I’ve been asked to make a timeline of my chronic lyme disease. I thought it was a wonderful idea. Actually I am surprised I hadn’t thought of it myself. This following is the timeline of the progression of my chronic lyme disease. I believe it started in 1983 although I went undiagnosed until 2009. I will be 52 this year and I have lived with lyme disease nearly 30 years.
NOTE: On my right side bar, I will put a short version of this timeline so as I write about different events in my life you can easily refer to it.
1960, November 7 – I was born.
1983 – I was most likely bitten by the tick that started my journey. I can’t say for sure. I know I had a real bad cold and was in bed for about a week. So I’m assuming that is when I first got bitten.
1986 – Started to put on a lot of weight
1987 - I first started showing signs of chronic lyme. I lost a lot strength or ability to use my legs. There was one day I could stand up from my couch and walk stairs with no problems. And literally overnight I had trouble standing from chairs and I started using the elevators. For the next two or three years I had a lot of pain in my knees. The pain in my knees went away, but I never did regain the ability to walk stairs to stand up from chairs.
NOTE: From the research I have done undiagnosed lyme disease starts showing major effects three to four years after initial infection.
1988 - Chris and I got together.
2000, December – We bought a ranch on 35-acres and built at 2,500 square foot house. Our ranch was between Colorado Springs and Pueblo about 30 miles east on the plains of Colorado.
2001, March 22- After a week of stomach flu-type symptoms ended up in the ER room which was the beginning of my 40-day coma. My official diagnoses was multi-organ failure and a whole bunch of other stuff. My pancreas, respiratory system and kidneys all shut down. I had a blood sugar of 1400. The doctors had no idea why I got so sick. They also had no explanation on why I got healthy again. Doctors called me a miracle. Within a year I was off all medication if the medication for diabetes.
I was in ICU for about two months and then transferred to the hospital’s rehabilitation floor.
2001, July 5 – I was released from the hospital because my insurance ran out. The company I had been working with went bankrupt and our insurance was cancel. I was still unable to sit up by myself. I was sent home in a wheel chair and open bed wounds in my back and head. Chris worked for the same company so we were both unemployed.
2002, April – Chris and I walked away from our 35-acre ranch and foreclosed on it and filed for bankruptcy. We moved back to Denver, Colorado. So Chris could find a job and support us. We had a friend who had a friend that would let us rent a small house. Otherwise, we would have been homeless and unable to get approval for rent because of the bankruptcy and foreclosure. I had just started to walk about 100 feet on my own without assistance.
2002, early fall – I went back to work as a part-time secretary for our church. Then eventually returned to full time work as a sales admin for Mission Foods.
2005, November – Chris got a transfer from Denver, Colorado to Portland, Oregon. We were to move on November 5. We both were working up to the day we were suppose to move. We had packers scheduled to come and our entire house up the day before our move. I wasn’t feeling well so I stayed home from work two days before we were to take off to Portland. That day Chris got home she found me nearly dead. I was once again in the hospital with another unexplained illness. This time I did have pneumonia, which kicked off a whole lot of other symptoms. This time my blood sugar was 1100. The doctors figured I got it when we flew out to Portland to sign papers for our apartment. This time I was in the hospital only 8 days.
2005, Thanksgiving – We left Denver during a snow storm and drove to Portland Oregon.
2006, February – I started a new job with Staples as their business to business sales admin.
2009, April – I felt myself getting sick again. I didn’t have any specific symptoms but I knew for some reason it was happening all over again. This time I quit my job. A few months earlier, I had just found a new doctor in Canby a few months earlier.
2009, June – My new doctor finally was able to diagnose me with Chronic Lymes Disease. I told her the story of one day I could stand up from a couch and walk stairs and literally the next day I was unable. She stopped me from talking and looked at me and said “You have Lymes Disease.” My first thought was could it be that simple. After all these years. So I started treatment. And as our insurance would allow, we got the proper tests to verify that I did indeed have chronic lymes disease. The tests for chronic lymes is actually testing for co-infections and my tests all came back positive.
