On It Goes/Went - Part II - Nov/Dec, 2015

Firstly, Good Morning,
October 28, 2017

Went to NYC last weekend. 
An Experiment. 
Hadn't been in .... 3 years? Missed it.
Drove half way Friday evening -
stayed at my mom's in CT over night... 
Drove the rest of the way
into midtown Manhattan Saturday morning at 8
and parked in a garage with online coupons :)

Next year,
for our version
of a closer 'parents weekend' with Clara than in Washington, DC,
I take the train;
Price will be comparable. 

Was able to do it -
Came back Monday in two parts, too -
stopping in CT again...
but pretty worn out all in all. 
Had to close my eyes Saturday...
getting head rushes...
Walked many miles -
And Mitch keeps the pace sprightly! ...
Though great to visit with Clara and him:
Took in a half price Broadway show, "Anastasia" (excellent!),
Strolled Central Park (beautiful!),
Ate good food (with second cousin, Justin, too!),
Enjoyed Sabon's pamperings,
And got down to the 911 Memorial (sombering....).

Then it was back to the challenging work week...

***********************************************

NOVEMBER - at four months since Lyme infection

11/16/15
Mon. morning work site in Plymouth

Head bothering me 
+ too much activity past week or so... 
too much sound, thought, light – 
even the sound of my own voice

1^st day back to church yesterday

Sat in the back – 
speakers too loud  - 
cause I’m having some caffeine now?

1 cup/day the past week or so – 
seems to directly correlate….
bummer

Going to take 2 pellets of the Bella Dona tonight                  or tomorrow

Cupping helped my asthma – 
a lot –

Double cupping 
(30 mins – 2 x 15 – 
change locations on my back)

Cupped then 2 days later – 
then 3 days later  
+ again 3 days later – 
will do tonight or tomorrow again.

No pro air! 
It’s addictive: 
makes it so I have to use more – 
my symptoms worsen – 
Shame on the pharmaceutical companies 
for producing that in place of the one that used to work – 
in the name of ‘(decreasing) pollution’ -  
yeah, right.

Asthma so bad for a few weeks, 
I was up in the night using the inhaler – 
also the ASTRA supplement 
+ ‘breathe deep’ tea – 
looked forward to acupuncture for it.

Janet told me to ‘cup’

          Duh! – 
          but hadn’t thought of it before she
          reminded me.

****************************************

So, here I am, 
reading these notes in my health journal of 11/15, 
on 1/17, as I try to write a book about all of this - 
and I’m back from a visit to the Urgent Care at 7 a.m.

My back hurts from trying to breathe…

(Dr. NP, again) – 
prescribed a tapered prednisone for asthma 
that has snow balled again – 
from smoke of a New Years Eve fire outside 
to many smaller indoor fires with too much wood (so too much smoke at the front of the insert when it’s left unattended and burns down),
and then a Zumba class that ‘blew my wad’.   Now at two weeks
of using a nebulizer and Pro-Air inhaler 
about 7 times each day – 
can’t resolve it. 
ProAir again made it worse – 
addictive: 
needing more to have the same effect.  
But in the middle of the night, 
I’m not going to crank on the noisy nebulizer…. 

*******************************************

11/20/15 - 11 am

Janet, last night. 
Said to cup another month – 
so 8-12 times by Christmas for sure – s
he said to cup past the point of asthma recovering.

She put 5 needles around my left elbow, too – 
x-ray to day @ urgent care (NP again)

Ruled out calcium deposits or bone cancer – 
said tendonitis –

I bought a strap for it –

If Lyme related joint pain, 
would be more broad she said – 
that’s happening too – (small of back, knees)

Last few days – Rained, too, tho

11/25/15

Gaps in my thinking, 
e.g. after typing – emails, etc. – 
noticing that letters are missing – 
endings of words wrong, eg verb tenses.

Feeling mortal – 
not afraid to die – 
wondering what 
things will be like a year from now.

