Isn’t it funny how everything is a mess one minute, and then suddenly it all falls together!
Lunch As Medicine
Sometimes, you just need dumplings and tea…
The Quiet Experiment
I didn’t expect that slowing down might also mean a bit of falling apart too…
Peaks and Troughs
Life is just a series of peaks and troughs, and you don’t know whether you’re in a trough until you’re climbing out, or on a peak until you’re coming down. And that’s it you know, you never know what’s round the corner. But it’s all good. ~ Ricky Gervais Hey, Lovelies. In chronic illness, […]
Diet #2073
Goodbye, cheese…
True Love In The Shape Of A Star Trek Toy
It’s not safe out here. It’s wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it’s not for the timid. Q – Star Trek Hey, Lovelies.I’ll be honest. It’s been a little rough here on the health front. Nothing catastrophic, but I’m experiencing some old Lyme symptoms that haven’t shown themselves for a […]
Dear COVID Long Haulers – Don’t Give Up
Sometimes even to live is an act of courage. Lucius Annaeus Seneca Dear COVID Long Haulers, Welcome to my club. I’m so sorry you acquired membership to this motley band of chronic illness warriors, but you’re here now, so as newbies I’d like to show you around, and help you settle in. 1. Let’s talk […]
Gumboot Adventure and a Lyme Update
“One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast….a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you […]
Wishing for Good Veins
“I have druggie veins. After so much intubation they are scarred and flat and tired and difficult to handle. It’s an odd thing to confess but the truth is all I notice is people’s hands and their veins these days. I have as much vein envy as any junkie. Oh, I think. Look how fat and juicy that […]
My Latest Obscenities…
“Whenever you speak the truth, someone will be offended.” ~ Laurence Overmire Yesterday I posted about having the flu (no fun!) and with that post I included pictures of myself showing me as I am right now – sick with the flu! Thanks to everyone who sent me messages of love, care and support. I’m so […]
Three In a Row!
“The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep.” ~ W.C. Fields This morning I’m celebrating a minor miracle at my house. For the past three nights I have gone to bed, fallen asleep and then woken in the morning. It’s been years (at least fifteen!) since I’ve had an uninterrupted night’s sleep, […]
Sneaking Out of Retreat
“The Principle of Priority states (a) you must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important, and (b) you must do what’s important first.” ~ Steven Pressfield We’re on Retreat right now, and I am that Retreat’s leader. But this morning I am sneaking off. Every Thursday morning is my acupuncture and […]
Changing Your Perspective Changes Everything
“Most misunderstandings in the world could be avoided if people would simply take the time to ask, “What else could this mean?” ~ Shannon L. Alder I met with a new doctor yesterday. It was a trial of sorts. I wanted to see if they would become my Lyme Recovery Plan A, or whether […]
A Little Lyme Recovery Update
“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.” ~ Winston S. Churchill […]
Home In My Own Bed!
“I live in my own little world. But it’s ok, they know me here.” ~ Lauren Myracle There is something so sweet and good about sleeping in your own bed after a long time away. It’s a little crowded just now though. Harry and Bert refuse to leave my side. Not that I’m complaining. […]
Two Steps Back
Don’t ever give up. Don’t ever give in. Don’t ever stop trying. Don’t ever sell out. And if you find yourself succumbing to one of the above for a brief moment, pick yourself up, brush yourself off, whisper a prayer, and start where you left off. But never, ever, ever give up. ~ Richelle E. […]
A Me Update
“Solar Eclipse Each morning I wake invisible. I make a needle from a porcupine quill, sew feet to legs, lift spine onto my thighs. I put on my rib and collarbone. I pin an ear to my head, hear the waxwing’s yellow cry. I open my mouth for purple berries, stick on periwinkle eyes. I […]
Poems, Prayers and Promises
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” ~ Mary Oliver I saw a new lyme doctor yesterday. Why a new doctor? It goes like this: The first doctor I saw diagnosed me but wouldn’t treat me because ‘lyme was contentious and he was trying to […]
Lit up like a Lyme Green Christmas Tree
“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching, Love like you’ll never be hurt, Sing like there’s nobody listening, And live like it’s heaven on earth.” ~ William W. Purkey Well, you know by now that when I’m quiet there’s a good reason. This time? My doctor recommended a new combination of Lyme drugs. Result? […]
A Moment of Perfect Peace
“Spirituality is not to be learned by flight from the world, or by running away from things, or by turning solitary and going apart from the world. Rather, we must learn an inner solitude wherever or with whomsoever we may be. We must learn to penetrate things and find God there.” ― Meister Eckhart Very […]
Breathing Through The Pain #LymeWarrior
“Your breathing should flow gracefully, like a river, like a watersnake crossing the water, and not like a chain of rugged mountains or the gallop of a horse. To master our breath is to be in control of our bodies and minds. Each time we find ourselves dispersed and find it difficult to gain control of ourselves […]
Are You Giving Yourself Space To Heal?
