Day 11 LDA Month

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkBhPSMNPzE&feature=relmfu

This is the 2nd part of Michelle On Lyme.  Thank you for watching these videos.

Remember to go further down to read my blog on Discrimination and Prejudice.

May 10, 2012

There are days where I hate to write something new because I don't want my previous post to be pushed down.  So I'm keeping this short.  Please read my post on discrimination and prejudice under this one.

Day 10 of Lyme Disease Awareness Month:

Michelle -- a Lyme patient did a two part video a while ago.   Here is part one. It's been a while since I've watched these two videos, but I remember I enjoyed them. I hope you do too.  

 http://youtu.be/Lmq-y6EU4AE

Discrimination & Prejudice

I want to share with you all a video that a Lyme patient created first before I go onto my non-lyme portion of the blog post.   It's a 4 or 5 minute video that describes some of the things we go through. 

 http://youtu.be/cCB6ezBzSMY


I write this hesitantly because I know my family reads my blog, but this has been on my heart for a few weeks and I feel that I must write it.  To my family.  I think the way I think because you raised me to be a caring compassionate woman.  You taught me to get to know people before dismissing them based on assumptions and status.  You taught me how to love like God loves, without condition.  

Discrimination is a huge word. Prejudice is another huge word.  These words have been talked about ad-nausea over the last few months in North Carolina. Discrimination is when "we" give a certain treatment to someone based on their membership or perceived membership in a certain group or category.  I have been affected by discrimination, me personally.  Discrimination hurts.

You might think to yourself that there is no way that I've been treated poorly based on my membership of a  certain group, but it is true.  In fact, you thinking what you just thought ... is prejudice.  How could this white girl have been pre-judged? In more ways than you think ---- 

One of my best friends in elementary school was a girl. We had different color skin.  I didn't notice because Edna was my friend, my best friend.  I changed schools in elementary for two years and people convinced her that I attended that private Christian school because I was prejudice against her.  It most certainly wasn't the case because I didn't even realize we were different.  I went to a different school becuase my family thought it would be a better learning environment for our family.  These people at the new school were prejudice against me for coming from a public school.  However, I did make a few life long friends.  Some I haven't seen since I moved away and oh I how I miss them.  Oh how I missed her, my best friend.   I didn't talk to her for years (decades actually).  I recently reconnected with her on facebook and found out that not only did her family tell her that I didn't like people of her race, but that we had moved far away because of it.  I was heart broken that she would have been told such a thing.  She was heartbroken that they had lied to her.  She said I was the best friend she had ever had and would never forget that I was her very first best friend in life. 

Discrimination.  Prejudice.

Right before 7th grade began, we moved to a new county.  I was discriminated against for being the new girl in school.   I was discriminated against for having parents that worked in the school system.  I was discriminated against for wearing glasses, being too skinny, for being in the band, for being different and for being smart. The students in my school prejudged me before they got to know me. Their prejudice hurt.  I cried daily.  I wanted nothing more than to be accepted for who I was and to have friends.  I wanted nothing more than to go back "home" to be with the friends that I had grown to love. 


Discrimination.  Prejudice.

In college and in my adulthood, I have been discriminated against in the medical community.  They've called me a number of things and have lumped me in with a group of people that are crazy.  Twelve years after my first symptom, I was finally diagnosed correctly.  There is still a prejudice in the medical community about Lyme Disease.  People are either FOR it or AGAINST it.  I am FOR the treatment of Lyme and AGAINST the IDSA guidelines.  I am a competent woman that gets looked at like she's incompetent when regular physicians find out I'm seeking the help of an integrative doctor for Lyme Disease.  


Discrimination.  Prejudice.

I have friends of all types.  I have always been like this.  In high school, I had friends of a wide range.  I had shy quiet very smart friends and I had very outgoing friends who in hind sight were probably drug addicts.  I had friends that were raised in homes of loving single Mothers, had friends that were raised in a not so loving home of two parents, had friends that were raised by their grandparents, had friends that were raised in a traditional home.

