A Little Update First:
I'm sitting here watching my Vitamin C IV drip-drop down the tube into my vein and sipping on my iced drink. I usually do a C IV every weekend and it makes me really thirsty so Ken gets me an iced tea of some kind from S-bucks as a treat! My new favorite is the iced peach green tea lemonade unsweetened (shew what a mouth full!). The C bag helps flush toxins and die off out of the body and usually makes me feel very sick during the IV but better the next day.Our follow up visit is tomorrow and we'll find out what to do for the next 6 weeks or so. Still in loads of pain and have the seizures but every now and then I feel like we're making progress. FB messages and emails are hard to keep up with because I have to process and form answers which, for a Lyme brain is very difficult. Still love y'all...even if it takes a year to get back to you ;)
Honduras:
The summer of 2006 I went on a mission trip to Honduras with the youth group from our church. This was the summer before senior year of HS. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to go on this trip but ever since that summer I've had health problems. Throughout this whole process we've tried to make sense of all that has happened. God only knows what really happened in my body but this is what we believe went down in Honduras:
-Went swimming in a pretty dirty waterfall (as a teenager you don't care) Jumping of the side of the waterfall was fun.
-After swimming we changed into dry clothes for the ride back
-Noticed 3 leeches on my stomach
-That evening we had a youth activity with the local kids
-Felt incredibly sick while cutting out flannel graphs for the event that evening
-The activity was at the missionary's home and I ended up sleeping inside the whole time because I could barely lift my head. I was so discouraged and knew something was very wrong.
-Two days later we headed home.
-I had a rash on my face and my eyes burned like crazy but there was nothing I could do.
-I usually never got sick so this was a rude awakening.
We believe I contracted something from the leeches or through the water. Possibly bartonella, parasites, babesia, mold, fungus, etc. We just know that my health has steadily declined since that trip. We don't believe I contracted Lyme there. I will explain our theory on that in Part 3.
Just Around the Corner:
God allowed me to go on this trip and knew what would happen to my body. Sometimes I think, "what if I didn't go? my life would be so much easier now". Maybe that's true but easier isn't always better. That statement sounds good and is easy to type but hard to believe when you feel hopeless-when you find yourself in circumstances you can't control. We are all very weary with the treatment protocol. We are thankful for answers but overwhelmed by the complexity and severity of the disease.
I am hoping for a day when we look back at the pain and see the purpose and the good in it. I definitely see the world and people in a new way because of this experience. When people are in pain I am deeply burdened. When I am able to walk outside I'm extremely thankful.
There's light waiting just around the corner. Don't give up.
*Robin