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” ~John Lubbock, The Use Of Life I’m on a fairly savage regime of drugs and […]
Two Steps Forward…
“Progress, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step.” ~ Samuel Smiles It’s been a frustrating few days for me. I’ve recently changed Lyme doctors, and begun a new regime of drugs […]
Nurture in cups and bowls
“I think that women just have a primeval instinct to make soup, which they will try to foist on anybody who looks like a likely candidate.” ~ Dylan Moran It’s been a hard two weeks for me. Meds issues. Doctor issues. Mobility and pain issues. Crushing insomnia. Nausea. And a myriad other bothersome things. Ah, […]
Slowly Slowly Better…
“I saved a man’s life once,” said Granny. “Special medicine, twice a day. Boiled water with a bit of berry juice in it. Told him I’d bought it from the dwarves. That’s the biggest part of doct’rin, really. Most people’ll get over most things if they put their minds to it, you just have to […]
Update from Lyme Land
“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.” ~ Winston Churchill It’s […]
Me and That Owl
“Turn your wounds into wisdom.” ~ Oprah Winfrey “The unexamined life is not worth living.” ~ Socrates Last Monday, in my Doctor’s rooms, I received the best kind of news. Although I am still unwell, I have definitely turned the corner in my struggle against Lyme disease. I am no longer dying. I am healing. My life is once again unfurling […]
#Lymetime – The Big Day Looms…
“I still think that everyone’s life, no matter how unremarkable, has a singular tragic encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. That moment is the catalyst – the first step in the equation. But knowing the first step will get you nowhere – it’s what comes after that determines the result.” ~ Robyn Schneider, The Beginning […]
Measuring Progress
“Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who […]
The ’10 Lovely Things!’ Challenge
“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ~ Marcel Proust Yesterday morning my lovely husband set me a glorious distraction (for those of you who aren’t up to speed I am currently taking a savage amount of drugs to combat Lyme Disease […]
Status Update – Unavailable
“For a while” is a phrase whose length can’t be measured. At least by the person who’s waiting.” ~ Haruki Murakami, South of the Border, West of the Sun We’re all waiting. Waiting for Nicole to finish this round of drugs. It’s hard going. One week, three days to go. Not that we’re counting… Meanwhile, Nicole sleeps […]
Update from Nurse Bert
“Wounding and healing are not opposites. They’re part of the same thing. It is our wounds that enable us to be compassionate with the wounds of others. It is our limitations that make us kind to the limitations of other people. It is our loneliness that helps us to find other people or to even […]
Nurse Bert Reports
“Nursing is a kind of mania; a fever in the blood; an incurable disease which, once contracted, cannot be got out of the system. If it was not like that, there would be no hospital nurses, for compared dispassionately with other professions, the hours are long, the work hard, and the pay inadequate to the […]
Small and Nasty = Bartonella
Musings The little poets sing of little things: Hope, cheer, and faith, small queens and puppet kings; Lovers who kissed and then were made as one, And modest flowers waving in the sun. The mighty poets write in blood and tears And agony that, flame-like, bites and sears. They reach their mad blind hands into […]