2011, December – I had learned to maintain my health such as it was. I wasn’t getting any worse and was slowly getting a little bit healthier. I had been familiar with Eden Energy Medicine and had attended several classes with Donna Eden over the last five or six years. I called a local practitioner and she has been working on me since. I am finally getting stronger and healthier.
2012, April – Started taking classes to get my Eden Energy Medicine certificate. This program will take two years. I’m hoping to work with people who have been diagnosed with a chronic disease.
Hugs and blessings
Cee
Dear Cee, I hope and wish too… You had a very difficult years but I am so glad now everything is clear now and they know what to be done… And you are doing great job by sharing all your experiences, I am sure it would be so helpful. God Bless you dear Cee, love, nia
You’ll be helping other people – God Bless You!
Thank you for sharing your journey! Sometimes the road is difficult but it helps make us who we are.
Wow, really touching story and thanks for sharing it to all of us. May God Bless you, Jenny
Nice to have a timeline to refer to. And I’m glad they finally got the proper diagnosis and treament. I’m sure the energy medicine will help a lot. Bless you Cee!
Oh sweetie I am so grateful you wrote this out for us. I think it is not only valuable as an aide to reading this blog, but incredibly valuable to know about you as a person. We tend to shine on the things we just cannot possibly know, but there are some really important things about some people we just should know. Especially when we care about that person, Did that make any sense?
Thank you for sharing this. It’s ironic to me that your dates in many ways mirror my mine with chronic illnesses. My first symptom 1984, 1986 implants that were to be the solution, 1987 symptoms chronic and progressing. 1991 dx.
Thought it another butterfly feeling of irony.
Thanks for sharing the story, Cee. Sending you positive vibes and lots of prayers for a healthier you.
by far, a journey back from the depths of despair. the worse part about unusual illnesses is that doctors ( the ones with the alphabet behind their names) don’t want to admit that they just don’t know. I’m glad you were finally diagnosed as this is a very serious illness. great description of your journey.
I forgot – I like your new blog page. ~~~~ : – )
This WAS a good idea! I’m glad you were FINALLY put on a treatment that works, even if there is no cure. How sad it would have been if no one had EVER diagnosed the problem during your lifetime.
I do believe you have been spammed my darling Cee~
@Cee my friend, after reading about your health and Medicine,I would like to encourage you, keep the spirit and positive under all conditions. This story may give encouragement to other readers patients who have chronic diseases. Do not give up !. My regards to you
Many thanks for the sharing
I never knew about this disease until I just read a couple of your posts. What a brave woman you are. I’m so glad that you have Chris by your side through all this. Hugs to you.
Thanks so much for your comment. A lot of people have heard of a tick bite being bad…. but not this bad. Who would ever think it.
Oh, Cee, what a terribly difficult journey for you, and for Chris. It helps people understand what you have been through and how it has affected you. I think it is important to raise awareness for people who might recognize their symptoms from your story, but also for other people to understand the implications and be more compassionate. My heart goes out to you, and I hope that you continue to improve.
Thanks so much for your comment and for stopping by. We appreciate it!
Dear Cee. First of all thanks for sharing this to all of us. Indeed it is a very long journey for you, and Chris, to find out about everything related with this disease but now you know what it is and you get better day by day. This long difficult time turned you into a stronger person, in body -physically- and mind. I believe in God, I believe there is always something good hidden behind any problems/difficult time. God knows better than us.
I wish you for more healthy life full with happiness under God’s protection. God bless you, and all of us. Amen.
Regards from Jakarta, Indonesia.
Ricki
PS. Kindly allow me to follow your blog.
Thank You so much for blogging this information. Coming from New York State (Upstate) where the ticks are very prevalent and lyme disease is a real threat to Tennessee where the ticks are different and the threat is not as severe is a huge relief. However, that being said, my hubby was bit while overseas during the war many moons ago and his side effect is no matter what type of tick bite that he gets, the reaction takes weeks to recover from. The pain, the swelling from the bite, the nausea, the vomiting, the other side effects are incredible. Inhalers and epi pens do not help here. Benadryl is a joke. Chamomile Tea, peppermint tea, Aloe for the wound and crackers are what we have found is the slow mend back. Two weeks later he is back to almost normal, although each time it does get a little worse.
Best wishes for you and your condition. Let us know how you are doing from time to time.