Sunday, May 24, 2015

Canasta, for the win!

Yesterday was my Lyme anniversary. It was a year ago that I got the dreaded news that I had been infected with Lyme disease. I'd gotten it years before then, but after years of battling the unknown, it had finally been diagnosed.

In the last year, I've fought for my life - literally. I have felt more pain than I thought a person could possibly tolerate and live to tell about. But worse than the pain, was the emotional strain the disease and its side effects had on my brain. I spent much of the last year struggling with severe memory loss, cognitive dysfunction, questioning my worth, wondering what the point was to my life if it was to be filled with that much pain, and honestly, wanting to die more than I wanted to live. I've always fought depression, but never like this. I'd never wanted to kill myself.

Somehow, though, I've survived. I'm intact. I'm alive! I've had limited pain for the last month. And tonight, I won two games of canasta against my husband. I can't even remember the last time I was able to function well enough to remember how to play the game, much less strategize and win. It's a sign of vast mental improvement.

I'm too nervous to say I'm over the hump, but I definitely see the progress I've made. I have another few months of treatment to go (and at least two months being symptom-free) before I'm considered "in remission" but I feel so much better than I did. Even if this is as good as it gets, I'll take it over what it's been.

I am so fortunate to have the most amazing doctor. She's been such an incredible foundation for me through the last six months. She's literally been at my beck-and-call, providing me her cell number to text whenever I've needed her. She's knowledgeable and trained in Lyme disease treatment and without her, I couldn't have done this. All the specialists I went to over the course of the last year combined didn't do what she did. I am so thankful for her.

Thank you all, as well, for your prayers, kind words, thoughts and support. I am so blessed to have you in my life.