To catch you up.

Hello friends,

Well, it’s been quite a month.  I promise, promise to post some new pics soon.   There is a post coming with another set of random recent work.  But first, I need to catch you up on a few things.

A few weeks ago I was diagnosed with Lyme disease.   I got it from two tick bites which I never even knew I had.  Luckily, due to crazy circumstances that happened to land me in the right ER at the right time, it was caught very early.  I’ve been on heavy antibiotics for about 3 weeks now, and I feel as though I’ve made a near full recovery.  I’ve also gone back and forth as to whether or not I needed to share this with you all, but since thousands of people read this blog every month (thanks, btw….that’s such a nice number to see since for years it was about three people – my mom & about 2 photographer buddies…) I’ve decided to share a bit in order to raise a little awareness about this disease.  Especially since it goes undetected for too long in most cases, and can cause serious long term issues.  Once again, I’m lucky – that shouldn’t be the case.  But since this blog gives me a voice, I’m hoping it will help someone out there to detect it early – either in yourself or your children – and prevent what could have been a very ugly prognosis.

My symptoms started about two weeks after we returned home to Virginia from a trip to Minnesota.  I began having terrible ear pain – so bad that I went into the ER on a Saturday night for help – and was told it was just an ear infection.  Oddly, I didn’t have a cold or allergy issues or anything leading up to it – just sudden random ear pain, and the doctor didn’t see much fluid behind my ears.  The following weekend, my husband & I went to Richmond so he could participate in a triathalon and shortly after lunch, the right side of my face began to feel numb.  Soon, the numbness spread through to part of my arm, shoulders, wrist & hand.  We called my GP immediately, who recommended visiting the nearest ER, so we did.  After a 5 hour wait (that’s another blog post – but let me just tell you all right now I am very thankful to God for the life that I have after waiting 5 hours in an inner-city ER on a Saturday night…I saw so many people with broken lives) I finally got to see the doctor, and of course they were concerned about a stroke.  The attending met with me and felt strongly that it was Bell’s Palsy (it was) but was still interested in performing a CT scan to make sure it wasn’t a stroke.  Then he nonchalantly asked “you haven’t returned from anywhere up North recently, have you?”

Well, yes, I had.  His next question was regarding whether or not I had any souvenir bites from my trip, and I told him I had these two strange bites on my back which looked like big, oval shaped mosquito bites, but that was it.  Turns out, those two bites were a little more than what I had originally thought.  ”You have Lyme Disease.”  He announced.

Whaaaaaa?  Seriously?  Yes.  Seriously.

They were tick bites.  Ewwww.  But here’s the deal: I never found a tick!  AND, and, and…this is the frustrating part….there were NEVER any “bulls-eye” markings that everyone tells you to look for in tick bites.  It turns out, the “bulls-eye” only shows up in about 20-50% of cases, so I had absolutely no idea.  Also, it wasn’t like I was out hiking in the woods while we were in Minnesota – I was in a residential area, taking pictures, when the bites occurred.  I was also wearing a ton of DEET.

It turns out that God had me in the right place, with the right doctor, at the right time.  He happened to be very versed in Lyme Disease, so he knew immediately that one of the classic presenting patterns is severe ear pain followed by Bell’s Palsy which onsets about a week or two after the initial bite.  He put me on a heavy antibiotics, anti-virals, and steroids and I’m still on everything except the anti-virals.  I was also diagnosed roughly 20 days from the day I was bitten, but since I had two bites, there were twice the number of toxins in my body, and he warned me that I may have a rough couple of weeks ahead of me.

I did.  I’m going to sum it up for you below so that you all take this very seriously, and understand that many of these symptoms could have become permanent if I hadn’t been lucky and caught it in time.

* The right side of my face was paralyzed for over two weeks.  I couldn’t smile, close my right eye, or keep food/drink in the right side of my mouth.