Feeling weepy, overwhelmed – 
pressed to do so much 
cleaning + cooking + driving + finishing display cabinets + C coming home 2 wks from Sat. + G never shutting up – 
can’t listen to the radio – 
another bright sunny day – 
full moon – 
(maybe why the Patriots/Bills game was so weird – waxing full moon)

Taking G to lunch - 
1/2 day of school

at ARC work site in Brockton now 9:30

laundry, dishes, groceries, dog…
to groomer for 1^st time yesterday – 
so stinky – too big + lame for tub – 
too cold to bathe outside – 
couldn’t get her to leave the car.

need to chill –

can’t drink coffee (did last few days)

+ must exercise everyday.

 DECEMBER - at five months since Lyme infection

12/11/15 – 10:50 a.m. – Fri

Just went to A Healthy Way in Somerset 
on my way to work in Swansea – 
Janet (Lee) Cabrera recommended at last acupuncture –

Got the Ningxia Red – oils + antioxidants to try – 
if works, will get the big bottle…
interesting to hear D (the owner)…
she knew I was blood type A(+) 
before I told her 
when she asked

Per D:

Lyme loves: 
     - Blood Type A

-      acid (coffee)

-      sugar (sweets, alcohol)

-      stress

-      yeast

I think the deer tick borne diseases are going to thin the human population.

D also recommended ParaGone as a cleanse for parasites and Xylamend as an anti-inflammatory

Told me @ a woman 
who wrote down all her symptoms of Lyme– 
on two 8 X 10 sides of a paper 
+ who said she never knows which symptoms will come up day to day.

Need to focus on a stress-free day  
+ a strong immune system

12/15/15 – 10 a.m.

Interesting – 
just had my annual physical - with Dr. B  – 
but she wasn’t there.  
Friend,  Susan,  here also for her annual w/her – 
but said hasn’t seen her in years – 
I didn’t see Dr. B except in the hallway, 
since my last annual – 
so no visits at all related to my Lyme Disease.

Saw Dr. P for the ‘checkup’ + JW, N.P. for gynie exam

Dr. P said primary care is for preventative or acute – asthma, UTI, diabetes, cholesterol 
(???? -  but some of those are chronic!)

J. referred to research that says chronic Lyme doesn’t exist. 
I clarified it as post-Lyme 
+ told her @ the new clinic @ Spaulding.

I talked @ medical field being stymied @ Lyme – 
don’t know what to do - 
+ that it will weed out the human population

+ asked Dr. P. @ spyrochetes….
he was stymied.

They didn’t know what to say – 
other than their spiel
@ beware of listening to friends and family kind of thing

How @ articles in the newspaper?

How @ the Spaulding Clinic 
having to open on the down-low 
cause it’s so controversial?

-Like fibromyalgia had been.

-like Women’s research was for so long – 
cause too many variables 
+ just applied the male research

12/17/15 – 3:50 pm Brockton Oak St. Bldg.

“only 2 patients in front of you” – oy.

Glad we have 'appointments' – 
Graham’s 1^st concert @ 7:00 – 
Dr. LL let me come an hour earlier than scheduled

3 mo follow up

“well how are you feeling?” – 
my response will be: “Like I have Lyme Disease”.

Janet L-C said “you don’t have Post- Lyme, 
you have active Lyme Disease”

+That makes sense – 
since I have symptoms I’ve had since having Lyme 
+ which have not gone away – 
spyrochetes are in my brain still?...

+Joints, knees acted up around Thanksgiving - 
elbows kind of a problem ongoing 
more so than before Lyme –

Swollen glands left side of face 1 ½ wks ago - 
+ then the ongoing head issue – 
pressure across front - 
Some ache 
+ hypersensitive to Light, sound, 
visual strain, cognitive strain – 
which all can trigger 
a low grade ongoing ocular migraine

lasting thru a day

waking up  w/ a headache
+ off balance this wk.

