It's been a month since my last post. I was holding my own pretty well, but I have regressed slightly recently. My oxygen tank ran out, which is needed for one of my treatments, and it ended up causing a 10 day lapse in treatments. It only takes a few days and I feel it that I've missed them. So, the IV treatments help me for sure, but there is still a long way to go before I'm "healthy" because I can still lose ground easily and quickly.
I've done a couple treatments with my refilled tank, but I'm out of other supplies now. I've ordered those supplies today so hopefully it won't be long before I'm back to a normal treatment schedule again and hopefully I can improve quickly once I'm back on track.
I haven't scheduled a trip back to Oregon yet. I'm going to need to go, but I am stalling. It's hard to do in so many ways, so I'm not looking forward to it. Being away from my family, the treatments being physically exhausting, treatments making me sicker before better, the expense.... I guess I am going to pray that when the time is right, it'll be clear I should go and everything will fall into place for a return visit. Also, I hope that it isn't clear I need to return simply because I've become very sick again! Dr V was clear to return before I lose too
much ground if I take a turn for the worse again.
Since returning home, I've busied myself making and selling soap to help pay for Lyme treatments both at home and hopefully for another Portland visit to continue treatments there. It was a bit of an experiment to see if my soap would sell publicly. I've made it for my family for years but haven't sold much. So far, I've been really encouraged at sales and response. Many people have been kind enough to try it and then tell their friends and family and orders are slowly trickling in almost everyday. I've sold out of some initial varieties and I have spent the last two weeks cranking out soap batches nearly every day to restock it all. It's all drying now and soon it'll all be back on my website. Thanks to all who have tried my soaps! If you're interested and haven't seen it, you can read about my soaps and see what I have available currently here:
www.twowildhares.com
More soap varieties are coming soon as well as lip balms and several other hand crafted items as I find time in between my daily family duties to work on these other things. As long as God continues to bless this particular effort to pay for my treatments, I'll keep working on this business.
All in all, I have held my ground at home this time better than the last time I returned. So, a measure of my health gains have become permanent. I haven't had to take antibiotics (pharmaceuticals anyway) since last fall which is a long time for a Lyme person. A couple of my treatments are antibiotic, but naturally so, and this has helped me to be able to improve gut health. This time last year, I was starving to death from malnutrition because my gut flora was so terrible. I've gained 20 pounds since August 2012!
The family seems to be doing well. We are enjoying the summer so far. Our cow Mavis had a calf and we are milking her this time. We didn't milk her during her last calf and Waffles freshened during the winter and we skipped milking her as well. I wasn't up to it health wise and this time it's going well and I am not too worn out to do it, so I am glad for fresh milk, mozzarella, yogurt and milk for my soap!
I am grateful for these many small improvements and I can hardly believe that in June 2012 I was in bed 16-18 hours per day and was still so exhausted I didn't do anything but move to the couch, then back to bed most days. I didn't know a person could be so tired! It is literally almost dead tired. Although any of us can die at any moment, it seemed as though I would just not wake up almost every single time I went to sleep. Jim is relieved not to have to check to see if I am dead every night when he gets home. More than once he thought I was dead because my breathing was so undetectable and he was relieved when I stirred suddenly. Poor guy!
The things still bothering me are: full body pain still necessitating pain medicine to make it tolerable, sleep disturbances (awake from 2-5am/or nightmares) overly sensitive nerves that make me feel jumpy at times, overly sensitive skin that makes IV's more painful than they should be and still some fatigue, although not like before.
If you would pray for those health things, the continued good health of my husband and children and discernment about when to return to Portland for more treatments, we would appreciate it.
Thanks for being concerned for us and praying for us.
Nicole
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