First blog post in a few years! I am so thankful for how God has provided for our family over these last few years and there’s something pretty important I want to talk about, but there’s been so much going on I’m not really sure where to start!
What I really want to talk about is one of my kiddos. But in order to get there, I need to give a little back story...
Rewind to summer 2000 when I was about to start my freshman year in high school. This was the summer my dad got bit by a tick in our own backyard. He did get the well known rash common for Lyme disease but didn’t experience any other symptoms until years down the road, as did my mom. I, however, had some major changes take place that summer that weren’t noticeable until I started high school that fall. Out of nowhere, I wasn’t able to pay attention in school. I wasn’t able to absorb new information, let alone remember it. My brain was in a fog most of the time and I had very low energy. I was put in a remedial English class due to my performance and instead of study hall had to go to a lab for math tutoring because I couldn’t keep up. My grades were really low. In spring 2001 we moved from central Illinois to a town near St. Louis. I had loved playing soccer for the last six or seven years, so I decided to try out for the school team that spring. I remember being so disappointed in myself that I couldn’t keep up, it was so hard to run and I was exhausted that whole week of tryouts. I wasn’t sure why it was so hard because in my mind I could see myself running endlessly in years past. Needless to say I did not make the team, which didn’t help my self-confidence. School continued. It slowly became more and more difficult. At the time we thought it might’ve been depression, after all, a 15-year-old moving to a new town and starting a new high school is a pretty big change. I couldn’t remember things which affected school and work tremendously. I ended up not finishing high school and although I wasn’t completely sure why, I just couldn’t do it. A little bit of time went by. I went to a Christian bible school in Pennsylvania for a year and when I came back I got my GED and started going to a community college. Energy came and went and there were times it was difficult to retain what I was learning, but I eventually finished and started working in the Lab at a local hospital.
Fast forward to November 2017. Husband was let go from a good job and my boss graciously gave me full time hours until we could figure something out. He searched endlessly for employment in the St. Louis area with no luck so we decided if we were going to have to move, to make the move to Wisconsin to be near my family. The Lord provided for us in bigger ways than we imagined. What could have been a scary time full of uncertainties, the Lord worked out for our good and carried us through. Some people brought us meals or groceries, we received a couple anonymous cards in the mail with cash, and a co worker called me one night a few days before Christmas and said he was on his way over with presents for they boys. What we thought was going to be the hardest time we've ever experienced as a family turned out to be the time we've been blessed the most. And to top it off I was hired in WI before we even got here and started my job a week after we moved. I worked all kinds of hours until husband found an awesome job. He's working from home for the first time and the boys get to see him much more than they used to.
After the move my health gradually went downhill. January to July 2018 I was in a pretty big fog where I was exhausted all the time and don’t remember much of it other than just trying to make it day to day. My mom was a tremendous help with our children while I either slept or worked. I began having dizzy spells fairly often and was really sensitive to loud noises -which isn’t ideal when you have 3 young boys. I couldn’t think clearly to plan ahead for anything in the future. I also gained over 20 pounds over the last 6-9 months and couldn’t lose it no matter what I tried. It was difficult learning a new job and often felt like I wasn't keeping up but somehow I managed (or I faked it and my boss thought I was legit).
Sometime in Spring 2018 I still wasn't doing well and my mom suggested I tag along to see her Lyme doctor in western Wisconsin to check if I also was infected. I found out I did have Lyme Disease and had most likely gotten it the summer before high school, when my parents did. (After high school, symptoms went largely dormant for a few years until we moved.) I learned that major stress on the body can make Lyme symptoms flare up and that’s what I experienced when Husband lost his job and I started working full time and we moved our family 6 hours away.
In July of 2018 I was treated for Lyme. Antibiotics don’t begin to touch it once you had it for long, so I did a treatment called LymeStop (LS). LS is a non/invasive technique which uses magnets on your body to stimulate the infections so your immune system can recognize them and kill them off. If you’re interested in learning more you can read about LS here. So we made the trip to La Crosse and stayed in a hotel for the five appointments spread out over three days, praying God would bring about some healing through this. After a couple appointments I noticed my brain fog was lifting. Within a week of my treatments I saw progress on my biggest symptoms: I had no more dizziness. Headaches were decreasing. I was gaining energy. I was losing weight. My brain fog continued to significantly decrease, which allowed me to feel much more present especially with my family. There were times I would cry just because I felt connected in ways I either hadn’t felt before hadn’t felt in a really long time. Work had been difficult for me since starting new position at the start of summer, but when I returned there was a noticeable difference in my ability to remember procedures and multitask in ways I was not able to before. It’s been six months since LS and many symptoms I had are either gone or have continued to decreased. I’m also pregnant with our fourth child and this will be my first pregnancy without Lyme disease. With past pregnancies I’ve always struggled with postpartum depression so I am curious to see if there will be a noticeable difference this time around, or if that’s even related to the Lyme at all.
So to wrap this up if you’re still with me, I strongly believe that my husband was let go from his job and we moved up to Wisconsin because God had a plan for me to feel better. He has a plan for our family and we're trusting Him through all of this and I am so thankful and I praise Him for his provision and for His guidance and leading our family to where we are now.
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