So I’m thinking of deer – 
how they live with this – 
maybe 2016 will be the year of Deer Lisa – 
vegetarian? 
Daily exercise, minimal alcohol – 
minimal caffeine, outside lots

12/26/15

          Chest pain past 1 ½ wks – Rt side

last 48 hours, went to back as well

lightheaded + dizzy swooshes

achy upper body

walked to + from Xmas Dinner at Ziglers

as a low grade form of stress test for my heart 
(female heart probs can present on the Right)

called Connie + Korin from my office floor 
@ going to Urgent Care this morning 
XRay + EKG @ Compass Medical/ED 
(9 people in front of me when door opened)

Dx: 
Pleurisy – "viral"

So tapered prednisone

(no ibuprofen w/ (arrow up)

But can take acetaminophen

EKG looks good

+ not pneumonia

or infection

Monique – Medical Asst. from Acushnet

                schooled in New Bedford

                lives in Taunton

Marie, P.A. – Haitian

                Said “99% of us don’t believe in Chronic Lyme” (what @ Post Lyme?)

+ said that the symptoms + disease are cured w/ medication if caught in time

talked w/ her @ incorrect PCR blood test @ Good Sam ER 
+ Dr. LL (ID Doc next door) said was wrong one – 
did Immunoglobulins - and tested poistive to Lyme

she talked @ need for specialists (eg for Lyme) 
+ to be referred there

still didn’t answer why my symptoms are persisting –

                When took meds timely

                + so ‘cured’?

she did say something like

'time will tell more w/ more studies, experience, etc.'

Connie’s work colleague, SP, had Lyme @ same time as me 
+ has persistent vision – lightheaded problems

The conversation w/ P.A. Monique 
stemmed from me asking if the pleurisy – inflammation – 
is related to Lyme – also involving inflammation? 

She didn’t think so – see other side (see that as chronic Lyme I guess)

I hadn't asked anything about 'chronic Lyme' - 
so why did they refer to it that way? 
Just to dismiss it?

Marie said not a heart attack –

After a week would be 'coding'

+ not angina…not presenting as it

+ that steroids will help w/ other inflammation in body – eg ear

----------------------

Pleurisy coincided w/ a waxing full moon

----------------------

Prednisone  Rx: 5, 4, 4, 3, 2, 1 ?!

(Something was missing cause was still 6 days)

Blood type A+

*****************************************

These entries chronicle 
some of the inflammatory nature of Lyme... 
in my joints, lungs, head, ear, vision, face... 
and then something weird that was happening 
with my heart for a while too...
blood pressure was abnormally high.  
More next time - 
for the six month mark since the Lyme infection, 
and how it remained unresolved.

Thanks for reading, 
Peace out, 
and good health to you and yours.
--Lisa :)

On It Goes - Sept/Oct, 2015

ON IT GOES

SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER, 2015 *

(I sit here at the computer......,
Just trying to guide my brain
And my focus and intent....
How many months was it?.....
In a much needed zone of rest
After another week assisting the fifth grade teacher. )

* At three and four months -
Since the onset of the Lyme symptoms
And subsequent Lyme diagnosis.
Just journal entries posted here today-
Ten for September and two for October.
They were in the form originally written -
Compiled from the two different
Written and typed journal logs I was keeping then.
(Rereading this reminds me of the Diary of a Type A entry I'd posted here on the blog. oy,)
(And now editing even later - 2/20 - 
So that all of the entries are more easily readable, 
i.e. not in book format - more like prose).

~ I'd gone away for my birthday weekend
In January of 2017
To get an idea of where I was at
With writing a book about all of this,
Which was started in April of 2016.
Had to take much of that January weekend
Just to chronologically coalesce the two separate journals that were started
(And all of the other documents related to the experience,
 As well as articles, etc. about Lyme Disease).
It made some of the symptoms worse,
Staring at the computer for so many hours
Over the course of those three days,
With so many cognitive tasks.