Discrimination.  Prejudice.


In hindsight, I know I had friends that were gay in High School.  In regular sight, I knew I had friends that were gay in college. This portion of my blog may not come out correctly and I may confuse or anger some , but it is what it is. 
 
I do not believe in abortion.  I believe it is wrong.  I believe that life begins at conception and killing that life is a sin.   However, I also believe that I should not judge that in which I don't understand. I shouldn't judge or tell someone else what they should or should not do based on my own very personal opinions and biases. I do understand that there are certain circumstances in which a woman thinks there are no other choices including rape victims and a pregnancy in which it may endanger the life of the mother or the child.  However when I look at the life of my friend's 4 year old daughter in which the pregnancy could have ended the life of my friend and the life of that daughter --- I know she made the right decision because she and her husband believe what I believe -- the sanctity of life -- even after her doctors told her that an abortion was the best way to save her life.  Even with all of this, I feel that women should be given a choice.  I have the choice to feel the way I do and I feel that other women have the same right to choose another option even if that option is wrong to me.

It wasn't until I got to college that I realized (yes I was very naive) that sometimes life worked a little differently than in my family.  For the first time in my life, I was introduced to men that loved other men.  I was introduced to women that loved other women.  I'll be honest.  It confused the mess out of me, but as I went back to my teachings and my upbringings I remembered one of my favorite children's songs ----

Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white,
All are precious in His sight,
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

We are ALL God's children.
We are ALL loved by God.
 Last time I checked. ALL meant ALL.
 It is not my place to judge that in which I don't understand.
It is not my place to discriminate.

Last time I check, God  made us all. He knew what we were going to be before we did.  He knew about my Lyme Disease, well before I did. He knew that I would be an advocate for Lyme before I did. He knew that I would find it in my heart to pour out these words to all of you before I did!  God created us ALL.  Every single one of us. 

There, I've said my peace on discrimination, prejudice, abortion, homosexuality, etc. It was an honest account of how I have been feeling over the last few weeks.   Please pray for my friends, my friends that have been deeply hurt this morning based on how our state voted yesterday whether it was for or against the amendment or just the primary election in general.  Friends, families and children are hurting this morning over discrimination and prejudice.   

Thank you for reading the words from my heart. 


 

8th day of LDA Month

 We are packing, packing, packing.  In 10 days, we will be signing for our new home.  On the 18th, I will sign for us and will begin moving boxes on my own to the new house.  My husband will get home around 6pm so I'm sure we'll move some on the night of the 18th.  However, our big plans are to move everything out of the house and into our new home on the 19th.  It seems strange that we're about into the single digits!  Our house is a wreck.  I can't find anything. 

Now onto Lyme Disease Awareness Month.

Sarah Buchman is a 3rd year medical student at Georgetown University.  She decided to write her thesis on the research she did on the Economic Implications of Lyme Disease. She presented a summary of her works at the ILADS conference. I really enjoyed this little bit of video so I thought I would share it with you all on the 8th day of Lyme Disease Awareness Month. 

http://youtu.be/GIiTYAvylyU 

 

Day 7 of Lyme Disease Awareness Month

Personal Story on friendship and Lyme and then onto the video:

Yesterday I spent the day with one of my closest friends and his family on his birthday.   Lyme has taught me a number of things.  I can roll of information about Lyme Disease and Ticks in a moment's notice.  I don't have to think about it anymore. It is just ingrained.  There is one small thing that Lyme taught me.  If I could take Lyme away and never have had it in the first place, if that meant not learning this one thing ... I wouldn't do it.  I wouldn't give it back.  I would take this journey all over again as long as I learned this one thing. 

