

Click here for more information about this exciting news.

Happy anniversary to me

OK, this isn't really the kind of anniversary I want to be celebrating, but how can I escape reality?  Check out my Lyme ticker....the one that's been ticking away on the left side of my blog, marking every year and day that I've been fighting with this insidious illness.

I was actually thinking about the approaching anniversary last week while it was still May, but once June rolled in, I completely forgot!  So I'm 2 days late to wish myself a happy anniversary.

This anniversary is bittersweet, obviously.

On the one hand, I sure am thankful to be receiving treatment for my Lyme disease, given the situation in Canada.  I was browsing through some old e-mails last night that I kept from 2011, and was reminded afresh just how sick and anxious and desperate I was.  Wow!  I've come a long way, baby!

On the other hand, I can't believe it is now over 2 (count 'em....2) years that I have been ingesting antibiotics and dozens of supplements daily, 2 years that I have made bi-monthly trips to an LLMD in a nearby state, 2 years that I've had to try (with little success) to convince the doubters that I have Lyme disease, 2 years that I've tried to spread the word about Lyme, 2 years that I've fought like crazy to be fully recovered.  Wow!  And it seems like I still have a ways to go, baby!

And all of this from a bug bite.  Crazy, no?!

If anyone is reading this who is starting Lyme treatment, here is my best advice:

PERSEVERE!!!

 

Don't give up just because the goin' gets rough......and it surely will.  Recovery from chronic Lyme disease is no walk in the park!  But it will be SO worth it in the end.  I came back from the brink of death, and am now living a productive, happy life once again.  No, I'm not 100% yet, but honestly, who is?

 

It is my hope and prayer that two years from now, you will be able to look back and see just how far you've come and be thankful for your blessings.

 

And to further inspire you, here is one of my favourite singers encouraging you to press on......and keep your eyes on the prize.

 

Eyes on the Prize

by

Sara Groves

 

Lyme poster to share

Thanks to my friend over at "lymed out" for this fantastic, informative, and easy to understand poster about Lyme disease.  Please share with anyone you think might fit this description.  To see the full size, click here.