****************************************************************************

SEPTEMBER

9/4/15 – Fri 11 am

It is so bright!  
Not able to drive to Swansea for 1^st fall session – 
at the last minute – 
not confident in safe driving for such a long drive

+ SO BRIGHT

Has been all summer – 
not helping my migraine-ous head for sure.

I laid down w/ an eye cover - 
+ saw a pulsing pattern wave of light 
behind my closed eyes – 
started counting - 
@ 12 waves downward slowing to stop at the end  

Then repeated–

Then eventually 11

+ 10

+ 9

+ it stopped

About a dozen in all, 
once I noticed them.  
Could have been happening w/ my eyes open…

Earlier @ ½ hour

Had stepped from stones to back porch 
+ back of my head swirled around inside my head –

Prior to that was just pressure in my head (front)

Had weighed in at TOPS

Didn’t stay.

Had cleaned up pools + tarp earlier

+ done computer work – 
eg scheduling for NRC w/ KS

Did dishes

Broke out in a sweat –

No temp, tho.

Homeopathy at 3:00 Emailed if I could do 2:00.

Hope it helps.

Thought the glasses would – 
w/ transitional lenses for the sun

Had gone into living room to get R’s opinion 
@ driving to Swansea  - 
he couldn’t pull his eyes off of the TV –

‘well be careful’ 
he mumbled as I walked away in disbelief – 
Then I said I wasn’t going 
+ called the client's mom.  
She said the cleaners were late + was ok  
(The sound + chaos would have been worse)

40 minutes later – 
still in bed – 
talked to a friend, 
whose good friend had just died unexpectedly L

Recalling –

Yesterday, 
took Graham’s soccer sock he dropped – 
to the front of the school – 
told Bill I needed to drop it at the library – 
and we just stood there staring at each other - 
I didn’t realize I’d said library until he finally asked, “library?” 

Wed – 
decided to take the invoice out of the garbage 
in case I was feeling well enough 
to do the makeup (session) with Seniors on Mayflower Circle.  
Saw I’d written 00.75 for $75.00. 
Never done that before in over almost 25 years.

                Eyes whigging out now.

Denise said sounds like a concussion – 
when trauma on the brain – 

it needs to rest

9/6/15

today on third Homeopathic remedy for post-Lyme:

For 2 wks:
1 dose (30c potency 2-3 pellets) of Lyme Borrelia

yesterday: 
one dose only of “ledum”,
for the “bite”/skin puncture 200c potency

day before:
one dose – persenicum?,
For my head/”nerves” 200c potency

Really don’t feel much different – 
tho head hurts a lot more 
+ of course it’s so damn sunny!

Been 2 months of mostly sunny days – 
even when it rained elsewhere, 
it didn’t rain here.

Gotu Kola tincture from Korin 
didn’t make much of a difference.  
Maybe didn’t take enough:
15 drops 2 x / day 4 days)

9/8/15

Looks like I’ll go back to B+W neurology 
for questions I have-
‘getting lost in email’ per Dr. L 

------------------------------------------

Helping to limit my daily chores

Cause they are fairly ongoing as it is

6 is my limit now

Pretty much done after 
dishes, 
dinner, 
bills, 
watering garden, 
buying groceries,

+ tending to the boy 
+ dog

That’s more than 6, 
+ then there’s the day job!