Lyme Disease is very tough on friendships. I've lost some friends along the journey of Lyme. It is just what it is.  However, you know how you have friends that you don't realize how special they are until they do something to step it up?  Something unthinkable.  Well this post is about how a friendship like that came to be.  We were merely acquaintances in middle and high school until he stepped it up when I needed it. It had nothing to do with Lyme Disease or health issues. I didn't even know I needed it, but he stepped it up.  Ever since, we were tight friends.  When we both went to college, we emailed a lot.  He became my sounding board.  When I was going through unbelievable trials and tribulations, he listened.  I didn't want suggestions. I just wanted someone to listen.  And listen he did.

When I finally got diagnosed with Lyme, he was one of the first friends I told.  He rejoiced with me in the fact that the unknown was finally known.  He shared my sorrow in the fact that the journey would be a long one.  I shared my concern that I would lose all of my friends and he made me a promise that our friendship would remain strong and intact no matter what I experienced.  I am blessed by the way with some of the best friends ever --- Lyme has made those bonds stronger. 

When I was undergoing the most experimental and controversial of treatments, he didn't criticize my choices. He didn't question the doctor's choices.  He just listened and when I had run out of ride home options --- he offered to pick me up after a treatment.  After those treatments, it wasn't pretty.  I did not like people to see me like that.  It was difficult to walk.  It was difficult to talk.  The muscles in my mouth didn't work properly after a treatment and it was difficult to swallow my own saliva.  And each treatment was slightly different in end results, but I needed rides to the treatment and home from the treatment. 

I did not want a "friend" to see me "like that."  My husband was my main "escort."  He carried me to the treatment always and most of the time he picked me up to carry me home.  However, we needed help.  So I called on my immediate family.  One week, they couldn't help and I thought I was going to have to stay at the doctor's office until night.  I was "woah is me-ing" to this friend and he said, "I can pick you up if you need."  I was shocked and had to decide if seeing me like that was something he could handle and allowing a friend to see me like that was something I could handle. 

I confided in him the things he might possibly see and asked if he could handle it.  I trusted him when he said he could handle it.  Leave it to me to have the worst reaction ever on the day he had to pick me up.  He literally had to carry me to his car, carry me into my home and as I stumbled to try to make it on my own, he picked me up and put me in my own bed.  I don't remember much from this day, but I remember thinking how very blessed I was to have a friend that would be willing to literally pick me up from treatment.    I was terrified that I would never see him again after he saw me limply laying there looking like that with a mouth full of saliva rolling down my cheek, hitting my chin and drenching my shirt, but that moment brought us closer together as friends. 

 Like I said, if it meant that I wouldn't learn this one simple thing, I would not take this journey back.   I would do it all over again. 


 Now onto the Advocacy part of my blog post.

Advocating Lyme One Blog Post at a Time.

We are one week into Lyme Disease Awareness Month. This is the 7th post about Lyme Disease in the month.  I found a video created by a woman that includes 7 Lyme facts that could have improved her health.  If she had known these things, she wouldn't be as sick as she is now.  She created it for you to learn to help prevent others from getting as sick as she has.

There was only one part I truly was conflicted on.  It was regarding the use of Tom Tick Twister.  I have no personal experience with this tick removal tool, but I've always been told to avoid twisting a tick upon removal. I don't know how this tool works, but it appears that it's twisting around the tick.  I personally prefer fine point tweezers or the Pro Tick Remedy.

I hope you enjoy the video.

http://youtu.be/4ALgOikmjCw

Day 4 of Lyme Disease Awareness Month

It is the fourth day of Lyme Disease Awareness Month.

I forget that there are many acronyms that we use daily that we don't even have to think about, but that those without Lyme or newly Lyme diagnosed won't know.   Some of those are LLMD, ILADS and IDSA

LLMD stands for Lyme Literate Medical Doctor.

There are two kinds of doctors that "treat" Lyme.  Some are IDSA and some are ILADS.  In essence, IDSA doctors don't know the truth about Lyme.  ILADS are Lyme gurus that know about Lyme and co-infections (ticks give other things than just Lyme).  So if you go see a doctor, you want to make sure that they are ILADS affiliated.

