Co-conditions, accompanying illness, whatever you call them - sometimes the side conditions have more of an impact than the primary conditions. We call it Lyme disease - but that’s not my problem. I sometimes wonder how much the bacteria that causes Lyme is even a factor. My biggest problems right now are spine instability and…
“You’re Not Going to Get Better by Letting It Beat You”
Josh Blue has cerebral palsy and is one of the funniest comedians I’ve ever seen. He was on AGT this year and during the finale, he shared that he is in phenomenal pain. You’re not going to get better by letting it beat you.Josh Blue Oh how I relate to this so much!!! There are…
The Joy of Life
I hate being sick. Hate it. It’s impossibly hard most days. I cry. I get mad. I feel hopeless at times. It’s ok to have a pity party just don’t unpack and live there! But I choose how to live with this sickness. I choose love. I choose joy. Yes - it’s a choice. Every…
7 Year Blog Journey
Today marks 7 years since I began sharing my story here on WordPress. My First Post Here - Why I Started a Blog I haven't been consistent and I'm sure sometimes my posts didn't make sense to anyone but me. However I pray that at least some of what I've written has resonated in some…
God is still God
This photo was taken 7 years ago. I was at Stanford Medical Center getting bi-weekly lidocaine infusions. The infusions helped reduce pain - but my body began slowly rejecting it. My last injection ended with me being super loopy and slurring my words. It was a horrible time of life - pre-diagnosis, bed-ridden & using…
Never Surrender Your Own Judgement
I participate in several forums focused on specific health conditions. I initially joined them in the hopes of learning more about some of the conditions I have. What I’ve found is that most of the people participating are in the early stages of some sort of sickness - or at a minimum, they haven’t yet…
Letter to Family & Friends
I've written a letter for Lymies to share with family and friends who may not yet understand the complexities of this sickness. This is a complicated disease to diagnose and treat, but that means it's also complicated to live with it. If you suffer this sickness, give yourself a break, let yourself rest. If you…
Listen to Your Body
I keep improving - but then something happens, I don't know what, and I start to feel like I'm going backwards. More pain, cognitive issues like word finding, I feel just yucky all over - I can't always explain it. I just know I'm not ok and I'm scared that I'm slipping backwards. It's easy…
90 MPH to 0 in 2 Seconds Flat
I think the most misunderstood component of Lyme+ is the way we appear to be doing fairly well one second and suddenly we are crawling into bed for a week long crash. "But you were doing so well! What happened?" "What did you do that made you get sick again?" "Is she faking it?" All…
Apollo 13 – what events may transpire
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the return of the Apollo 13 astronauts to earth. So, in true Hollywood form, there have been documentaries and space movies on all day - and in true Shawn form, the stories have me comparing chronic sickness to the "successful failures" of space travel. In all these stories, there…
PhilippiJoy 