Usually is some type of:

cleaning

office work

yard work

garden (for 6 months)

errand

tending to boy + dog

+ then there’s the house renovation ‘projects’

Less for me – after year 23 
(I warned him at year 17 that I was done at year 20 - and was tired of having to initiate most of it)

9/9/15 – 3:15 pm

Listening to Carole King 
on Plymouth work drive home today – ‘
You’ve got a friend’ applies to the ‘village’ I have that Kathleen referred to when I posted on FB re: Lyme advice/references. 
Not at home.  
Not good for my health at home.  
Too much criticism + bullshit + stress.  
Love the time I’m by myself – 
and with my community – does include family, but….(they’re too used to me doing too much for them)

9/11/15 – 11:45 am

Leaving for Bourne site  -

1^st long distance drive since 7/29

Since replacing coffee with tea, 
have been combining feverfew (for migraines) lavender, mint, black and green teas 
@ 2 weeks now – 
had it for Clara at 8 years old

9/15/15

a little better each day with Lyme remedy

Head not good today

took ibuprofen and tea around same time - 
+ sunny

+ 2 hrs on computer

So acupuncture helped

@ 16 needles

All symmetrical pairs:

3 in each arm -
(2 on top of elbow crease + 2” out arm)

and hand - 
(1 in fleshy part – back + in from thumb)

3 in each leg -
(2 in stomach meridian of shin – where itches deep down)

And foot -
(1 between big toe and next toe in @ 1 ½”)

2 in from top hair line @ 1”

2 on eyebrow arch

9/22/15 4 pm

just had my first dose of Bella Dona (Night Shade):
 4 pellets, 30 c each, 1x/day, 3 days?

for my headache – 
w/ subtle strobe visuals that persist

+ can’t move head quickly – 
so I slow to stoop, and slow to lean or turn

lying down + closing eyes helps

headache has been the one persistent symptom 
since day one

end of June – mostly in the front

sometimes to the back

alternates:
as low grade brain freeze
+ low grade ocular migraine 
+ pressure headache

Cheryl Pino (Homeopath) 
also asked if I liked dogs – 
any phobias?
~ ran thru all things I’m not afraid of 
+ then recalled how occasionally border on a panic attack

usually in crowds

She also asked what a hellish day would be for me -----------

A day of hell 
(other than the extreme of one of my kids dying) would be being late, 
being misunderstood, 
not getting done what I’m expected to do – 
and ultimately – lacking a support system – 
that was key for the Bella Dona – 
which is of the plant kingdom 
(intuition and related to feelings) – 
the other 2 'kingdoms' are:
animal (active, in a nutshell) 
and mineral (structured, in a nutshell).  
On a Venn diagram 
I think I would pretty equally cover 
each kingdom w/ my traits + constitution…
so it would depend on what was going on in my environment and relationships after that…

We’ll see how this goes –

And an MRI tomorrow night.

9/23/15 – Wed 5 pm

Today is the best I’ve felt since the end of June 
+ I tell R that 
+ he says something lackluster (can’t be bothered): “Well then…. is that good news?” 
Fairly stunned, I say to him, ‘
I don’t know. Is that good news?’   
Bella Dona: 
for feeling of lack of support, in part.

9/24/15

Well, the MRI certainly Resonated my brain. 
Over a ½ hour.

It was a challenge to not squeeze the panic bulb.  What to think? What to focus on? 
They had no music (“sorry”) 
like people said they would. 

My head was in a ‘cage’. 
My upper body was in the big ‘tube’.

I couldn’t move.

I breathed.

I thought of the song, ‘Blue Skies’

Very very slowly.

My breathing was slow.

I tried to think of the video of Clara 
singing the Cher song – 
been watching it again since Clara now on FB 
+ I reposted it – makes me laugh –

But it was too much stimulation.

Thought of Graham drumming – 
which I like – 
but too much stimulation.

‘Blue Skies’ for almost the whole time – 
very very very very slowly. 
('If I think of this 15 times ,
that will be the whole test, right?')

Had tried earlier just to count it through the minutes.  Too boring + so,  aggravating.

Last night in bed 
I had one of those ‘explosions’ in my head 
as was falling asleep – 
but this time much different: 
in the back, like a ‘pop’/crack, 
and not painful at all – 
I woke up with a startling “wah!”.  
The MRI had to have influenced that.

