Friday, June 15, 2007

Lymeapallooza '07

The Lyme fairies at work!

Merry Lymeapallooza!

It's June 15th, people, the third annual Lymeapallooza, the anniversary of the official start of my Lyme disease. Three years ago tonight, the Pistons were winning the NBA Championship, and I could barely hold myself together as the Lyme attacked every organ of my body and I began to physically and mentally shut down. A year and a half later I would be diagnosed. Last year at this time I was six months into treatment and in the depths of herxing hell. I could barely stand up at the Betty Awards and spent most of the night sitting down sipping water.

And today . . . well, things are completely different. I've done more this spring than I did all last summer. Planted two trees, three bushes, trimmed all my shrubs, had my bathroom redone, cleaned and purged a great percentage of my house - I could go on and on. It's like a few months ago I finally broke through, and BAM, I'm suddenly at 85-90% Lisa. It's good to be back.

When I arrived at work, I found 12-15 limes scattered across my desk and a card on my keyboard. My closest co-workers all dressed in green, and at lunch we had a green cake with green frosting. People were stopping me in the hallway asking what Lymeapallooza was (word spreads fast!) and in little ways, I was able to educate people about Lyme, or at least get them thinking. Our human resources director even stopped me to (teasingly) ask why she didn't know about this, and suggested that next year we have an official Lyme awareness day at work. Cool, huh?

It was a good day overall - until I got the news that Jim's mother died this morning, after a long illness. I feel so bad for him. He (of course) bolted from work and I haven't heard anything from him. I left him a voice mail to let him know I was here if he needed anything at all. My phone is on and I know he'll call eventually. It's just so sad. No matter how old your parents are, no matter if the death is expected, it just can't be easy. It's one of those things we'll all go through, and just thinking about it makes me want to crumple up. I can't imagine being here without my parents.

I'm spending the evening babysitting my adorable 8-month old neighbor. Her parents have joined an adult kickball team - now how much fun is that?! It'll be good for them to get out, and I get to have some baby time!

I'm off. What a day of ups and downs.


1 comment:

Shannon Paris, Marketing Director/Realtor said...

I stumbled on your blog and was intrigued b/c I saw that you too are a Lyme survivor. I was diagnosed in June 1998 after it attacked my neurological system, I feel your pain although I don't think it affected me quite the way it did you, either way I'm glad to see that the pain I felt during that time is understood.