ILADS - International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society

IDSA - I like to "pretend" that it stands for I DON'T SEE ANYTHING or I DON'T SAY ANYTHING, but it  actually stands for Infectious Diseases Society of America.

The reason I'm sharing all of these acronyms with you is because I wanted to share with you a video from the most recent ILADS conference where LLMD Dr. Horowitz spoke on a co-infection (one of the other things that Ticks can give) Babesia (also known as Babesiosis).  Dr. Horowitz is a top notice Integrative LLMD.  He is PRO Lyme Treatment is in one of the best in the nation for treating Lyme Disease.  The video is about 11 minutes long and starts off with someone introducing Dr. H.  Dr. H speaks french for the first minute or so, but then switches to English.

I hope you enjoy the video and I hope you find it educational.

http://youtu.be/fRBXpOPMxNE

Number 2 With Lyme,

When I first got sick, I realized right away that I needed help. I did not have a car to travel from my college campus to the hospitals for blood work. I did not rely on any one person to get me to the hospital for EEG's or Blood work, but several people came to my aide that first semester at school. I began school there in August and by the end of the month I was at the beginning of my illness. I did not have that many established friends so I had to heavily rely on new relationships.

I felt awful that I was needing so much from these new relationships, but they often told me not to worry. There were about three friends that took time to help me often. I stayed friends with all three of them throughout college even after I had my own transportation. In fact, one of the three of them I still talk to once a week on the computer.

Well, when I began heavy treatment I realized I would need some help if I wanted to get well. I would need help from my doctors, from my family and from my friends. Now I really wanted to 100 percent do it all on my own, but I knew that wasn't really an option. At the beginning of the heavy duty treatments, I was going to the office twice a week. After each treatment, it was pretty much required to be carried out of the place and placed into bed. I could barely do anything for myself. My husband would drop me off, go to work for a couple of hours, come back drive me home and then go back to work for a couple of hours. He often missed 2 to 3 hours of the work day when he had to do all of this.

So I had to work it out with family & friends to help. He would drop me off and they would pick me up. I will be completely honest ... I would try 200 percent harder not to look like I felt when family or friends came to pick me up. I wanted to look okay. Inside it felt like the world was going about 500 miles a minute and my brain was going about 5 inches a minute. I would begin to think, "Put one foot in front of the other. Repeat. Don't Drool Jennifer. Don't Drool. Wake UP Jennifer. Put one foot in front of the other. Repeat. Wake up Jennifer. Stop Drooling. Repeat."

Then one day one of my friends that came to pick me up said, "Why are you trying so hard? We know how hard this is. Let us help you." He picked me up and carried me out of the doctor's office. I barely remember things from treatment, but I remember that moment. It was in that moment I realized that they did not care that I felt like a drug addict going through withdrawals that had the flu ... They just cared about me and would do anything to help me feel better.

With Lyme, I discovered how important my friends are to me. I learned who would do and who wouldn't. Who can handle the illness and who could only handle me well. I knew who I could call to complain and who I could call for jokes and who I could call for help.

This video I'm posting is by Connie Strasheim discussing an excerpt of her book "The Lyme Disease Survival Guide: Physical, Lifestyle and Emotional Strategies for Healing," .... specifically how it relates to, "They Will Never, Ever Understand: Accepting Friends' and Family's Limitations."

Under Our Skin Offer

Open Eye Pictures is offering a special for the month of May (2010). Purchase one DVD and get a 2nd one free. They are calling it A Doc for a Doc.

For those that don't know, Under Our Skin is a documentary exposing the hidden secrets of Lyme Disease. It is absolutely a wonderful film that I highly recommend. I have seen it in theater and in North Carolina, Carolina Lyme is hosting a screening of Under Our Skin on May 12th. Unless something happens, I plan on being there.

Flu Shot? Not me!

I won't ever get a flu shot because of the Mercury and other ingredients. I was shown this funny video about the flu shot. I just had to share because I want to make you educated.

Video on Lyme