(Neurology at B&W had no idea what those explosions could be
????!?).

9/24/25 cont.

Took a short bike ride yesterday 
around the country block – 
hope to again, too – 
hadn’t ridden all summer since sick – 
probably not since last fall 
(too much snow in winter and into Spring) – 
almost a year

wow

+ still - @ 3 p.m.

After too many hours on the pc screen 
w/ eyes going back + forth within documents 
+ between documents – 
on pc + hard copies

+ short bike ride in bright sun, 
laid down for a short time, 
while waves fluttering behind my closed lids – counted @ 12 again – 
then eventually slowed + stopped

(repeated @ 12 times or so)

cause it was my 12^th vertebrae area that was bitten??

J u s t   a   t h o u g h t – 
I’d written about the 12 successive light waves before.

---------------------------------

Ommmmmmm……….

So Denise H. emailed 
if I was ready + able to participate in choir?  
I started a draft before coming here – 
taking a shift – 
since being sick – 
with my health as my priority - 
+ meeting the demands of my day job 
+ my home life.

-------------------------------

Have taken on 2 new sites even, 
and these are both two-fold: 
WBHS group + 1:1s for NRC, 
+ intern + shadower from Lesley U.

Need Sundays – 
holding sacred to recharge – 
catch up.

Re: my head – still intermittent through most days:

o   – pressure headache in front (tho diminished since Bella Dona)

o   – searching for words

o   – flashing white lights – behind closed lids – typically when too much brain activity (on computer, driving, chores)

o   (fluttering waves in from both sides day before yesterday)

o   – have to move head slowly (or probably would falter, feels like)

o   – ears still ring off + on (happened before sick)

o   – still sensitive to sunlight – makes vision sparkle

o   – sensitive to sound + pressure of my own voice + R’s + G’s (resonance)

I had let them know could help w/ Tone Chimes – 
but don’t see that before new year.  
Thought maybe helping out for Christmas – 
but it just sucks me back in - 
+ Sunday becomes a work day - 
+ the days before prepping for it. 
+ the holidays already have too much every year – something here + there + everywhere…. 

+ Clara’s coming home. J

OCTOBER

10/1/15

2:10 – waiting to pick up Graham @ JrSrH.

The press continues on 
with harvesting and preserving the garden –

Pink sheet shows the items I was hoping to put 
in Rachel + David’s garden basket #3 they bought 
at the church Goods + Services auction.

Trying to eat more healthy

Need to: dry hot peppers

– stuff less hot peppers (w/cheese mix)

– mash store bought potatoes w/ greens (chard, sorrel) + parsnips

– twice cook the squash that woodchucks have nibbled at (make pies?)

– stove top cook the beans

    rest will be dried to use later

– lots of tomatillos to use for a sauce 
(already froze several bags)

– make another caprese salad

– slice up the couple of cukes we have for a snack

had a great crop of parsley 
until yesterday

cause of the rain and not out there

something ate it all! – deer? – leaned over fence? and the parsnips before that

10/29/15 – Th 8 am

So glad I’m off ‘work’ today

Was going to try + makeup E’s sessions 
(3 from me in summer w/ Lyme + 1 from her out)

But too problematic

300 miles to help Luee in CT, Sat – Sun – 
post Luee’s (+W’s ) fall(s)  - 
Her @ Middletown hospital – 
car in Westbrook – 
lives in Niantic

then 3 programs in Plymouth Mon. 
kind of wiped me –

(Follow up neuro apt. @ B&W Boston Tues)

Lesley intern here 2 hours yesterday – 
house cleaned – 
included piano switch…

Graham + D. p.u./drop off – This am, too

movie (Goosebumps) cause soccer rained out

+ visited Mary yesterday – 
she asked if I’d been to church – I said no – too busy – have to set boundaries + take care of myself

*****************************************

Thanks for reading...

Until next time, 

Peace and good health to you and yours.

--Lisa :)