Introduction

My name is "Blymey" but I'm also known by other names - mostly in regard to my religious practice which is Wiccan. I am also a member of the Washington and Baltimore Area Pagan Clergy network - I do spell work, counseling, handfasting (marriage), deaths, births and readings (tarot, palm, aural, mediumship). You can find me through that website as Morgana Terpsicore or as Morgana Dark Witch on Witchvox.com.



I have been a "medium" all my life (yes, I see dead people) - but that is not what this blog is about...It is about the challenges of misdiagnosis over 20 years and my doctor who diagnosed me with Lyme Disease in April of 2008.



I started dancing when I was 5 after seeing the Nutcracker with a friend and my family. I continued on learning, dancing and finally going semi-professional dancer starting at the age of 15. I quit school (OK - I flunked out), moved to Orlando and slowly made my way into the "Entertainment" division of Disney accomplishing my dream of being a professional dancer. This all ended in a fall when I was 21 where I shattered both knee caps, damaged both ACLs and had, as a result, quite a few arthroscopic surgeries on both knees. My doctors advised me to quit dancing and I followed their orders - moved back home to my parents (they had to pay off all of my credit cards!!), met my future and current hubby, moved in with him, went back to school - he graduated, we got married and moved to the Washington, DC area. Whew! We've been here since 1993...



So all the aches and pains, knees, ankles, feet, lower back, neck, etc. I had attributed to being a dancer and post-no dancing - gaining great quantities of weight. Most doctors said I would be much better once I lost the weight. Yet, things kept happening...diagnosed with PMDD (pre-menstrual issues - you've seen the commercials), then Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, then Poly-Cystic Ovarian Disease/Syndrome, hormonal issues, thyroid problems, constant bladder and kidney infections - it was literally one thing after another until this past April when I met a Dr. in my current home-town and he requested that I get a physical...

Now the first thing I noticed about Dr. J is that when I had my physical he actually asked me to get undressed and wear one of those lovely paper robe things. I hate those, don't you? So undignified - especially when you're fat - as I am slowly working towards not being...Next, he actually touched me in a doctor patient way (You guys are SICK!). Now, of course he's testing me for neural issues and other problems and I'm thinking - "My Gawd - I didn't shave my legs and BOY are they hairy!"...I asked him to forgive me for not taking care of that and he said he didn't care...But as for the physical itself, I haven't been physically examined by anyone since I left my pediatrician at the age of 22 when he retired! And I'll tell you that I am now 39 although when my physical occurred, I was still 38 with a week to go until I turned my current age.



So, this physical goes on, he's asking questions (lots of questions) and I'm mentioning every ache and pain that I've ever had, all of the diseases as a child, the balance problems that I put off as clumsyness, the short-term memory issues that I was recently experiencing as just having "other things on my mind", etc. and I realize how I'm rambling on and on and say, "Well, now you're surely going to think I am a hypochondriac, just as my last doctor did." He looked directly at me - blinked and said "I don't think you're a hypochondriac - I actually think that there is a physical reason for all of these problems and I want to run a few tests." Well the tests ended up being 15 (!!!) vials of blood that supported the symptomology of lyme disease or the bacterial infection from Borreliosis Bergdorferi.



Well - he then requested that I get tested by a lab called IGenIX that specializes in testing for this bacteria - it came back as positive for Lyme and referenced the fact that it was widespread and that I'd had it for a very long time.



So, after two months of antibiotics, tomorrow I get installed in my body a PIC line (or a catheter) to make available an intravenous (IV) antibiotic. I am VERY nervous and broke down in tears when I was speaking to my hubby on my cell phone after the doctor told me that even in the month since he had seen me last he could tell that my neuropathy was getting worse as well as my cognitive function...How scary is that???



So - to explain cognitive function and what Lyme can do to you - you know your short term memory? Well, mine is not all there. For example, last week we traveled to Texas to visit my parents - we flew into Houston Hobby and rented a car. By Monday I could not recall driving from the airport rental office to my parents home in another destination. How scary is that? Pretty damn scary! There are conversations I don't recall having, questions I'll ask over and over driving people nutso (you know when you're child is 2 and asks "Why?" about everything? Try being an adult and getting that response and you have no idea you've already asked that question about 5 times prior, gotten answers, and it was about 45 minutes ago...)



So the doctor did some reflex checks and other stuff and spoke with me about my symptomology and determined that since we now have a full and complete AFFIRMATIVE for Lyme Disease we're going to treat aggressively...Cognitive issues first. That's fine, but it still scares the crap out of me...I don't like needles, and I'm trying to lose weight and well - other than having a catheter in my arm or wherever this is going - is really going to be a major pain in the ass!



So - I'll let you know what happens tomorrow...Friday, June 20th - the first day of Summer also known as the Summer Solstice.



Until then...