* I experienced major cognitive issues.  I could not form complete thoughts or sentences.  The worst part of this, is that I knew I was loosing my cognitive function as it was happening.  It was very difficult for me to think, and I had absolutely lost my wit & humor.  This was, without a doubt, scary.

* I lost big parts of my memory.  I couldn’t recall passwords, I couldn’t spell, and at the height of the worst day of my symptoms, I actually couldn’t remember my son’s name.  That was the worst part of all.

*The vision in my right eye (which, photographer friends, is my shooting eye) was blurred.  I also had to constantly put drops in it, and sleep with a patch over it so it wouldn’t dry out and I wouldn’t get cornea abrasion, which could have lead to permanent eye damage.

*My right hand & wrist were extremely weak and numb.  This is my shooting hand.  I wondered if I would ever be able to take pictures again, drive, cook, etc.

*I was very sad/depressed and would cry at the drop of a hat.  I don’t know if this was because of everything that was going on, a combination of the medications I was on, or if I was just tired (the medication caused extreme sleeplessness on top of everything else.)

*I was extremely sensitive to light and sound.  One night I remember the air conditioner turning on in our house, and I thought there was a train next door.  It was just the central air going through the vents of the house, but it was so loud I was trying to stuff cotton in my ears and put pillows over my head – it was terrible.

*I was exhausted and nauseous.  I couldn’t eat anything the week after I was diagnosed & lost 7 pounds in the first 5 days.  That’s a lot for me.  I also couldn’t sleep because of the medication (anti-virals, which is an automatic second line of treatment for Bell’s palsy) which compounded matters.  I tried to explain the nausea/fatigue to a friend, and the only way I can describe it is like your first trimester of pregnancy times ten.  I had never been that tired/nauseous in my life.

*I was scared.  This was another really bad part.  Many people with these types of Lyme symptoms – which fall under the category of “advanced disseminated” (I learned) can have them for a very long time.  Even though my doctor & the ER doc that I saw both told me we had caught it early enough that the anti-biotics would likely be very effective and I probably wouldn’t have any long-term issues, I was still terrified.

Luckily, my doctors were right.  Today, I feel like I’m at least 90% better.  I still have some of the fatigue & am still on medication, but my face is almost back to normal, the neurological stuff has all but disappeared, and my appetite/sleep patterns have returned to normal.  In fact, after weekly scheduled visits, I now don’t have to follow up with my doctor until October.

Emotionally, I can honestly say that as cliche as it sounds, I feel like a new person.  I cannot begin to explain the depths of gratitude this experience has taken me to.  I am so incredibly grateful for my amazing husband, friends & family who stepped in to take care of absolutely everything – including my beloved son – while I was sick.  I am so happy to be back to doing design work & hope to return to shooting within a couple of weeks.  In fact, when I was sick, wondering if I was ever going to be normal again, I realized how much MORE I wanted to do with my camera, so look for it gang….

I also have to send a public shout out to my amazing group of friends.   I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I have a group of girls who are truly sacred to me.  They stepped in and cooked, watched my son when I couldn’t, ran errands, and I truly don’t know what I would have done without them.  Last night, we all went to the beach for one of my friend’s birthdays, and I just couldn’t get over how lucky I am.   We all watched our children running around in the sand and playing in the ocean.  We watched our husbands hanging out together, talking about sports and whatever else husbands talk about.  We all sat around talking and laughing on a big beach blanket…the sun was setting, the moon was rising, the breeze off the ocean was perfect and there was a band nearby playing beach music.  This morning, I’m still smiling thinking about how incredibly sweet life is, and how incredibly lucky I am.

I really hope that you all will take a little time to familiarize yourselves with this disease & it’s symptoms.  It’s one we just don’t hear that much about, and sadly, doctors don’t often think to check for  it, especially if you live in the south.  There are many different “presenting patterns” but I would say that as a general rule of thumb, be aware of and TELL YOUR DOCTOR about ANY bite you get that is the least bit strange…even if you think it is nothing.  Again, I am very, very lucky.

Until next time….

XOXO – PB